Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, Collection # RG 19, Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
Acquisition Information
This collection was donated in three parts; the papers were donated by the Campbells in 1990, the tapes for the documentary
were donated by the Campbell Foundation in 1992, and the scrapbook in Series 6 was donated in 1998.
Elizabeth Pfohl (1902-2004) was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and attended Salem College. Before moving to Arlington,
Mrs. Campbell was a college administrator at Moravian College for Women in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and at Mary Baldwin College
in Staunton, Virginia. In 1936, she married Edmund D. Campbell, a Washington lawyer, and moved to Arlington. Mrs. Campbell
has long been involved in Arlington County educational and civic issues and active in many civic associations throughout her
long life. She was a member of the American Association of University Women, the League of Women Voters, Church Women United,
Women's Democratic Club, and the Arlington County Citizen's Committee for School Improvement (CCSI). Mrs. Campbell's involvement
in the CCSI prompted her to run as a candidate for the first elected Arlington County School Board in 1947, and she served
from 1948 through 1955. In 1956, the Virginia General Assembly mandated appointed school boards and Mrs. Campbell accepted
an appointment, serving from 1960 to 1963.
In 1956, Elizabeth Campbell joined the Greater Washington Educational Television Association and became president of the organization
the following year. This group worked to establish Channel 26 as an educational television station, as appointed by the Federal
Communications Commission in 1952. In October of 1961, with funding and infrastructure in place, the FCC application for WETA
went through, and the station started broadcast. Campbell stayed as president of WETA until 1971 but stayed on as Vice President
of Community Affairs until her death in 2004.
RG 19 are papers collected and generated by Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell. The collection measures approximately seven linear feet
and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959.
The materials arranged in this collection were generated or collected through Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington
County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. School Board documents found
in Subgroup 1 include member correspondence, Board minutes, budgets, bond information, superintendent nomination and selection files, annual
reports, handbooks, and integration plans, studies, and follow up reports. These documents cover the 1946 through 1991 period.
The record group also houses a wide variety of publications and reports generated by local civic associations and committees.
Most focus on educational issues, and many on the efforts to integrate Arlington public schools in the mid 1950s. These materials
represent the various opinions of Arlington citizens concerning the integration issue. The clippings and literature files
arranged in Series 6, Ephemera , also reflect the attitudes and opinions of citizens and government during the period of integration, on both national and
local levels. Also included in Series 6 is a file on Edmund Campbell's activities and honors and materials from a scrapbook of his activities, which includes clippings,
correspondence, and a few photographs.
As a member of the Women's Democratic Club and the League of Women Voters, Mrs. Campbell was active in local partisan politics.
A limited amount of printed campaign and issue literature for the mid 1950s period is arranged in Series 3 .
Arlington County, federal, and state documents are arranged in Series 4 and Series 5 . In these groups, researchers will find reports, brochures, legal testimony and other documents focusing on educational issues,
general public relations, community services, and mental health.
Series 7 is primarily videotaped material on Mrs. Campbell's life and activities, and to a lesser extent her husband Ed Campbell.
It includes records and tapes of interviews for a program, "Creating a Life, the Campbell Project." Elizabeth Campbell assigned
Rebecca Leet, whom Campbell had met when Leet worked for WETA, to fundraise for the documentary and execute it. Leet worked
on the project between 1991 and 1992, for about six to nine months. According to an informal interview with Leet and CLH staff,
Arlington Community TV filmed all the footage, while Leet conducted all the interviews and remained responsible creatively
for the final project. WETA and other donors funded the documentary. WETA possibly aired the documentary once or twice in
1992.
Record Group 19 is arranged into seven subgroups according to either broad interest, activity, or membership of Mrs. Campbell.
Each subgroup is further divided into record series based on either type of material, issue, or association. Folders containing
photographs have an asterisk [*] after the file name. Folders with oversized materials have a double asterisk [**] to denote
where material was removed and separation sheets added.
For Series 7 , all tapes, which are in BETACAM and VHS formats, are filed alphabetically by the title given to the tape by Leet and Arlington
Community TV. Before all tapes are files of handwritten logs of the project and computer logs and cross-reference lists of
BETA and VHS tapes.
