The Marjorie and Robert Lundegard Papers, 1971-2018

Access and use

Location of collection:
Fairfax County Public Library
Fairfax County Public Library
City of Fairfax Regional Library
Virginia Room
10360 North Street
Fairfax, VA 22030-2514
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Chris Barbuschak
Phone: (703) 293-2142
Phone: (703) 293-6227 ext. 6 (Virginia Room)
Fax: (703) 293-2155

Summary

Extent:
6.0 linear feet
Creator:
Marjorie Lundegard (1920-2022) and Robert J. Lundegard (1927-2019)
Abstract:
The Marjorie and Robert Lundegard Papers consists of 6.0 linear feet and spans the years 1971-2018. It consists of articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, photocopies, postcards, maps, travel pamphlets, newsletters, correspondence, journal entries, and notes concerning their research on grist mills.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The Marjorie and Robert Lundegard Papers consists of 6.0 linear feet and spans the years 1971-2018. It consists of articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, photocopies, postcards, maps, travel pamphlets, newsletters, correspondence, journal entries, and notes concerning their research on grist mills. The bulk of their research was focused on mills and mill sites in Virginia, but they also researched sites throughout the United States and internationally.

Biographical / historical:

Robert James Lundegard was born on February 22, 1927, in Youngstown, Ohio. During World War II, he joined the Navy while still in high school. Bob used the G.I. Bill to graduate from Purdue University with an M.S. in Statistics in 1952, and a Ph.D. in Statistics in 1956. While at Purdue, he met Mary Marjorie Jones, who was born on August 10, 1920, in Bourbon, Indiana. She had earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in Chemistry and Physics from Purdue. The couple were married by the Justice of the Peace in his office in Lafayette, Indiana on September 7, 1951.

The Lundegards initially moved to Syracuse, NY where Bob taught at Syracuse University, and Marge became a high school math teacher. In September 1961, the Lundegards relocated to Fairfax County and purchased a house in the Courtland Park neighborhood in Falls Church. Bob went on to have a distinguished career at the Office of Naval Research and became its Deputy Director. In 1987, he was appointed Chief of Statistical Engineering at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He retired in 1991. Marge taught science at Flint Hill School and later Oakton High School. The Washington Science Teachers Association and Fairfax County Public Schools both recognized her as an Outstanding Teacher of Chemistry.

After retiring from Oakton High School in 1988, Marge began volunteering at Sully Historic Site in Chantilly. Because the commute to Sully became increasingly difficult, she switched to volunteering closer to home at Colvin Run Mill in Great Falls. This led to an avid interest in mills and milling. She and Bob started stopping at old mills on their travels which they began chronicling in a column in the Colvin Run Mill Newsletter called "On the Road with Marge and Bob."

During their retirement, both Bob and Marge spent over 25,000 hours volunteering at Colvin Run Mill and passionately pushed for its restoration. They were founding members of the Friends of Colvin Run Mill in 1997, and Bob went on to be the organization’s president. Marge researched and documented mills around Northern Virginia, and she wrote over 22 publications on mills and mill sites in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware and Pennsylvania. All proceeds from her publications went towards the mill, and together, Marge and Bob raised more than $50,000 to support Colvin Run Mill’s capital improvements plan. Marge’s research and documentation on mills earned her the Great Falls Historical Society’s Jean Tibbetts History Award in May 2012.

In addition to his involvement with Colvin Run Mill, Bob Lundegard also spent his retirement as President and Circulation Manager of the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and served on the Board of the Great Falls Senior Center and Great Falls Historical Society. The couple also spent time volunteering at Inova Fairfax Hospital's Treasure Trove store in McLean.

Bob Lundegard passed away on May 20, 2019. That July, the Fairfax County Park Authority voted to rename the barn at Colvin Run Mill, the “Marjorie and Robert J. Lundegard Education Center”. Marge Lundegard passed away on May 10, 2022, at age 101.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Marjorie Lundegard through her son, Paul Lundegard in November 2019.