{"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Baccess_subjects%5D%5B%5D=University+extentsion--Virginia%2C+Northern.\u0026view=compact","last":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Baccess_subjects%5D%5B%5D=University+extentsion--Virginia%2C+Northern.\u0026page=1\u0026view=compact"},"meta":{"pages":{"current_page":1,"next_page":null,"prev_page":null,"total_pages":1,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":0,"total_count":1,"first_page?":true,"last_page?":true}},"data":[{"id":"vifgm_vifgm00019","type":"collection","attributes":{"title":"Clarence A. Steele papers","creator":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/vifgm_vifgm00019#creator","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"Clarence A. Steele\n","label":"Creator"}},"abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/vifgm_vifgm00019#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia University Center. Included are minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents. ","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/vifgm_vifgm00019#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"id":"vifgm_vifgm00019","ead_ssi":"vifgm_vifgm00019","_root_":"vifgm_vifgm00019","_nest_parent_":"vifgm_vifgm00019","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/gmu/vifgm00019.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"http://sca.gmu.edu/finding_aids/","title_ssm":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"title_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1933-1969\n"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1933-1969\n"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["C0056\n"],"text":["C0056\n","Clarence A. Steele papers","Transportation--United States--Planning.","University extentsion--Virginia, Northern.","Collection is open to research.\n","This collection is arranged chronologically.\n","Clarence A. Steele was the chairman of the Exploratory\n         Committee and Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia\n         University Center (NVUC). The Center was established in\n         September 1949 as an adult education extension of the\n         University of Virginia (UVa) at Charlottesville. A few years\n         before, the idea for a center was set into motion. Seeing an\n         opportunity for educational expansion and recognizing the\n         needs of the growing Northern Virginia population, University\n         of Virginia's Extension Division, headed by Professor George\n         B. Zehmer, formed an Exploratory Committee to work out a\n         feasibility plan for creating an extension in Northern\n         Virginia. The result was the Northern Virginia University\n         Center, which became fully operational in February 1950, with\n         six classes enrolling about 50 students.","The Extension Division named John Norville Gibson Finley as\n         the Center's first director. The Center's administrative\n         offices and \"campus\" were located on the campus of\n         Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. During the\n         Center's early years, it offered college-level courses for\n         adults. By the fall of 1953, the Center grew to 55 classes\n         with 900 enrolled students. The Center, which had set out to\n         serve only the immediate Washington metropolitan area in\n         Virginia, expanded to serve an area that encompassed a radius\n         of thirty miles around Arlington. This significant growth\n         forced the Center to reevaluate its mission to the population\n         it served. So in 1954, an Advisory Council formed to examine\n         the challenges of expansion and to consider a \"possible change\n         of character\" for the Center. Moreover, it was asked to\n         \"interpret the community and its desires to the University\"\n         and to \"assist in creating a climate of demand for the\n         educational services offered.\"","The Advisory Council consisted of sixteen members, all of\n         whom resided in Northern Virginia. The Council's first meeting\n         was on January 4, 1954 in Washington-Lee High School, called\n         and chaired by Clarence A. Steele, former chairman of the\n         Center's Exploratory Committee, which the Council superseded.\n         As chair, Steele presided over meetings and directed the\n         activities of the Council. Together with Mr. Zehmer, head of\n         the Extension Division, and President Colgate W. Darden of the\n         University of Virginia, the Council explored ways to convert\n         the Center into a formal branch of University of Virginia.\n         Steele and the Council immediately began a dialogue with\n         prominent members of the community, including Virginia\n         senators Charles R. Fenwick and Harry F. Byrd, Jr., hoping to\n         find support for a branch of the University of Virginia.","In order to establish a branch, the Center had to comply\n         with standards enacted by the Southern Association of Colleges\n         and Secondary Schools, of which the University of Virginia was\n         a member. Standards included: (1) a centrally located building\n         sufficient for administration and instruction; (2) a sizable\n         nucleus of full-time faculty members to ensure permanence and\n         continuity; (3) adequate library and laboratory facilities;\n         (4) a stable pattern of course offerings. Aware that the\n         Center did not meet all of these conditions, the Advisory\n         Council used the Southern Association standards as a\n         foundation for their proposal. Steele thereby formed\n         committees to focus on meeting the standards. The committees\n         included: Building and Grounds, Ways and Means, Public\n         Relations, Legal Council, and Research. This focus streamlined\n         the Council, allowing members to use their expertise most\n         productively. President Darden gave his full support to the\n         endeavor, providing his own philosophy as an impetus: \"bring\n         the University of Virginia to the people\" and \"promote adult\n         education formally and informally; culturally as well as\n         technically.\"","The most important task facing the Council was the search\n         for a location for the new college. Throughout late 1954 and\n         all of 1955 they searched for tracts of land suitable for a\n         permanent location. In the meantime, the Northern Virginia\n         Center (as the Center was now called) continued to grow,\n         expanding to 110 classes with 2,100 enrolled students in the\n         spring of 1956. More startling was the prediction that\n         enrollment would reach 8,000 adult students within a decade.\n         This, along with the area's growing number of high school\n         graduates, necessitated a new emphasis: one which would make\n         the branch an affordable two-year institution with day classes\n         - serving all students, not just adults. At this time, a\n         Virginia House Joint Resolution passed, \"authorizing the\n         establishment of a branch of the University of Virginia to be\n         located in Northern Virginia\" (passed by the House of\n         Delegates and the Senate of Virginia in February 1956),\n         thereby providing the legal underpinning to continue the\n         expansion of the Center.","By early 1956, many locations for the branch had been\n         scouted out and researched. President Darden insisted that the\n         college \"have an appropriate campus, an ample campus, ample\n         acres for spacing buildings, for parking, for playing fields\n         of various kinds, for woods and vistas.\" Later in the year,\n         three sites were seriously considered: the Ravensworth estate,\n         between Annandale and Springfield, along Braddock Road; the\n         Bowman or Herndon tracts, on the Sunset Hills farm land near\n         Herndon; and seven Prince William County sites, including one\n         along the border of Manassas Battlefield Park. In the summer\n         of 1956, the Advisory Council unanimously endorsed the\n         Ravensworth site. But not long after, a sub-committee assigned\n         by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors was charged to\n         survey the locations, and, to the Council's chagrin, it\n         recommended the Bowman tract.","The disagreement arose from an apparent conflict of\n         interest between the Advisory Council and the Visitors\n         sub-committee. A few years prior, the Virginia Advisory\n         Legislative Council to the Governor and the General Assembly\n         (VALC) drafted a report, recommending that new university\n         branches should only be two-year institutions and be\n         self-supportive. In other words, VALC \"wanted to establish\n         urban branches [without dormitories] where students could live\n         at home,\" and thus raise the cost of tuition, saving the state\n         from unnecessary expenses.","Accordingly, in their search for branch locations, the\n         Advisory Council looked for sites that would accommodate a\n         \"2-year, non-dormitory type of institution ONLY.