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Jim Rouse and Patty Rouse visit the Columbia Archives in 1988 |
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The Columbia Archives grew out of a community initiative. In 1982, long-time Columbia resident Rebecca Orlinsky organized a display of clippings and other ephemera for the Columbia Forum Day of Work. Enthusiasm for the exhibit led to a petition to form an archives to chronicle the history of the then 15-year-old community. A year later the Museum and Archives of the History of Columbia, MD, aka Columbia Archives, was incorporated and Orlinsky and Ruth McCullough began working as volunteers on a daily basis. Donations of materials from those involved in the planning and development of Columbia, as well as residents and others who helped shape the city, began to pour in. Former Rouse Company employees Mickey Dunham and Jeanne Shea, and community activist Norman Winkler, were among the first donors. In 1985 we mounted The Land Puzzle, an exhibit featuring the surveyor’s land plats of the property sold to The Rouse Company for the development of Columbia, photographs of some of the landowners and original drawings of the first concepts of Columbia. The collection grew
with donations from community activists such as Priscilla Hart, Florence Bain, Lloyd Knowles, May Ruth and Henry Seidel, and Helen Ruther, among many others. We outgrew our original space in Banneker Building, which was at the time the headquarters for the Columbia Association open space division, and moved to Century Plaza, another office building in Town Center. Among the outreach programs we presented to involve the community was an exhibit of the work of local art legends Wes Yamaka and John Levering. A call to the community brought in over 200 pieces for a one-day event. Many works were ultimately donated to us and this collection remains popular with residents.
In 1992 Columbia Archives became part of the Columbia Association, the property owner’s organization that serves as the unincorporated community’s quasi-government. The collection and the activities grew considerably. In 1996, Columbia Archives received the papers of James Rouse, doubling the size of our holdings and increasing the significance of the collection.
Columbia Archives is the primary resource on Columbia and James Rouse as evidenced by the level of researchers and their work. Authors Josh Olson (Better Places, Better Lives, A Biography of James Rouse); Ann Forsyth (ReForming Suburbia); Nicholas Bloom (Suburban Alchemy and Merchant of Illusion: James Rouse); Paul Marx (Jim Rouse Capitalist/Idealist) and Joseph Mitchell and David Stebenne (New City Upon A Hill) and film maker Kim Skeen (Global Harbors) have made extensive use of the collection.
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Participants in Columbia BikeAbout find history where they live. |
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Columbia Archives continues to accept donations of material, reach out to the community through events and partnerships, and publishing. We are a partner with the Howard County Library’s This is Your Life Project, an on-going collection of informal oral histories, and with the Columbia Festival of the Arts Lakefest. We recently released Oh, you must live in Columbia! The origins of place names in Columbia, Maryland.
What began as a community initiative is now a community institution. Columbia continues to grow and we strive to chronicle not only the past but the on-going development. |
