The City of Fairfax Regional Library’s Virginia Room has long stewarded an extensive collection of historical photographs taken throughout the decades in the county, city, and region. Now, many of those snapshots are available online through Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL).
Launched last week, the Fairfax County History Portal now offers users 24/7 access to more than 5,600 digitized, vintage photos that include local landmarks, aerial views of neighborhoods, and Park Authority sites spanning from Great Falls to Centreville.
The database can be browsed by location and features an interactive map of geotagged photos.
“Ultimately, we hope that the portal inspires people to develop a greater appreciation for their community’s history and spark a curiosity to explore it further,” Chris Barbuschak, Virginia Room manager, told FFXnow over email. “We want residents to see their familiar neighborhoods and landmarks, discover stories and perspectives that may have been overlooked, and understand how much their community has changed over time.”
The site has functionality for users to share information about the people and places included in the photos. Images can be downloaded.
“Until now, much of this material could only be explored by visiting the Virginia Room,” Barbuschak said. “With the creation of this portal, we wanted to remove those barriers and create a resource where people could easily discover, explore, and connect with their local history from anywhere.”
While FCPL used to have a digital collections platform, it wasn’t user-friendly, he added.
“When it was discontinued two years ago, we saw an opportunity to find a more sustainable, user-friendly solution with Recollect, a digital collections platform developed by New Zealand-based NZMS,” Barbuschak said. “Fairfax County Public Library is the first library on the East Coast to use the platform.”
The history portal’s collection is expected to expand over the next few months, with staff adding documents, oral histories and other collections to the site.
Additionally, the Virginia Room is always open to accepting photo donations. Located on the second floor of the Fairfax City library (10360 North Street), the archive is open during the branch’s regular hours of 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
“Our collections have been built in large part through the generosity of individuals and organizations throughout the community,” Barbuschak said. “We hope the portal will inspire even more people to donate photographs, documents, and other archival materials, helping us preserve a fuller picture of Fairfax County’s history and ensure these stories remain accessible to future generations.”