\" They found\n         the Ravensworth site ideal for those purposes. Conversely, the\n         Visitors sub-committee's choice of the Bowman tract - a much\n         larger and even more isolated area - clearly \"envisioned a\n         full scale dormitory type institution.\" The Council was\n         unaware of the University of Virginia's plan to establish a\n         large, four-year college with an extensive campus, and was\n         unprepared for such a shift in focus.","Gathering what support they could, the Council sent\n         delegations from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax Counties to\n         persuade the Board of Visitors to reconsider. Several members\n         of the Visitors were openly antagonistic to the Ravensworth\n         site, mainly because the Bowman tract offered a firmer\n         political base to the region. Others felt that there was\n         \"little use for Northern Virginia\" for the future of the\n         University. After some debate the Visitors dryly agreed to\n         \"take the whole matter of establishing a branch under\n         advisement.\" A few years later, in 1959, the Council and the\n         Visitors settled their differences and decided on an entirely\n         new site: the Farr tract, the site on which George Mason\n         University now stands, located less than one mile south of\n         Fairfax City.","The Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Center, with\n         Clarence A. Steele at the helm, faced many challenges during\n         the early years of its existence. The problems associated with\n         growth, the evaluation of educational needs in Northern\n         Virginia, and the search for a new location for the University\n         branch occupied much time and required considerable\n         investment.","Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in March 2009. Additional processing and EAD markup completed by Maria Forte in March 2010.\n","Special Collections and Archives also holds the   and collections on  .\n","This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele.  Papers, relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia, include minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.  In addition the collection includes road-use surveys, manuals, personnel hiring and correspondence for surveys managed by Clarence A. Steele in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1936.\n","There are no restrictions.\n","This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia University Center. Included are minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.\n","George Mason University.  Special Collections and Archives.\n","George Mason University--History--20th century.","University of Virginia--History--20th century.","University of Virginia. Northern Virginia Center.","Clarence A. Steele\n","English\n"],"unitid_tesim":["C0056\n"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"collection_title_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"collection_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"repository_ssm":["George Mason University"],"repository_ssim":["George Mason University"],"creator_ssm":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"creator_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"creators_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"acqinfo_ssim":["Collection donated by Clarence A. Steele in 1999.\n"],"access_subjects_ssim":["Transportation--United States--Planning.","University extentsion--Virginia, Northern."],"access_subjects_ssm":["Transportation--United States--Planning.","University extentsion--Virginia, Northern."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["1.25 linear feet (3 boxes)"],"extent_tesim":["1.25 linear feet (3 boxes)"],"date_range_isim":[1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection is open to research.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions\n"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection is open to research.\n"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection is arranged chronologically.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement\n"],"arrangement_tesim":["This collection is arranged chronologically.\n"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eClarence A. Steele was the chairman of the Exploratory\n         Committee and Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia\n         University Center (NVUC). The Center was established in\n         September 1949 as an adult education extension of the\n         University of Virginia (UVa) at Charlottesville. A few years\n         before, the idea for a center was set into motion. Seeing an\n         opportunity for educational expansion and recognizing the\n         needs of the growing Northern Virginia population, University\n         of Virginia's Extension Division, headed by Professor George\n         B. Zehmer, formed an Exploratory Committee to work out a\n         feasibility plan for creating an extension in Northern\n         Virginia. The result was the Northern Virginia University\n         Center, which became fully operational in February 1950, with\n         six classes enrolling about 50 students.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Extension Division named John Norville Gibson Finley as\n         the Center's first director. The Center's administrative\n         offices and \"campus\" were located on the campus of\n         Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. During the\n         Center's early years, it offered college-level courses for\n         adults. By the fall of 1953, the Center grew to 55 classes\n         with 900 enrolled students. The Center, which had set out to\n         serve only the immediate Washington metropolitan area in\n         Virginia, expanded to serve an area that encompassed a radius\n         of thirty miles around Arlington. This significant growth\n         forced the Center to reevaluate its mission to the population\n         it served. So in 1954, an Advisory Council formed to examine\n         the challenges of expansion and to consider a \"possible change\n         of character\" for the Center. Moreover, it was asked to\n         \"interpret the community and its desires to the University\"\n         and to \"assist in creating a climate of demand for the\n         educational services offered.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Advisory Council consisted of sixteen members, all of\n         whom resided in Northern Virginia. The Council's first meeting\n         was on January 4, 1954 in Washington-Lee High School, called\n         and chaired by Clarence A. Steele, former chairman of the\n         Center's Exploratory Committee, which the Council superseded.\n         As chair, Steele presided over meetings and directed the\n         activities of the Council. Together with Mr. Zehmer, head of\n         the Extension Division, and President Colgate W. Darden of the\n         University of Virginia, the Council explored ways to convert\n         the Center into a formal branch of University of Virginia.\n         Steele and the Council immediately began a dialogue with\n         prominent members of the community, including Virginia\n         senators Charles R. Fenwick and Harry F. Byrd, Jr., hoping to\n         find support for a branch of the University of Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn order to establish a branch, the Center had to comply\n         with standards enacted by the Southern Association of Colleges\n         and Secondary Schools, of which the University of Virginia was\n         a member. Standards included: (1) a centrally located building\n         sufficient for administration and instruction; (2) a sizable\n         nucleus of full-time faculty members to ensure permanence and\n         continuity; (3) adequate library and laboratory facilities;\n         (4) a stable pattern of course offerings. Aware that the\n         Center did not meet all of these conditions, the Advisory\n         Council used the Southern Association standards as a\n         foundation for their proposal. Steele thereby formed\n         committees to focus on meeting the standards. The committees\n         included: Building and Grounds, Ways and Means, Public\n         Relations, Legal Council, and Research. This focus streamlined\n         the Council, allowing members to use their expertise most\n         productively. President Darden gave his full support to the\n         endeavor, providing his own philosophy as an impetus: \"bring\n         the University of Virginia to the people\" and \"promote adult\n         education formally and informally; culturally as well as\n         technically.