PUBLIC "-//Mary Riley Styles Public Library//TEXT (US::VaFcSPL::VaFcSPL00006::Citizens for a Better City, 1959-2012)//EN" "VaFcSPL00006.xml" A Guide to the Citizens for a Better City, 1959-2012 Citizens for a Better City Record Group 4-1 Mary Riley Styles Public Library 2023 (CC0 1.0)

Conditions of Use

This finding aid was produced using a form and manually entry 2023-05-26 Description is in English Citizens for a Better City, 1959-2012 A Collection in Mary Riley Styles Public Library Record Group 4-1

Mary Riley Styles Public Library 2023 Mary Riley Styles Public Library Mary Riley Styles Public Library Descriptive Summary Falls Church History Room, Mary Riley Styles Public Library Citizens for a Better City, 1959-2012 Record Group 4-1 11 boxes Materials in this collection are in English. Administrative Information Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

 Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

There are no restrictions to access the files.

 Immediate Source of Acquisition

In 1979 the CBC transferred its file to the Mary Riley Styles Public Library. The original transfer included campaign materials from 1959 to 1976. The resolution also allowed for additional materials to be incorporated into the collection. Additional files were donated by Edward B. Strait. There are no restrictions to access the files.

 Biographical/Historical Note

The Citizens for a Better Council, later renamed Citizens for a Better City, was formed in 1959. A group of citizens was concerned that the City Council was ignoring a referendum that was passed to expand the high school. They ran three candidates for City Council, and all three were elected. In the following election years, the CBC would hold a convention to nominate candidates to run for City Council on a non-partisan basis. The CBC no longer holds nominating conventions, but is still active in the community.

 Scope and Content

Edward B. Strait, a Falls Church resident, collected and held the files of the CBC. These files were donated to the Mary Riley Styles Public Library in 2013 per his instructions. These were added to the files already held by the library.

The collection of the CBC is arranged into eight series created by the archivist. It covers the time period 1959 to 2012. Series 1: By-Laws and History Series 2: Annual Meetings Series 3: Executive Committee Series 4: Elections. Each election contains files for the nominating convention and the campaigns of CBC candidates. Campaign materials are also included here. Most election also have a file of newspaper clippings. This series was arranged chronologically. Series 5: Subject files Series 6: Falls Church Series 7: Publications Series 8: Newspaper Clippings Series 9: Audiovisual materials and Photographs Series 10: Edward B. Strait

Series 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 are arranged chronologically. The files in Series 5 and 6 are in alphabetical order.

Arrangement

The files were reorganized into series by the archivist. The CBC had arranged the files by year for the Executive Committee, the convention records and the campaign materials. Previous to the donation, the Falls Church History Room had some files of the CBC which were incorporated into the Edward Strait donation. Files retained the names given by the CBC. Most files are in chronological order except as noted above. Newspaper clippings pertaining to a particular election are included in Series 4 and were placed in separate folders; other newspaper clippings were placed in Series 8.