File 1: Record: "Women Unite to Attack the Problem of Crime" and "Citizens Organize to Reform Their Schools"**
Box 4
File 2: Logs of Source Footage for "Creating a Life"
Box 4
File 3: Original Logs of Tapes for "Creating a Life" (1)
Box 5
File 4: Original Logs of Tapes for "Creating a Life" (2)
Box 6
Tape: "The Annenberg Washington Program Salutes Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell"; Panel Discussion - "Public TV's Programming Dilemma -
Conflicting Objectives, Hard Choices"
Tapes (BETA format): The Campbell Project
Box 7
Tape A: Moravian Easter Sunrise Service
Box 7
Tape B: Moravian Easter Sunrise Service
Box 7
Tape E: God's Acre
Box 7
Tape F: Cedarhurst and Salem Academy
Box 7
Tape G: Old Salem
Box 7
Tape I
Box 7
Tape J
Box 7
Tape K-11: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 7
Tape L12: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 7
Tape M-13: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 7
Tape N-14: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 7
Tape C: Missing
Box 7
Tape D: Missing
Box 7
Tape H: Missing
Box 8
Tape O-15: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape P-16: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape Q-17: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape R-18: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape S-19: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape T-1: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape U-2: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape V-3: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape W-4: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape X-5: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape Y-6: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 8
Tape Z-7: Ed Campbell Interview
Box 9
Tape A: Moravian Sunrise Service (Home Church)
Box 9
Tape B: Sunrise Service - God's Acre
Box 9
Tape C-D: Sunrise Service - God's Acre
Box 9
Tape E: God's Acre/Salem, North Carolina
Box 9
Tape 6: Salem, North Carolina
Box 9
Tape K-11: Elizabeth (chronology)
Box 9
Tape L-12: Elizabeth (chronology)
Box 9
Tape M-13: Elizabeth Campbell
Box 9
Tape N-14: Elizabeth Campbell
Box 9
Tape O-15: Elizabeth Campbell
Box 9
Tape P-16: Elizabeth Campbell
Box 9
Tape Q-17: Elizabeth Campbell
Box 9
Tape R-18: Elizabeth: Edmund Campbell
Box 9
Tape Z-7: Edmund Campbell/Elizabeth (WETA)
Box 9
[Note: Tapes F, H, I, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y are missing]
Box 10
Tape AA-8: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 10
Tape BB-9: Elizabeth Campbell Interview
Box 10
Tape CC-10: Theda Henley Interview
Box 10
Tape DD-12: Theda Henley Interview
Box 10
Tape EE-31: Mrs. Grafton Interview
Box 10
Tape FF-32: Mrs. Grafton Interview
Box 10
Tape GG-33: Mrs. Grafton Interview
Box 10
Tape HH-34: Mrs. Grafton Interview
Box 10
Tape II-35: Exteriors
Box 10
Tape KK-37: Virginia Stitzenberger Interview
Box 10
Tape LL-38: Ed Campbell, Jr. Interview
Box 10
[Note: Tape JJ is missing]
Box 11
Tape MM-39: Ed Campbell, Jr. Interview
Box 11
Tape NN-40: Ed Campbell/Virginia Holt Interview
Box 11
Tape OO-41: Virginia Holt/Don Campbell Interviews
Box 11
Tape PP-42: Don Campbell/Ellen Bozman Interviews
Box 11
Tape QQ-43: Ellen Bozman/Max Kampelman Interviews
Tapes (VHS format)
Box 12
Tape AA-8: Elizabeth Campbell
Box 12
Tape BB-9: Elizabeth Campbell
Box 12
Tape CC-10: Theda Henley
Box 12
Tape DD-12: Theda Henley (WETA)
Box 12
Tape EE-31: Grafton's
Box 12
Tape FF-32: Grafton's
Box 12
Tape GG-33: Grafton's
Box 12
Tape HH-34: Grafton's
Box 12
Tape II-35: Exteriors
Box 12
Tape JJ-36: Virginia Stitzenberger
Box 12
Tape KK-37: Virginia Stitzenberger
Box 12
Tape LL-38: Ed Campbell, Jr.
Box 12
Tape MM-39: Ed Campbell, Jr.
Box 12
Tape NN-40: Ed Campbell, Jr./Virginia Holt
Box 13
Tape OO-41: Virginia Holt/Don Campbell Interviews
Box 13
Tape PP-42: Don Campbell/Ellen Bozman Interviews
Box 13
Tape RR-44: Max Kampelman/Mary Marshall Interviews