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe most important task facing the Council was the search\n         for a location for the new college. Throughout late 1954 and\n         all of 1955 they searched for tracts of land suitable for a\n         permanent location. In the meantime, the Northern Virginia\n         Center (as the Center was now called) continued to grow,\n         expanding to 110 classes with 2,100 enrolled students in the\n         spring of 1956. More startling was the prediction that\n         enrollment would reach 8,000 adult students within a decade.\n         This, along with the area's growing number of high school\n         graduates, necessitated a new emphasis: one which would make\n         the branch an affordable two-year institution with day classes\n         - serving all students, not just adults. At this time, a\n         Virginia House Joint Resolution passed, \"authorizing the\n         establishment of a branch of the University of Virginia to be\n         located in Northern Virginia\" (passed by the House of\n         Delegates and the Senate of Virginia in February 1956),\n         thereby providing the legal underpinning to continue the\n         expansion of the Center.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eBy early 1956, many locations for the branch had been\n         scouted out and researched. President Darden insisted that the\n         college \"have an appropriate campus, an ample campus, ample\n         acres for spacing buildings, for parking, for playing fields\n         of various kinds, for woods and vistas.\" Later in the year,\n         three sites were seriously considered: the Ravensworth estate,\n         between Annandale and Springfield, along Braddock Road; the\n         Bowman or Herndon tracts, on the Sunset Hills farm land near\n         Herndon; and seven Prince William County sites, including one\n         along the border of Manassas Battlefield Park. In the summer\n         of 1956, the Advisory Council unanimously endorsed the\n         Ravensworth site. But not long after, a sub-committee assigned\n         by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors was charged to\n         survey the locations, and, to the Council's chagrin, it\n         recommended the Bowman tract.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe disagreement arose from an apparent conflict of\n         interest between the Advisory Council and the Visitors\n         sub-committee. A few years prior, the Virginia Advisory\n         Legislative Council to the Governor and the General Assembly\n         (VALC) drafted a report, recommending that new university\n         branches should only be two-year institutions and be\n         self-supportive. In other words, VALC \"wanted to establish\n         urban branches [without dormitories] where students could live\n         at home,\" and thus raise the cost of tuition, saving the state\n         from unnecessary expenses.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAccordingly, in their search for branch locations, the\n         Advisory Council looked for sites that would accommodate a\n         \"2-year, non-dormitory type of institution ONLY.\" They found\n         the Ravensworth site ideal for those purposes. Conversely, the\n         Visitors sub-committee's choice of the Bowman tract - a much\n         larger and even more isolated area - clearly \"envisioned a\n         full scale dormitory type institution.\" The Council was\n         unaware of the University of Virginia's plan to establish a\n         large, four-year college with an extensive campus, and was\n         unprepared for such a shift in focus.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eGathering what support they could, the Council sent\n         delegations from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax Counties to\n         persuade the Board of Visitors to reconsider. Several members\n         of the Visitors were openly antagonistic to the Ravensworth\n         site, mainly because the Bowman tract offered a firmer\n         political base to the region. Others felt that there was\n         \"little use for Northern Virginia\" for the future of the\n         University. After some debate the Visitors dryly agreed to\n         \"take the whole matter of establishing a branch under\n         advisement.\" A few years later, in 1959, the Council and the\n         Visitors settled their differences and decided on an entirely\n         new site: the Farr tract, the site on which George Mason\n         University now stands, located less than one mile south of\n         Fairfax City.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Center, with\n         Clarence A. Steele at the helm, faced many challenges during\n         the early years of its existence. The problems associated with\n         growth, the evaluation of educational needs in Northern\n         Virginia, and the search for a new location for the University\n         branch occupied much time and required considerable\n         investment.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Information\n"],"bioghist_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele was the chairman of the Exploratory\n         Committee and Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia\n         University Center (NVUC). The Center was established in\n         September 1949 as an adult education extension of the\n         University of Virginia (UVa) at Charlottesville. A few years\n         before, the idea for a center was set into motion. Seeing an\n         opportunity for educational expansion and recognizing the\n         needs of the growing Northern Virginia population, University\n         of Virginia's Extension Division, headed by Professor George\n         B. Zehmer, formed an Exploratory Committee to work out a\n         feasibility plan for creating an extension in Northern\n         Virginia. The result was the Northern Virginia University\n         Center, which became fully operational in February 1950, with\n         six classes enrolling about 50 students.","The Extension Division named John Norville Gibson Finley as\n         the Center's first director. The Center's administrative\n         offices and \"campus\" were located on the campus of\n         Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. During the\n         Center's early years, it offered college-level courses for\n         adults. By the fall of 1953, the Center grew to 55 classes\n         with 900 enrolled students. The Center, which had set out to\n         serve only the immediate Washington metropolitan area in\n         Virginia, expanded to serve an area that encompassed a radius\n         of thirty miles around Arlington. This significant growth\n         forced the Center to reevaluate its mission to the population\n         it served. So in 1954, an Advisory Council formed to examine\n         the challenges of expansion and to consider a \"possible change\n         of character\" for the Center. Moreover, it was asked to\n         \"interpret the community and its desires to the University\"\n         and to \"assist in creating a climate of demand for the\n         educational services offered.\"","The Advisory Council consisted of sixteen members, all of\n         whom resided in Northern Virginia. The Council's first meeting\n         was on January 4, 1954 in Washington-Lee High School, called\n         and chaired by Clarence A. Steele, former chairman of the\n         Center's Exploratory Committee, which the Council superseded.\n         As chair, Steele presided over meetings and directed the\n         activities of the Council. Together with Mr. Zehmer, head of\n         the Extension Division, and President Colgate W. Darden of the\n         University of Virginia, the Council explored ways to convert\n         the Center into a formal branch of University of Virginia.\n         Steele and the Council immediately began a dialogue with\n         prominent members of the community, including Virginia\n         senators Charles R. Fenwick and Harry F. Byrd, Jr., hoping to\n         find support for a branch of the University of Virginia.","In order to establish a branch, the Center had to comply\n         with standards enacted by the Southern Association of Colleges\n         and Secondary Schools, of which the University of Virginia was\n         a member. Standards included: (1) a centrally located building\n         sufficient for administration and instruction; (2) a sizable\n         nucleus of full-time faculty members to ensure permanence and\n         continuity; (3) adequate library and laboratory facilities;\n         (4) a stable pattern of course offerings. Aware that the\n         Center did not meet all of these conditions, the Advisory\n         Council used the Southern Association standards as a\n         foundation for their proposal. Steele thereby formed\n         committees to focus on meeting the standards. The committees\n         included: Building and Grounds, Ways and Means, Public\n         Relations, Legal Council, and Research. This focus streamlined\n         the Council, allowing members to use their expertise most\n         productively. President Darden gave his full support to the\n         endeavor, providing his own philosophy as an impetus: \"bring\n         the University of Virginia to the people\" and \"promote adult\n         education formally and informally; culturally as well as\n         technically.