Contents List

*File has a photograph/photographs

Series 1: By-Laws and History (Box 1) By Laws, 1959-2011 1 Executive Boards, 1959-2012 2 History, 1959-2009 3 Series 2: Annual Meetings (Box 1) Annual Meetings, 1960-1979 1 Annual Meetings, 1980-2011 2 Series 3: Executive Committee, 1961-2011 (Box 1) Executive Committee, 1961 1 Executive Committee, 1962 2 Executive Committee, 1963 3 Executive Committee, 1964 4 Executive Committee, 1965 5 Executive Committee, 1966 6 Executive Committee, 1967 7 Executive Committee, 1968 8 Executive Committee, 1969 9 Executive Committee, 1970 10 Series 3: Executive Committee, 1961-2011, continued (Box 2) Executive Committee, 1971 11 Executive Committee, 1972 12 Executive Committee, 1973 13 Executive Committee, 1974 14 Executive Committee, 1975 15 Executive Committee, 1976 16 Executive Committee, 1977 17 Executive Committee, 1978 18 Executive Committee, 1979 19 Executive Committee, 1980 20 Executive Committee, 1981 21 Executive Committee, 1982 22 Executive Committee, 1983 23 Executive Committee, 1984 24 Executive Committee, 1985 25 Executive Committee, 1986 26 Executive Committee, 1987 27 Executive Committee, 1988 28 Executive Committee, 1989 29 Executive Committee, 1990 30 Series 3: Executive Committee, 1961-2011, continued (Box 3) Executive Committee, 1991 31 Executive Committee, 1992 32 Executive Committee, 1993 33 Executive Committee, 1994 34 Executive Committee, 1995 35 Executive Committee, 1996 36 Executive Committee, 1997 37 Executive Committee, 1998 38 Executive Committee, 1999 39 Executive Committee, 2000 40 Executive Committee, 2001 41 Executive Committee, 2002 42 Executive Committee, 2003 43 Executive Committee, 2004 44 Executive Committee, 2005 45 Executive Committee, 2006 46 Executive Committee, 2007 47 Executive Committee, 2008 48 Executive Committee, 2009 49 Executive Committee, 2010 50 Executive Committee, 2011 51 Series 4: Elections, 1959-2012 (Box 3) 1959 Campaign Issues 1 1959 Election 2 1959 Election - Newspaper Clippings 3 1960 Election – Public Works Improvement Bond Issue 4 Series 4: Elections, 1959-2012, continued (Box 4) 1961 Nominating Convention, March 9, 1961 5 1961 Election* 6 1961 Election - Newspaper Clippings 7 1961 Election - Newspaper Clippings from Ed Strait 8 1963 Nominating Convention, March 6, 1963 9 1963 Election 10 1963 Election - Newspaper Clippings 11 1965 Nominating Convention, March 11, 1965 12 1965 Election 13 1965 Election - Newspaper Clippings 14 1967 Nominating Convention, March 16, 1967 15 1967 Election 16 1967 Election - Newspaper Clippings 17 1969 Nominating Convention, March 6, 1969 18 1969 Election 19 1969 Election - Newspaper Clippings 20 1971 Nominating Convention, February 4, 1971 21 1971 Election 22 1971 Election - Newspaper Clippings 23 1971 Election - Newspaper Clippings from Ed Strait 24 Series 4: Elections, 1959-2012, continued (Box 5) 1974 Nominating Convention, February 5, 1974 25 1974 Election 26 1974 Election - Newspaper Clippings 27 1976 Nominating Convention, February 4, 1976 28 1976 Election 29 1978 Nominating Convention, February 1, 1978 30 1978 Election 31 1980 Nominating Convention, February 12, 1980 32 1980 Election 33 1982 Election - Candidate Selection Committee 34 1982 Nominating Convention, February 3, 1982 35 1982 Election 36 1984 Nominating Convention, February 14, 1984 37 1984 Election 38 1984 Election - Finance Committee 39 1986 Nominating Convention, February 12, 1986 40 1986 Election 41 1986 Election - Finance Committee 42 1988 Nominating Convention, February 4, 1988 43 1988 Election 44 1988 Election - Finance Committee 45 1988 Election - Newspaper Clippings 46 1990 Nominating Convention, February 14, 1990 47 1990 Election 48 1990 Election - Campaign Finances 49 1990 Election - Campaign Guest Book 50 Series 4: Elections, 1959-2012, continued (Box 6) 1990 Election - Newspaper Clippings 51 1992 Nominating Convention, January 15, 1992 52 1992 Election 53 1992 Election - Issue Papers 54 1992 Election - Newspaper Clippings 55 1992 Election - Ward Operations Notebook 56 1993 School Board Election 57 1994 Nominating Convention, February 9, 1994 58 1994 Election (folder 1 of 2) 59 1994 Election (folder 2 of 2) 60 1994 Election - Newspaper Clippings 61 1994 School Board Nominating Convention, February 16, 1994 62 1996 Nominating Convention, January 31, 1996 63 1996 Election (folder 1 of 2) 64 1996 Election (folder 2 of 2) 65 Series 4: Elections, 1959-2012, continued (Box 7) 1996 School