A century from now, will desegregation in Virginia be a forgotten story? If we don't do a better job of saving our records, it will be. Currently few of the records of school desegregation in Virginia are publicly available. A group of archivists, historians and public officials have expressed an interest in creating a taskforce to identify, locate and preserve records that document Virginia’s school desegregation process. This documentation could encompass public and private records from the early 1950s into the late 1980s. Public records of desegregation could include City Council/County Board minutes; School Board minutes and administrative papers; school district correspondence with parents, city and county officials, Virginia Department of Education and Pupil Placement Board, decisional papers, legal advice and policy statements. Private records might take the form of teachers’ diaries, oral histories, records of informal tutoring groups that existed when public school were closed, organization papers of ad hoc citizen groups for and against Massive Resistance, papers of associations such as Virginia Education Association, Virginia State Teachers Association, Virginia Association of School Superintendents, Virginia School Boards Association. Legal research may be necessary to determine the public access rights to some of these records. Individual student school and medical records would not be sought due to confidentiality laws. Events that might be covered include the early challenges to Jim Crow schools in the pre-Brown early 1950s; the Virginia court cases that were bundled with other suits to become Brown v. Board of Ed; the school closings in Prince Edward County, Charlottesville, Warren County and Norfolk; the school openings in those counties; the gradual integration of all public schools in Virginia and court ordered busing to end de facto segregation lasting into the 1980s. The final product of this taskforce would be an electronic catalog (similar to the Virginia Heritage Project) which would describe the existent records of desegregation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The tasks of this group might include: Determining the scope and timeframe of what is to be documented: the Massive Resistance movement, public schools, private schools, higher education, etc. Recruiting participation from members of relevant constituent groups such as school superintendents, teachers, civic leaders, etc. Recruiting task force members from each area of Virginia who are knowledgeable about regional history and records Obtaining funding for the project from granting agencies such as the Virginia Heritage Foundation and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Developing a historical records survey instrument to locate relevant records Creating an electronic catalog of discovered records Finding a virtual home for the catalog Developing an educational toolkit for K-12 teachers to use the catalog The media attention given to the 50th anniversary of Massive Resistance’s school closings has increased public awareness of this important era. While the public is listening may be the best time to find documentation so that the 100th anniversary is not commemorated with silence. We would welcome your thoughts and suggestions on this idea. Sonia Yaco Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist Old Dominion University [log in to unmask] Dr. James Sweeney Associate Professor of History Old Dominion University Old Dominion University 4427 Hampton Blvd. Norfolk, VA 23529-0256 http://www.lib.odu.edu/special/index.htm