\"","The most important task facing the Council was the search\n         for a location for the new college. Throughout late 1954 and\n         all of 1955 they searched for tracts of land suitable for a\n         permanent location. In the meantime, the Northern Virginia\n         Center (as the Center was now called) continued to grow,\n         expanding to 110 classes with 2,100 enrolled students in the\n         spring of 1956. More startling was the prediction that\n         enrollment would reach 8,000 adult students within a decade.\n         This, along with the area's growing number of high school\n         graduates, necessitated a new emphasis: one which would make\n         the branch an affordable two-year institution with day classes\n         - serving all students, not just adults. At this time, a\n         Virginia House Joint Resolution passed, \"authorizing the\n         establishment of a branch of the University of Virginia to be\n         located in Northern Virginia\" (passed by the House of\n         Delegates and the Senate of Virginia in February 1956),\n         thereby providing the legal underpinning to continue the\n         expansion of the Center.","By early 1956, many locations for the branch had been\n         scouted out and researched. President Darden insisted that the\n         college \"have an appropriate campus, an ample campus, ample\n         acres for spacing buildings, for parking, for playing fields\n         of various kinds, for woods and vistas.\" Later in the year,\n         three sites were seriously considered: the Ravensworth estate,\n         between Annandale and Springfield, along Braddock Road; the\n         Bowman or Herndon tracts, on the Sunset Hills farm land near\n         Herndon; and seven Prince William County sites, including one\n         along the border of Manassas Battlefield Park. In the summer\n         of 1956, the Advisory Council unanimously endorsed the\n         Ravensworth site. But not long after, a sub-committee assigned\n         by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors was charged to\n         survey the locations, and, to the Council's chagrin, it\n         recommended the Bowman tract.","The disagreement arose from an apparent conflict of\n         interest between the Advisory Council and the Visitors\n         sub-committee. A few years prior, the Virginia Advisory\n         Legislative Council to the Governor and the General Assembly\n         (VALC) drafted a report, recommending that new university\n         branches should only be two-year institutions and be\n         self-supportive. In other words, VALC \"wanted to establish\n         urban branches [without dormitories] where students could live\n         at home,\" and thus raise the cost of tuition, saving the state\n         from unnecessary expenses.","Accordingly, in their search for branch locations, the\n         Advisory Council looked for sites that would accommodate a\n         \"2-year, non-dormitory type of institution ONLY.\" They found\n         the Ravensworth site ideal for those purposes. Conversely, the\n         Visitors sub-committee's choice of the Bowman tract - a much\n         larger and even more isolated area - clearly \"envisioned a\n         full scale dormitory type institution.\" The Council was\n         unaware of the University of Virginia's plan to establish a\n         large, four-year college with an extensive campus, and was\n         unprepared for such a shift in focus.","Gathering what support they could, the Council sent\n         delegations from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax Counties to\n         persuade the Board of Visitors to reconsider. Several members\n         of the Visitors were openly antagonistic to the Ravensworth\n         site, mainly because the Bowman tract offered a firmer\n         political base to the region. Others felt that there was\n         \"little use for Northern Virginia\" for the future of the\n         University. After some debate the Visitors dryly agreed to\n         \"take the whole matter of establishing a branch under\n         advisement.\" A few years later, in 1959, the Council and the\n         Visitors settled their differences and decided on an entirely\n         new site: the Farr tract, the site on which George Mason\n         University now stands, located less than one mile south of\n         Fairfax City.","The Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Center, with\n         Clarence A. Steele at the helm, faced many challenges during\n         the early years of its existence. The problems associated with\n         growth, the evaluation of educational needs in Northern\n         Virginia, and the search for a new location for the University\n         branch occupied much time and required considerable\n         investment."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eClarence A. Steele papers, Collection #C0056, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele papers, Collection #C0056, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.\n"],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eProcessed by Special Collections and Archives staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in March 2009. Additional processing and EAD markup completed by Maria Forte in March 2010.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information\n"],"processinfo_tesim":["Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in March 2009. Additional processing and EAD markup completed by Maria Forte in March 2010.\n"],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSpecial Collections and Archives also holds the \u003cextptr type=\"simple\" title=\"George Mason University records\" show=\"new\" href=\"http://sca.gmu.edu/gmu_archives.htm\"\u003e\u003c/extptr\u003e and collections on \u003cextptr type=\"simple\" title=\"transportation\" show=\"new\" href=\"http://sca.gmu.edu/plannning_and_transportation.htm\"\u003e\u003c/extptr\u003e.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Material\n"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["Special Collections and Archives also holds the   and collections on  .\n"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele.  Papers, relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia, include minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.  In addition the collection includes road-use surveys, manuals, personnel hiring and correspondence for surveys managed by Clarence A. Steele in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1936.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content\n"],"scopecontent_tesim":["This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele.  Papers, relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia, include minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.  In addition the collection includes road-use surveys, manuals, personnel hiring and correspondence for surveys managed by Clarence A. Steele in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1936.\n"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThere are no restrictions.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions\n"],"userestrict_tesim":["There are no restrictions.\n"],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract label=\"Abstract\"\u003eThis collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia University Center. Included are minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.\n\u003c/abstract\u003e"],"abstract_tesim":["This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia University Center. Included are minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.\n"],"names_ssim":["George Mason University.  Special Collections and Archives.\n","George Mason University--History--20th century.","University of Virginia--History--20th century.","University of Virginia. Northern Virginia Center.","Clarence A. Steele\n"],"corpname_ssim":["George Mason University.  Special Collections and Archives.