Charles Bos Photograph Collection 1974-1987

Access and use

Location of collection:
Thomas Balch Library
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Alexandra S. Gressitt
Phone: (703) 737-7195
Fax: (703) 737-7195

Summary

Creator:
Charles A. Bos
Abstract:
This collection consists of 113 color slides, taken from 1974 to 1987. Images focus on the Leesburg historic district and include the Aldie Mill.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of 113 color slides, taken from 1974 to 1987; the CD contains low resolution copies of 92. Images focus on the Leesburg historic district and include the Aldie Mill. Images are individually catalogued in PastPerfect, Thomas Balch Library's visual collections database available onsite, and may be identified in the online index available at www.leesburgva.gov/ThomasBalchLibrary/SpecialCollections by searching vc_0024.

Biographical / historical:

Charles A. Bos was born on 1 June 1940 in North Tonawanda, New York and grew up in Mentor, Ohio. He attended Oberlin College where he studied German and met his wife, Marilyn Whitney. In 1962, a few months before graduation, the couple married. That same year, they moved to Brentwood, Maryland where Bos took a job as a technical writer for the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. Although he liked writing, he did not enjoy government employment and decided in 1965 to pursue his passion for auto repair as a profession. In 1970, the Bos family moved to Leesburg, Virginia and purchased a circa 1830's home where they raised three daughters: Margot, Karla and Lisa. He also opened the Leesburg Import Service, an automobile repair shop, and managed it for twenty years until he retired.

Bos was civic-minded. His enthusiasm for renovating his historic Loudoun County home eventually led him to join Leesburg's Board of Architectural Review in the 1970's, to serve on the board of the Loudoun Restoration and Preservation Society and to initiate its first newsletter. He was elected to the Leesburg Town Council. Additionally, Bos was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and subsequently served a full term. He was one of the founders in 1976 for Leesburg's August Court Days, a community celebration that included music, crafts, food, and re-enactors dressed in period clothes. It was during the August Court Days that Bos's vision of concerts on the Courthouse lawn emerged, which materialized as the annual Bluemont Summer Concert Series.

Bos' diverse interests also included golfing, travel and music. Charles Bos died after a three year struggle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 64 on 25 May 2005.

Acquisition information:
Marilyn Bos, Leesburg, VA