Aerial photograph of Lake Anne, Reston, VA, ca. 1980.

Reston is a Planned Community in Northern Virginia. Today's Reston is the product of the vision of Robert E. Simon, Jr. and the Mobil Corporation. It is the nation's best known and most successful planned community, or New Town, as they are often called. Planned Communities integrate every aspect of human life including the social and economic, education, health services, recreation, religious institutions, industrial facilities and commercial centers. Placement of roads, utilities and housing are predetermined for the entire development in advance of construction. Housing is provided for a variety of income levels. The planned community movement started in Great Britain in the late nineteenth century and spread to the United States after World War I. During the 1930s, the U.S. government sponsored planned communities called "greenbelt towns."

Masthead from The Reston Letter v.1, no.1, February 1963.

As part of an ongoing project, images from the Planned Community Archives (PCA) Collection have been scanned for electronic access by researchers from across the United States and the World. Researchers may access the database to learn about Reston in particular, and planned communities in general, by means of a searchable database connected to scanned representations of items in the collection. The electronic images focus on people, themes, and organizations key to Reston's history as a planned community. Areas covered are health care, education, public services (fire department, police, and transporation), parks, recreation, population, and Lake Anne ( the first housing group). Scanned textual materials include deeds, certificates, promotional brochures, studies, reports, and correspondence. Scanned maps display Reston's Master Plan, major road systems, educational facilities, and recreational areas. Scanned photographs include Lake Anne, various physical structures, and people significant to Reston's past and present. Scanned sketches reflect mostly building and community plans.

View Reston Collection Images

Planned Community Archives, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to improving the quality of community development in the United States. It seeks to use its archival, research, publishing and instructional resources to maintain the historical records of community development projects, to prepare and disseminate information and analyses drawn form these records, and to design and participate in interdisciplinary courses of instruction on community development.

Search PCA Finding Aid

Special Collections & Archives (SC&A) preserves and makes available to all students, faculty, and researchers many kinds of original and scholarly materials. Subject areas in SC&A include Northern Virginiana, Planned Communities, Congressional Papers, Performing Arts, Maps, the Civil War, and George Mason University. Formats in SC&A include manuscripts, rare books, playbills, musical scores, audio and videotapes, architectural drawings, photographs, and slides.

The SC&A staff is always willing to help researchers. SC&A's reading room provides a quiet haven for serious research. Most materials may be photocopied, either by the researcher or by staff, depending on the nature of the items. Telephone, mail, or E-Mail requests for photocopies and photographs are handled for a fee on a prepaid basis. Also, several Finding Aids & Research Guides have been published and are available at a reasonable cost. Tours can be arranged for small groups, and speakers are available upon request. Some materials may also be requested for use in exhibitions.

The following World Wide Web links provide more information about collections in SC&A, the Library, Virginia, and from around the world:

SC&A | GMU Libraries | GMU | WRLC | VIVA | Planned Communities - New Towns

Fenwick Library * George Mason University * Fairfax, VA 22030-4444 * USA

TEL 703-993-2220 * * E-Mail SC&A * * FAX 703-993-2255