\n","George Mason University--History--20th century.","University of Virginia--History--20th century.","University of Virginia. Northern Virginia Center."],"persname_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"language_ssim":["English\n"],"total_component_count_is":78,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-21T06:20:58.362Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"vifgm_vifgm00019","ead_ssi":"vifgm_vifgm00019","_root_":"vifgm_vifgm00019","_nest_parent_":"vifgm_vifgm00019","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/gmu/vifgm00019.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"http://sca.gmu.edu/finding_aids/","title_ssm":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"title_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1933-1969\n"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1933-1969\n"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["C0056\n"],"text":["C0056\n","Clarence A. Steele papers","Transportation--United States--Planning.","University extentsion--Virginia, Northern.","Collection is open to research.\n","This collection is arranged chronologically.\n","Clarence A. Steele was the chairman of the Exploratory\n         Committee and Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia\n         University Center (NVUC). The Center was established in\n         September 1949 as an adult education extension of the\n         University of Virginia (UVa) at Charlottesville. A few years\n         before, the idea for a center was set into motion. Seeing an\n         opportunity for educational expansion and recognizing the\n         needs of the growing Northern Virginia population, University\n         of Virginia's Extension Division, headed by Professor George\n         B. Zehmer, formed an Exploratory Committee to work out a\n         feasibility plan for creating an extension in Northern\n         Virginia. The result was the Northern Virginia University\n         Center, which became fully operational in February 1950, with\n         six classes enrolling about 50 students.","The Extension Division named John Norville Gibson Finley as\n         the Center's first director. The Center's administrative\n         offices and \"campus\" were located on the campus of\n         Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. During the\n         Center's early years, it offered college-level courses for\n         adults. By the fall of 1953, the Center grew to 55 classes\n         with 900 enrolled students. The Center, which had set out to\n         serve only the immediate Washington metropolitan area in\n         Virginia, expanded to serve an area that encompassed a radius\n         of thirty miles around Arlington. This significant growth\n         forced the Center to reevaluate its mission to the population\n         it served. So in 1954, an Advisory Council formed to examine\n         the challenges of expansion and to consider a \"possible change\n         of character\" for the Center. Moreover, it was asked to\n         \"interpret the community and its desires to the University\"\n         and to \"assist in creating a climate of demand for the\n         educational services offered.\"","The Advisory Council consisted of sixteen members, all of\n         whom resided in Northern Virginia. The Council's first meeting\n         was on January 4, 1954 in Washington-Lee High School, called\n         and chaired by Clarence A. Steele, former chairman of the\n         Center's Exploratory Committee, which the Council superseded.\n         As chair, Steele presided over meetings and directed the\n         activities of the Council. Together with Mr. Zehmer, head of\n         the Extension Division, and President Colgate W. Darden of the\n         University of Virginia, the Council explored ways to convert\n         the Center into a formal branch of University of Virginia.\n         Steele and the Council immediately began a dialogue with\n         prominent members of the community, including Virginia\n         senators Charles R. Fenwick and Harry F. Byrd, Jr., hoping to\n         find support for a branch of the University of Virginia.","In order to establish a branch, the Center had to comply\n         with standards enacted by the Southern Association of Colleges\n         and Secondary Schools, of which the University of Virginia was\n         a member. Standards included: (1) a centrally located building\n         sufficient for administration and instruction; (2) a sizable\n         nucleus of full-time faculty members to ensure permanence and\n         continuity; (3) adequate library and laboratory facilities;\n         (4) a stable pattern of course offerings. Aware that the\n         Center did not meet all of these conditions, the Advisory\n         Council used the Southern Association standards as a\n         foundation for their proposal. Steele thereby formed\n         committees to focus on meeting the standards. The committees\n         included: Building and Grounds, Ways and Means, Public\n         Relations, Legal Council, and Research. This focus streamlined\n         the Council, allowing members to use their expertise most\n         productively. President Darden gave his full support to the\n         endeavor, providing his own philosophy as an impetus: \"bring\n         the University of Virginia to the people\" and \"promote adult\n         education formally and informally; culturally as well as\n         technically.\"","The most important task facing the Council was the search\n         for a location for the new college. Throughout late 1954 and\n         all of 1955 they searched for tracts of land suitable for a\n         permanent location. In the meantime, the Northern Virginia\n         Center (as the Center was now called) continued to grow,\n         expanding to 110 classes with 2,100 enrolled students in the\n         spring of 1956. More startling was the prediction that\n         enrollment would reach 8,000 adult students within a decade.\n         This, along with the area's growing number of high school\n         graduates, necessitated a new emphasis: one which would make\n         the branch an affordable two-year institution with day classes\n         - serving all students, not just adults. At this time, a\n         Virginia House Joint Resolution passed, \"authorizing the\n         establishment of a branch of the University of Virginia to be\n         located in Northern Virginia\" (passed by the House of\n         Delegates and the Senate of Virginia in February 1956),\n         thereby providing the legal underpinning to continue the\n         expansion of the Center.","By early 1956, many locations for the branch had been\n         scouted out and researched. President Darden insisted that the\n         college \"have an appropriate campus, an ample campus, ample\n         acres for spacing buildings, for parking, for playing fields\n         of various kinds, for woods and vistas.\" Later in the year,\n         three sites were seriously considered: the Ravensworth estate,\n         between Annandale and Springfield, along Braddock Road; the\n         Bowman or Herndon tracts, on the Sunset Hills farm land near\n         Herndon; and seven Prince William County sites, including one\n         along the border of Manassas Battlefield Park. In the summer\n         of 1956, the Advisory Council unanimously endorsed the\n         Ravensworth site. But not long after, a sub-committee assigned\n         by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors was charged to\n         survey the locations, and, to the Council's chagrin, it\n         recommended the Bowman tract.","The disagreement arose from an apparent conflict of\n         interest between the Advisory Council and the Visitors\n         sub-committee. A few years prior, the Virginia Advisory\n         Legislative Council to the Governor and the General Assembly\n         (VALC) drafted a report, recommending that new university\n         branches should only be two-year institutions and be\n         self-supportive. In other words, VALC \"wanted to establish\n         urban branches [without dormitories] where students could live\n         at home,\" and thus raise the cost of tuition, saving the state\n         from unnecessary expenses.","Accordingly, in their search for branch locations, the\n         Advisory Council looked for sites that would accommodate a\n         \"2-year, non-dormitory type of institution ONLY.\" They found\n         the Ravensworth site ideal for those purposes. Conversely, the\n         Visitors sub-committee's choice of the Bowman tract - a much\n         larger and even more isolated area - clearly \"envisioned a\n         full scale dormitory type institution.\" The Council was\n         unaware of the University of Virginia's plan to establish a\n         large, four-year college with an extensive campus, and was\n         unprepared for such a shift in focus.","Gathering what support they could, the Council sent\n         delegations from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax Counties to\n         persuade the Board of Visitors to reconsider. Several members\n         of the Visitors were openly antagonistic to the Ravensworth\n         site, mainly because the Bowman tract offered a firmer\n         political base to the region. Others felt that there was\n         \"little use for Northern Virginia\" for the future of the\n         University. After some debate the Visitors dryly agreed to\n         \"take the whole matter of establishing a branch under\n         advisement.