Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the Dorn McGrath Fairfax County and Loudoun County slide collection must be obtained from Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Dorn McGrath Fairfax County and Loudoun County slide collection, C0210, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Dorn McGrath in 2012 and 2013.

Processing Information

Processed by Jordan Patty in July 2012. Additional processing completed by Stephanie Washburn in January 2013. EAD markup completed by Jordan Patty in July 2012. Additional cataloging completed by Stephanie Washburn in January 2013.

Biographical Information

Dorn McGrath is Professor Emeritus of Urban and Regional Planning and Geography. In 2003 he retired from the George Washington University where he was founder of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Director of the Institute for Urban Development Research, Chairman of the Department of Geography and Regional Science, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, and was one of the founders of the University's Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. McGrath also served as a member of the adjunct faculty at the Johns Hopkins University , School for Advanced International Studies. From 1987-1996 he served as Chairman of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City. Currently he serves as an adjunct faculty member of Goucher College.

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 525 color slides that contain mostly aerial views of Fairfax County and Loudoun County, Virginia. The aerial views feature housing developments, automobile transportation corridors, Dulles International Airport, and the surrounding countryside. Many of the photographs at ground level feature the contested area at the intersection of Old Dominion Drive (Route 738) and Spring Hil Road (Route 684) that was the subject of a lawsuit between Mobil Oil and the Fairfax County government. In 1986 Mobil requested that the area be rezoned, and eventually succeeded after multiple appeals. There are also slides with charts and graphs, perhaps used for presentations. Some of the slides are individually identified with handwritten titles, and the titles follow the naming conventions used on the original slide boxes with some editing for clarification. The photographs of Loudoun County are mostly aerial photographs of Leesburg, Middleburg, and various interchanges in the county. There are several images of farms and the surrounding countryside.

Arrangement

Organized by subject.

Related Material

Special Collections and Archives also holds a number of collections on Northern Virginia including many images of planning and development in Reston, Virginia.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Dulles International Airport--Photographs.

Geographical Names:

• Fairfax County (Va.)--Photographs.
• Loudoun County (Va.)--Photographs

Subjects:

• Housing--Virginia--Fairfax County.
• Planning--Virginia, Northern.

Document Types:

• Aerial photographs.
• Slides.