Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society
| Address |
200 Second Street N.E. Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 |
| Phone | (540) 222-9956 |
| Website | http://www.albemarlehistory.org |
| Primary Contact | Tom Chapman |
| Primary Email | executivedirector@albemarlehistory.org |
| Executive Director | Tom Chapman |
| Primary Focus Area | Arts and Humanities |
| Service Areas |
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Mission Statement
History is not the past; it is the story we tell about the past. Every person in Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville has a unique and powerful story to tell. Through collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of our community, we are committed to informing, inspiring, and bringing together all people, creating opportunities for new relationships and new understandings.
Overview
Founded in 1940, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society (Society) is a private, non-profit educational organization (IRS 501 (c) 3) that seeks to study, preserve, and promote the history of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. The Society is a membership organization, open to all, and receives no continuing operating support from federal, state or local governments but rather relies on membership fees, gifts and donations, and grants from private foundations.
The Society's research library, administered by a librarian on the staff of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, contains over 2,000 books and bound periodicals, as well as manuscripts, maps, pamphlets, newspapers, and vertical files relating to the history of our community. Additionally, the archival collection contains over 1,500 artifacts of historical significance to Charlottesville and Albemarle County in addition to over 60,000 photographic images.
The Society is located in downtown Charlottesville in the historic McIntire Building. Designed in the Beaux Arts style by architect Walter Dabney Blair, the McIntire Building was completed in 1921 and donated by local civic benefactor Paul Goodloe McIntire to the City of Charlottesville as the city's first municipal library. Following an extensive renovation by the Society of this city-owned building in 1993, the Society moved into it in January 1994.
Giving Opportunities
| Opportunity 1 | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Race & Sports: The Desegregation of Central Virginia Public High School Athletics |
| Description: | The proposed project, “Race & Sports: The Desegregation of Central Virginia Public High School Athletics,” is an oral history initiative that will collect and preserve the recollections of those involved in Charlottesville and Albemarle County public high school sports between the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision and the breaking of the athletic color line at the University of Virginia (1970). We will build a broad collection of oral history interviews that include White and Black student athletes, cheerleaders, school administrators, teachers, coaches, local leaders, and parents. And, we will supplement these recollections with published source materials. Our ultimate goal is to produce a quality documentary film that will tell the complex story of the interaction between race and athletics in public schools during the tumultuous time of the civil rights movement. This story has local, regional, and national significance - one we believe has not been fully explored. The ACHS hopes this film will be viewed and used as an educational tool far and wide. And, the ACHS believes that through the popularity of sports and the common memory of the high school experience, this film can be a source of greater racial understandings and improved dialogue. |
| Project Timeline | 2021-2022 |