\" A few years later, in 1959, the Council and the\n         Visitors settled their differences and decided on an entirely\n         new site: the Farr tract, the site on which George Mason\n         University now stands, located less than one mile south of\n         Fairfax City.","The Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Center, with\n         Clarence A. Steele at the helm, faced many challenges during\n         the early years of its existence. The problems associated with\n         growth, the evaluation of educational needs in Northern\n         Virginia, and the search for a new location for the University\n         branch occupied much time and required considerable\n         investment.","Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in March 2009. Additional processing and EAD markup completed by Maria Forte in March 2010.\n","Special Collections and Archives also holds the   and collections on  .\n","This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele.  Papers, relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia, include minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.  In addition the collection includes road-use surveys, manuals, personnel hiring and correspondence for surveys managed by Clarence A. Steele in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1936.\n","There are no restrictions.\n","This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia University Center. Included are minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.\n","George Mason University.  Special Collections and Archives.\n","George Mason University--History--20th century.","University of Virginia--History--20th century.","University of Virginia. Northern Virginia Center.","Clarence A. Steele\n","English\n"],"unitid_tesim":["C0056\n"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"collection_title_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"collection_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele papers"],"repository_ssm":["George Mason University"],"repository_ssim":["George Mason University"],"creator_ssm":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"creator_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"creators_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"acqinfo_ssim":["Collection donated by Clarence A. Steele in 1999.\n"],"access_subjects_ssim":["Transportation--United States--Planning.","University extentsion--Virginia, Northern."],"access_subjects_ssm":["Transportation--United States--Planning.","University extentsion--Virginia, Northern."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["1.25 linear feet (3 boxes)"],"extent_tesim":["1.25 linear feet (3 boxes)"],"date_range_isim":[1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection is open to research.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions\n"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection is open to research.\n"],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection is arranged chronologically.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement\n"],"arrangement_tesim":["This collection is arranged chronologically.\n"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eClarence A. Steele was the chairman of the Exploratory\n         Committee and Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia\n         University Center (NVUC). The Center was established in\n         September 1949 as an adult education extension of the\n         University of Virginia (UVa) at Charlottesville. A few years\n         before, the idea for a center was set into motion. Seeing an\n         opportunity for educational expansion and recognizing the\n         needs of the growing Northern Virginia population, University\n         of Virginia's Extension Division, headed by Professor George\n         B. Zehmer, formed an Exploratory Committee to work out a\n         feasibility plan for creating an extension in Northern\n         Virginia. The result was the Northern Virginia University\n         Center, which became fully operational in February 1950, with\n         six classes enrolling about 50 students.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Extension Division named John Norville Gibson Finley as\n         the Center's first director. The Center's administrative\n         offices and \"campus\" were located on the campus of\n         Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. During the\n         Center's early years, it offered college-level courses for\n         adults. By the fall of 1953, the Center grew to 55 classes\n         with 900 enrolled students. The Center, which had set out to\n         serve only the immediate Washington metropolitan area in\n         Virginia, expanded to serve an area that encompassed a radius\n         of thirty miles around Arlington. This significant growth\n         forced the Center to reevaluate its mission to the population\n         it served. So in 1954, an Advisory Council formed to examine\n         the challenges of expansion and to consider a \"possible change\n         of character\" for the Center. Moreover, it was asked to\n         \"interpret the community and its desires to the University\"\n         and to \"assist in creating a climate of demand for the\n         educational services offered.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Advisory Council consisted of sixteen members, all of\n         whom resided in Northern Virginia. The Council's first meeting\n         was on January 4, 1954 in Washington-Lee High School, called\n         and chaired by Clarence A. Steele, former chairman of the\n         Center's Exploratory Committee, which the Council superseded.\n         As chair, Steele presided over meetings and directed the\n         activities of the Council. Together with Mr. Zehmer, head of\n         the Extension Division, and President Colgate W. Darden of the\n         University of Virginia, the Council explored ways to convert\n         the Center into a formal branch of University of Virginia.\n         Steele and the Council immediately began a dialogue with\n         prominent members of the community, including Virginia\n         senators Charles R. Fenwick and Harry F. Byrd, Jr., hoping to\n         find support for a branch of the University of Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn order to establish a branch, the Center had to comply\n         with standards enacted by the Southern Association of Colleges\n         and Secondary Schools, of which the University of Virginia was\n         a member. Standards included: (1) a centrally located building\n         sufficient for administration and instruction; (2) a sizable\n         nucleus of full-time faculty members to ensure permanence and\n         continuity; (3) adequate library and laboratory facilities;\n         (4) a stable pattern of course offerings. Aware that the\n         Center did not meet all of these conditions, the Advisory\n         Council used the Southern Association standards as a\n         foundation for their proposal. Steele thereby formed\n         committees to focus on meeting the standards. The committees\n         included: Building and Grounds, Ways and Means, Public\n         Relations, Legal Council, and Research. This focus streamlined\n         the Council, allowing members to use their expertise most\n         productively. President Darden gave his full support to the\n         endeavor, providing his own philosophy as an impetus: \"bring\n         the University of Virginia to the people\" and \"promote adult\n         education formally and informally; culturally as well as\n         technically.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe most important task facing the Council was the search\n         for a location for the new college. Throughout late 1954 and\n         all of 1955 they searched for tracts of land suitable for a\n         permanent location. In the meantime, the Northern Virginia\n         Center (as the Center was now called) continued to grow,\n         expanding to 110 classes with 2,100 enrolled students in the\n         spring of 1956. More startling was the prediction that\n         enrollment would reach 8,000 adult students within a decade.\n         This, along with the area's growing number of high school\n         graduates, necessitated a new emphasis: one which would make\n         the branch an affordable two-year institution with day classes\n         - serving all students, not just adults. At this time, a\n         Virginia House Joint Resolution passed, \"authorizing the\n         establishment of a branch of the University of Virginia to be\n         located in Northern Virginia\" (passed by the House of\n         Delegates and the Senate of Virginia in February 1956),\n         thereby providing the legal underpinning to continue the\n         expansion of the Center.