With this new series, we will highlight publications that touch on Arlington’s historic places and people. Future posts will deal with the Civil War, Arlington Cemetery, and other topics.

The following books give a good general historic overview, in words and images, of Arlington County.

Images of America: Arlington. Arlington Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing. First printed in 2000 and reprinted in 2001. A great 128-page book organizing photographs of Arlington into six specific date ranges that relate to spurts of growth in Arlington. The collection was amassed from the archives of the Arlington Historical Society, the County Library’s Center for Local History, and private collections. Each photograph has a short paragraph description. Photographs include aerials, street scenes, buildings, and people in their daily lives.

Historic Photos of Arlington County. Matthew Gilmore, Turner Publishing. Printed in 2007, this is a collection of 200 photographs from the Alexandria Public Library, Arlington’s Center for Local History, the D.C. Public Library, and the Library of Congress. Each photograph has a brief write-up. This collection collapses Arlington into three chapters: A Place for Soldiers (1861-1899), Developing a New Identity (1900-1930), and From Washington’s Backyard to Suburban Heartland (1931-1975).

Arlington County in Virginia: A Pictorial History. Nan and Ross Netherton, The Donning Company Publishers. Published in 1987 by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, this publication contains more than 250 pages of photographs and discussion about Arlington history. Broken into fourteen chapters, it is more of a linear history of the county accompanied by relevant photograph documentation.

Arlington County, Virginia: A History. C.B. Rose, Jr., Arlington Historical Society. The inside jacket describes this book as “a comprehensive history,” which is pretty accurate as the book has a substantial amount of information and only a handful of photographs. At over 250 pages it divides the county history into twelve different chapters, starting with the first Arlingtonians to the creation of multiple regional organizations in the early 1970s. Published in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial, it is interesting reading given that Arlington was only then being positioned for rapid growth with the construction of Metro and I-66.

Arlington Heritage: Vignettes of a Virginia County. Eleanor Lee Templeman, Avenel Books. Published in 1959, this book is a must-read historical piece. Revised from material from articles that first appeared in The Northern Virginia Sun, this is a collection of almost 100 stories about Arlington. Each story stands independent of the others but covers an important home, event, or person in Arlington’s history. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Virginia Historical Society, and the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the District of Columbia (of which Mrs. Templeman was a member) all poured accolades on this book.

All of these titles are available at The a Center for Local History in Arlington’s Central Library. The Arlington Historical Society Museum has new copies of Images of America for sale. The others can be purchased at online sites such as Amazon or eBay.