Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Preferred Citation

Reston Reflections oral history collection, Collection #C0171, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Sarah Larson, Gene B. Zablotney, and others in 1995-2010.

Processing Information

Processed in July 2009 by Emily Martin with additions by Steven Harris-Scott in September 2010. The Reston Reflections Collection was originally attached to the larger Planned Community Collection currently in the Special Collections and Archives. Beginning in 2009 the documents from the Reston Reflections were removed and organized into a separate collection still housed in the Special Collections and Archives at George Mason University Libraries.

Historical Information

Langston Hughes Middle School is a school in Reston in Fairfax County. The school was named for the poet, Langston Hughes, and was established in 1979. Beginning in 1994 the eighth graders at Langston Hughes Middle School began an oral history project where they interviewed different citizens of Reston. Each year had a different theme starting with Reston's Thirtieth Anniversary (1994-1995), Volunteers in the Community (1996), Leadership in the Community (1998), Business in the Community (1999), Transportation in the Community (2000), Life Cycle of Neighborhoods (2001), Civil Rights Movement (2002), War and the Community (2003), Reston's Fortieth Anniversary (2004), Providing Affordable Housing (2005), Women in Community (2006), Creating Recreation Opportunities in Community (2007) and Technology and Community Change (2008).

Scope and Content

The Reston Reflections are a collection of interviews done by the students at Langston Hughes Middle School. The students conducted interviews with residents of Reston to create an oral history of Reston. The project spans several years beginning in 1994 with the final interviews in 2009. Among those interviewed are some of Reston more prominent citizens such as Robert E. Simon, the founder of Reston, and Martha Pennino.

Series one is titled Transcripts. This series contains the transcripts of the interviews that the student conducted. The transcripts have descriptions of the interviewee, questions and answers from the interviews, report from the student on the process they undertook to arrange the interviews and a final evaluation done by the teacher, grading the students projects. Some of the transcripts also have the audiotapes because the projects have not been processed previously. Also included at the beginning of the series are an index and list of those interviewed. The series is dated from 1994 to 2008 and contained in 79 boxes.

Series two is titled Audiotapes. These are the tapes that have been removed from the transcripts. The tapes are the actual interviews conducted by the students. The audiotapes are from the oral histories that were previously processed and are the earlier interviews done by the students of Langston Hughes Middle Schools. The series is dated from 1994 to 2000 and is contained in 10 boxes.

Series three is titled 1996 Interviews (Volunteers). These are additional transcripts and audiotapes that were done in 1996 by the students at Langston Hughes Middle School. They were originally stored separated under the title oral history in the Planned Community Archives. They are now organized together with the rest of the Reston Reflections. The series is dated 1996 and is contained in 6 boxes.

Series four is titled 2001, 2003 and 2009 Interviews. These are additional transcripts and audiotapes completed by the students at Langston Hughes Middle School. The topics covered are Life Cycle of Neighborhood in 2001 and the War and Community in 2003. They were processed separately but have now been organized with the entire Reston Reflection collection. The series is dated in 2001, 2003 and 2009, and is contained in 33 boxes.

Arrangement

Organized into four series.

Related Material

Special Collections and Archives also holds many other collections on the history of Reston, Virginia and other planned communities.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Housing
• Oral history
• Planned communities -- Virginia -- Reston
• Reston (Va.)
• Sound recordings