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eBy early 1956, many locations for the branch had been\n         scouted out and researched. President Darden insisted that the\n         college \"have an appropriate campus, an ample campus, ample\n         acres for spacing buildings, for parking, for playing fields\n         of various kinds, for woods and vistas.\" Later in the year,\n         three sites were seriously considered: the Ravensworth estate,\n         between Annandale and Springfield, along Braddock Road; the\n         Bowman or Herndon tracts, on the Sunset Hills farm land near\n         Herndon; and seven Prince William County sites, including one\n         along the border of Manassas Battlefield Park. In the summer\n         of 1956, the Advisory Council unanimously endorsed the\n         Ravensworth site. But not long after, a sub-committee assigned\n         by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors was charged to\n         survey the locations, and, to the Council's chagrin, it\n         recommended the Bowman tract.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe disagreement arose from an apparent conflict of\n         interest between the Advisory Council and the Visitors\n         sub-committee. A few years prior, the Virginia Advisory\n         Legislative Council to the Governor and the General Assembly\n         (VALC) drafted a report, recommending that new university\n         branches should only be two-year institutions and be\n         self-supportive. In other words, VALC \"wanted to establish\n         urban branches [without dormitories] where students could live\n         at home,\" and thus raise the cost of tuition, saving the state\n         from unnecessary expenses.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAccordingly, in their search for branch locations, the\n         Advisory Council looked for sites that would accommodate a\n         \"2-year, non-dormitory type of institution ONLY.\" They found\n         the Ravensworth site ideal for those purposes. Conversely, the\n         Visitors sub-committee's choice of the Bowman tract - a much\n         larger and even more isolated area - clearly \"envisioned a\n         full scale dormitory type institution.\" The Council was\n         unaware of the University of Virginia's plan to establish a\n         large, four-year college with an extensive campus, and was\n         unprepared for such a shift in focus.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eGathering what support they could, the Council sent\n         delegations from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax Counties to\n         persuade the Board of Visitors to reconsider. Several members\n         of the Visitors were openly antagonistic to the Ravensworth\n         site, mainly because the Bowman tract offered a firmer\n         political base to the region. Others felt that there was\n         \"little use for Northern Virginia\" for the future of the\n         University. After some debate the Visitors dryly agreed to\n         \"take the whole matter of establishing a branch under\n         advisement.\" A few years later, in 1959, the Council and the\n         Visitors settled their differences and decided on an entirely\n         new site: the Farr tract, the site on which George Mason\n         University now stands, located less than one mile south of\n         Fairfax City.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Center, with\n         Clarence A. Steele at the helm, faced many challenges during\n         the early years of its existence. The problems associated with\n         growth, the evaluation of educational needs in Northern\n         Virginia, and the search for a new location for the University\n         branch occupied much time and required considerable\n         investment.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Information\n"],"bioghist_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele was the chairman of the Exploratory\n         Committee and Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia\n         University Center (NVUC). The Center was established in\n         September 1949 as an adult education extension of the\n         University of Virginia (UVa) at Charlottesville. A few years\n         before, the idea for a center was set into motion. Seeing an\n         opportunity for educational expansion and recognizing the\n         needs of the growing Northern Virginia population, University\n         of Virginia's Extension Division, headed by Professor George\n         B. Zehmer, formed an Exploratory Committee to work out a\n         feasibility plan for creating an extension in Northern\n         Virginia. The result was the Northern Virginia University\n         Center, which became fully operational in February 1950, with\n         six classes enrolling about 50 students.","The Extension Division named John Norville Gibson Finley as\n         the Center's first director. The Center's administrative\n         offices and \"campus\" were located on the campus of\n         Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. During the\n         Center's early years, it offered college-level courses for\n         adults. By the fall of 1953, the Center grew to 55 classes\n         with 900 enrolled students. The Center, which had set out to\n         serve only the immediate Washington metropolitan area in\n         Virginia, expanded to serve an area that encompassed a radius\n         of thirty miles around Arlington. This significant growth\n         forced the Center to reevaluate its mission to the population\n         it served. So in 1954, an Advisory Council formed to examine\n         the challenges of expansion and to consider a \"possible change\n         of character\" for the Center. Moreover, it was asked to\n         \"interpret the community and its desires to the University\"\n         and to \"assist in creating a climate of demand for the\n         educational services offered.\"","The Advisory Council consisted of sixteen members, all of\n         whom resided in Northern Virginia. The Council's first meeting\n         was on January 4, 1954 in Washington-Lee High School, called\n         and chaired by Clarence A. Steele, former chairman of the\n         Center's Exploratory Committee, which the Council superseded.\n         As chair, Steele presided over meetings and directed the\n         activities of the Council. Together with Mr. Zehmer, head of\n         the Extension Division, and President Colgate W. Darden of the\n         University of Virginia, the Council explored ways to convert\n         the Center into a formal branch of University of Virginia.\n         Steele and the Council immediately began a dialogue with\n         prominent members of the community, including Virginia\n         senators Charles R. Fenwick and Harry F. Byrd, Jr., hoping to\n         find support for a branch of the University of Virginia.","In order to establish a branch, the Center had to comply\n         with standards enacted by the Southern Association of Colleges\n         and Secondary Schools, of which the University of Virginia was\n         a member. Standards included: (1) a centrally located building\n         sufficient for administration and instruction; (2) a sizable\n         nucleus of full-time faculty members to ensure permanence and\n         continuity; (3) adequate library and laboratory facilities;\n         (4) a stable pattern of course offerings. Aware that the\n         Center did not meet all of these conditions, the Advisory\n         Council used the Southern Association standards as a\n         foundation for their proposal. Steele thereby formed\n         committees to focus on meeting the standards. The committees\n         included: Building and Grounds, Ways and Means, Public\n         Relations, Legal Council, and Research. This focus streamlined\n         the Council, allowing members to use their expertise most\n         productively. President Darden gave his full support to the\n         endeavor, providing his own philosophy as an impetus: \"bring\n         the University of Virginia to the people\" and \"promote adult\n         education formally and informally; culturally as well as\n         technically.\"","The most important task facing the Council was the search\n         for a location for the new college. Throughout late 1954 and\n         all of 1955 they searched for tracts of land suitable for a\n         permanent location. In the meantime, the Northern Virginia\n         Center (as the Center was now called) continued to grow,\n         expanding to 110 classes with 2,100 enrolled students in the\n         spring of 1956. More startling was the prediction that\n         enrollment would reach 8,000 adult students within a decade.