Board Nominating Convention, January 23, 1996 66 1997 Election for Sheriff 67 1998 Nominating Convention, February 17, 1998 68 1998 Election (folder 1 of 2) 69 1998 Election (folder 2 of 2) 70 1998 Community Center Referendum 71 1998 Election - Newspaper Clippings 72 1999 Referendum, Cherry Hill Park - Newspaper Clippings 73 2000 Nominating Convention, February 12, 2000 74 2000 Election 75 2000 Election - Newspaper Clippings 76 2002 Nominating Convention, February 23, 2002 77 2002 Election 78 2002 Election -Newspaper Clippings 79 2004 Nominating Convention, February 14, 2004 80 Series 4: Elections, 1959-2012, continued (Box 8) 2004 Election (folder 1 of 2) 81 2004 Election (folder 2 of 2) 82 2004 Election - Newspaper Clippings 83 2006 Nominating Convention, February 11, 2006 84 2006 Election 85 2006 Election - Newspaper Clippings 86 2008 Nominating Convention, February 23, 2008 87 2008 Election 88 2010 Nominating Convention, February 20, 2010 89 2010 Election 90 2012 Election 91 CBC Candidates, 1959-2010 92 Elections, 1972-1989 93 Nominating Convention Programs, 1961-1988 94 Nominating Convention Programs, 1990-2010 95 Ward Captain's Manual. [n.d.] 96 Series 5: Subject Files (Box 8) Anniversaries – Founding CBC, 1959-1999 1 Byrd Machine, Newspaper Clippings, 1957 2 Committee on Principles, 1968 3 Dinners and Dining, 1964, 1966, 1983, 2010 4 Forums, 1971-2004 5 Future Directions, 1984-1988 6 Series 5: Subject Files, continued (Box 9) Good Government Survey, [1969-1970?] 7 Governors and Senators of Virginia, 1917-1966 8 Hatch Act 9 Issues Subcommittee, 1972 10 Jane and Wayne Dexter Award, 2001-2009 11 Loyalty Oath, 1960 12 Mailing List, 2004 13 Membership lists, 1967-2011 (with gaps) 14 Policies, 1968 15 Positions, 1972 16 Principles, [n.d.] 17 Songs, 1979, 1983 18 Time Capsule, 1976 19 Transfer Agreement with the Mary Riley Styles Public Library, 1979 20 Website, 2000 21 Series 6: Falls Church, (Box 9) All America Cities Award Competition, 1980 1 All American City, Fairfax County Sun Echo, March 29, 1962 2 Apartment Houses in Falls Church [n.d.] 3 Blur, October-December 1987 (Published by the Citizens for Better Government) 4 Broad Street Referendum, 1989 5 Central Business District, 1968 6 Citizens for Modern Financial Management, 1984-1986 (folder 1 of 2) 7 Citizens for Modern Financial Management, 1984-1986 (folder 2 of 2) 8 City Charter – Proposed Changes, 1969-1970 9 City Council Election, 1955 10 City Council Election, 1957 11 City Council, Goals and Objectives, 1975-1977 12 City Council Meetings, 1957-1960 [incomplete] 13 City Council Members, 1948-2008 14 City Council Report, 1959-1960 15 Commercial Establishments Built in the City, September 1, 1959-August 31, 1960 16 Commissioner of Revenue Election, 1957 17 Elected Mayors, 1875-1964 18 Falls Church Assessments, 1989-1990 19 Series 6: Falls Church, continued (Box 10) Falls Church Citizens for Progress, 1971 20 Falls Church Citizens Organization (FCC0), 1988-1995 21 Falls Church Coalition for Smart Growth, 2002 22 Falls Church Taxpayers League, 1961 23 First Virginia Bankshares, 1967-1969 24 George Mason Bond Coalition, Solicitation of Funds, 1991 25 League of Women Voters of Falls Church, 1965, 2003 26 Plain Talk, 1970-1971, 1989 27 Planned Unit Development, 1970 28 Planned Unit Development, Resolution, 1974 29 Registered Voters, 1992 30 Registered Voters, 1994 31 Registered Voters, 1992-1995, 2001-2002 (total numbers) 32 School Board, 1958-1968 33 Village Preservation and Improvement Society, Revitalization of the Four Mile Run Urban Forest Stream Valley meeting, March 18, 1992 34 Series 7: Publications (Box 10) CBC Notes, 1967-1989 1 CBC Notes, 1990-2004 2 CBC Beacon, 2001-2009 3 Series 8: Newspaper Clippings (Box 10) Newspaper Clippings, 1959, 1961, 1963-1964 1 Newspaper Clippings, 1965-1966 2 Newspaper Clippings, 1967-1968 3 Newspaper Clippings, 1969-1971 4 Newspaper Clippings, 1976, 1979-1980 5 Newspaper Clippings, 1988-1991, 1994 6 Newspaper Clippings, 2001 7 Series 9: Audio-visual (Box 10) Photographs 1 VHS Cassette, CBC Campaign, 1990, "The Candidates, the Issues" 1 CD, CBC Convention, 2004 2 Floppy disc, By Laws, 1994 3 Floppy disc, CBC Convention, 1996 4 Floppy disc, CBC Convention, 1998 (excel files) 5 Floppy disc, CBC Convention, 2000 6 Floppy disc, CBC Convention, 2004 7 Series 10: Edward B. Strait (Box 11) Campaign, 1969 1 President of CBC, 1989-1990 2 Emails, 1998 3 Emails, January-March 2000 4 Emails, March-May 2000 5