Information | Services | e-Resources | Collections

The Reston Reflections Oral History Archive, which is part of the Planned Community Archives, is a collection of interviews of Restonians maintained by Special Collections & Archives (SC&A). It was created by eighth-grade students at Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston, VA, under the supervision of faculty members Ms. Millie Mennard, Ms. Gene Zablotney, and Mr. Ross Armstrong. Dr. Sarah Larson, a local historian, was instrumental in bringing about the project. Every year students conduct interviews with a selection of Reston residents, all of whom had lived in the Reston community for at least fifteen years. The students are required to tape and transcribe the interviews. The transcripts include a physical description of the interviewee, background information, the interview setting and the interview itself. The Reston Reflections Oral History Archive gives a unique perspective on the development and history of the Reston community.

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 analysis drawn form these records, and to design and participate in interdisciplinary courses of instruction on community development.

Search PCA Finding Aid

Special Collections & Archives 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.