\n         This, along with the area's growing number of high school\n         graduates, necessitated a new emphasis: one which would make\n         the branch an affordable two-year institution with day classes\n         - serving all students, not just adults. At this time, a\n         Virginia House Joint Resolution passed, \"authorizing the\n         establishment of a branch of the University of Virginia to be\n         located in Northern Virginia\" (passed by the House of\n         Delegates and the Senate of Virginia in February 1956),\n         thereby providing the legal underpinning to continue the\n         expansion of the Center.","By early 1956, many locations for the branch had been\n         scouted out and researched. President Darden insisted that the\n         college \"have an appropriate campus, an ample campus, ample\n         acres for spacing buildings, for parking, for playing fields\n         of various kinds, for woods and vistas.\" Later in the year,\n         three sites were seriously considered: the Ravensworth estate,\n         between Annandale and Springfield, along Braddock Road; the\n         Bowman or Herndon tracts, on the Sunset Hills farm land near\n         Herndon; and seven Prince William County sites, including one\n         along the border of Manassas Battlefield Park. In the summer\n         of 1956, the Advisory Council unanimously endorsed the\n         Ravensworth site. But not long after, a sub-committee assigned\n         by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors was charged to\n         survey the locations, and, to the Council's chagrin, it\n         recommended the Bowman tract.","The disagreement arose from an apparent conflict of\n         interest between the Advisory Council and the Visitors\n         sub-committee. A few years prior, the Virginia Advisory\n         Legislative Council to the Governor and the General Assembly\n         (VALC) drafted a report, recommending that new university\n         branches should only be two-year institutions and be\n         self-supportive. In other words, VALC \"wanted to establish\n         urban branches [without dormitories] where students could live\n         at home,\" and thus raise the cost of tuition, saving the state\n         from unnecessary expenses.","Accordingly, in their search for branch locations, the\n         Advisory Council looked for sites that would accommodate a\n         \"2-year, non-dormitory type of institution ONLY.\" They found\n         the Ravensworth site ideal for those purposes. Conversely, the\n         Visitors sub-committee's choice of the Bowman tract - a much\n         larger and even more isolated area - clearly \"envisioned a\n         full scale dormitory type institution.\" The Council was\n         unaware of the University of Virginia's plan to establish a\n         large, four-year college with an extensive campus, and was\n         unprepared for such a shift in focus.","Gathering what support they could, the Council sent\n         delegations from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax Counties to\n         persuade the Board of Visitors to reconsider. Several members\n         of the Visitors were openly antagonistic to the Ravensworth\n         site, mainly because the Bowman tract offered a firmer\n         political base to the region. Others felt that there was\n         \"little use for Northern Virginia\" for the future of the\n         University. After some debate the Visitors dryly agreed to\n         \"take the whole matter of establishing a branch under\n         advisement.\" A few years later, in 1959, the Council and the\n         Visitors settled their differences and decided on an entirely\n         new site: the Farr tract, the site on which George Mason\n         University now stands, located less than one mile south of\n         Fairfax City.","The Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Center, with\n         Clarence A. Steele at the helm, faced many challenges during\n         the early years of its existence. The problems associated with\n         growth, the evaluation of educational needs in Northern\n         Virginia, and the search for a new location for the University\n         branch occupied much time and required considerable\n         investment."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eClarence A. Steele papers, Collection #C0056, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["Clarence A. Steele papers, Collection #C0056, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.\n"],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eProcessed by Special Collections and Archives staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in March 2009. Additional processing and EAD markup completed by Maria Forte in March 2010.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information\n"],"processinfo_tesim":["Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in March 2009. Additional processing and EAD markup completed by Maria Forte in March 2010.\n"],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSpecial Collections and Archives also holds the \u003cextptr type=\"simple\" title=\"George Mason University records\" show=\"new\" href=\"http://sca.gmu.edu/gmu_archives.htm\"\u003e\u003c/extptr\u003e and collections on \u003cextptr type=\"simple\" title=\"transportation\" show=\"new\" href=\"http://sca.gmu.edu/plannning_and_transportation.htm\"\u003e\u003c/extptr\u003e.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Material\n"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["Special Collections and Archives also holds the   and collections on  .\n"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele.  Papers, relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia, include minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.  In addition the collection includes road-use surveys, manuals, personnel hiring and correspondence for surveys managed by Clarence A. Steele in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1936.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content\n"],"scopecontent_tesim":["This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele.  Papers, relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia, include minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.  In addition the collection includes road-use surveys, manuals, personnel hiring and correspondence for surveys managed by Clarence A. Steele in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1936.\n"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThere are no restrictions.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions\n"],"userestrict_tesim":["There are no restrictions.\n"],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract label=\"Abstract\"\u003eThis collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia University Center. Included are minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.\n\u003c/abstract\u003e"],"abstract_tesim":["This collection contains papers and material owned by Clarence A. Steele relating to the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia University Center. Included are minutes of meetings, letters, newspapers, and miscellaneous documents.\n"],"names_ssim":["George Mason University.  Special Collections and Archives.\n","George Mason University--History--20th century.","University of Virginia--History--20th century.","University of Virginia. Northern Virginia Center.","Clarence A. Steele\n"],"corpname_ssim":["George Mason University.  Special Collections and Archives.\n","George Mason University--History--20th century.","University of Virginia--History--20th century.","University of Virginia. Northern Virginia Center."],"persname_ssim":["Clarence A. Steele\n"],"language_ssim":["English\n"],"total_component_count_is":78,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-21T06:20:58.362Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/vifgm_vifgm00019"}}],"included":[{"type":"facet","id":"repository_ssim","attributes":{"label":"Repository","items":[{"attributes":{"label":"George Mason University","value":"George Mason University","hits":1},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Baccess_subjects%5D%5B%5D=University+extentsion--Virginia%2C+Northern.\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=George+Mason+University\u0026view=compact"}}]},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/facet/repository_ssim.json?f%5Baccess_subjects%5D%5B%5D=University+extentsion--Virginia%2C+Northern.\u0026view=compact"}},{"type":"facet","id":"collection_ssim","attributes":{"label":"Collection","items":[{"attributes":{"label":"Clarence A. Steele papers","value":"Clarence A. 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