Robert James Sullivan Jr. papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
James Madison University
Second Floor Room 203, MSC 1704
Carrier Library
James Madison University
880 Madison Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Tiffany Cole
Phone: (540) 568-3444
Phone: (540) 568-3612
Fax: (540) 568-3405
Restrictions:

Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Robert James Sullivan Jr. Papers, circa 1930-2013, SC 0003, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Summary

Extent:
8.53 cubic feet 12 boxes, 4 flat files
Creator:
Sullivan, Robert James, Jr., 1937-2013 and Sullivan, Kathleen
Abstract:
The Robert James Sullivan Jr. Papers consist of professional and personal records and reports, and document Sullivan's time as City Planner of Harrisonburg from 1965-1991, his career in the Political Science Department at James Madison University, and work as the "unofficial historian" of Harrisonburg. Materials include city planning reports, newspaper articles, photographs, scrapbooks, and maps.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Robert James Sullivan Jr. Papers, circa 1930-2013, SC 0003, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Background

Scope and content:

The Robert James Sullivan Jr. Papers consist of materials that Sullivan created and collected relating mostly to the city of Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he served as the City Planner from 1965-1991. The collection contains documents related to city planning, the history and expansion of Harrisonburg, and urban renewal. Other materials document his time in the Political Science Department at James Madison University as well as the walking tours he led of downtown Harrisonburg. His personal papers include newspaper clippings, correspondence, and other documents relating to his life and career. Also contained in the collection are a large number of photographs and slides that Sullivan took that capture the growth and changes in Harrisonburg over time. Images of note include a panoramic view of Harrisonburg ca. 1930, photos and slides that document urban renewal projects, and images of downtown Harrisonburg, VA from the 1960s-2000s.

Arranged into three subseries: City Planning Commission Annual Reports, 1966-1981, Urban Planning Grants, 1965-1966, and Miscellaneous Reports, 1946-1992. Arranged chronologically within each series.

Subseries 1.1: City Planning Commission Annual Reports, 1966-1981, contains a continuous run of annual reports for the City Planning Commission from 1965 through 1981. These annual reports include planning commission highlights and monthly summaries of activities. The 1965-1966 report notes that Robert J. Sullivan Jr. took over the duties of Planning Director on October 1, 1965.

Subseries 1.2: Urban Planning Grants, 1965-1966, contains reports prepared under the contract for the Local Planning Section: Department of Conservation and Economic Development, State of Virginia. The preparation of these reports was funded in part through an urban planning grant from the Housing and Home Finance Agency. The reports contain analysis of various aspects of the city of Harrisonburg, including population statistics and information pertaining to residential neighborhoods and the downtown area. These Urban Planning Grants also include a 1966 comprehensive plan for development over the following twenty years as well as a summary report of that plan. These reports were office copies that belonged to Robert James Sullivan Jr. and have his name written on the cover. Because of excessive mold on these reports, all items from this subseries have been photocopied and originals discarded.

Subseries 1.3: Miscellaneous City Planning Reports, 1946-1992, contains various other reports that relate to city planning in Harrisonburg or city planning in general. Two reports relate to city planning in Norfolk, Virginia from the 1940s and 1950s and document urban renewal or "slum clearance" efforts there. Box 1 folder 27 contains an outline of the history of City Planning in Harrisonburg, beginning with the establishment of the Planning Commission in March, 1938. The report titled Harrisonburg: "The City with the Planned Future," contains a detailed history of the founding and growth of Harrisonburg, including population statistics and documentation of land annexation as well a listing of the members of City Council from 1849-2006.

Arranged into two subseries: City Planning, 1960-2012, and Harrisonburg History, 1958-2008. Arranged chronologically within each series.

Subseries 2.1: City Planning, 1960-2012, contains materials that Sullivan created in his role as City Planner, or that relate to city planning functions. Types of materials include photos and other documents related to the Northeast Urban Redevelopment Project, newspaper articles about city planning and the growth and development of Harrisonburg, and documents relating to zoning and historic district status. The folders titled "What do you think of Federal Aid? Photos and description," contain a document written in 2012 by Sullivan explaining the history of urban redevelopment in Harrisonburg, and his role in the "slum clearance" projects of the 1950s and 1960s.

Subseries 2.2: Harrisonburg History, 1958-2008, contains materials collected by Sullivan that relate to the history of Harrisonburg, as well as materials he created related to the history and development of the city. Sullivan was known as the "unofficial historian of Harrisonburg" and materials in this subseries document the history and development of Harrisonburg. Items of note include original drawings of downtown Harrisonburg from the 1950s and 1960s as well as posters and brochures that contain Sullivan's sketches for the 1980 Bicentennial celebration. Other materials include the text of various talks Sullivan gave on the history of Harrisonburg to various groups in town.

Arranged Chronologically. Materials in the Personal Papers series document Sullivan's professional activities as well as his time as an instructor in the Political Science Department at James Madison University. Please note that the folder titled "JMU Classes - Evaluations," do not contain student grades or performance evaluations, but rather contain evaluations completed by students about Sullivan's performance as an instructor. For details of Sullivan's life and career highlights please see the folder titled "Background Information Robert J. Sullivan Jr., August 1998."

Arranged Chronologically. The Scrapbooks and Newspaper series consists of newspaper clippings collected by Sullivan, either loose in folders, or pasted into scrapbook pages, that document city planning activities primarily in Harrisonburg, VA. Most newspaper clippings come from the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record. In addition to clippings that document city planning efforts, Sullivan also collected clippings that relate to historical aspects of Harrisonburg, particularly those that feature images of Harrisonburg from the past. The folder titled "Old Times" : News and photos from the Daily News-Record contains a copy of the front page of the Daily News-Record from 1945 that reports on the ending of World War II. Please note that the scrapbooks in box 5, folders 4-7 are photocopies of the original scrapbooks. The original scrapbooks suffered from mold damage and were not retained.

The maps series contains maps produced or used by the Harrisonburg Housing and Redevelopment Authority that document homes and businesses in areas of Harrisonburg slated for demolition through urban renewal initiatives. Other city planning maps include hand-drawn maps created by Sullivan that show the growth of Harrisonburg over time and through annexation, as well as miscellaneous maps of Harrrisonburg and Rockingham County collected from various sources. Map identifier is located on the back of each item in the bottom right corner.

Broad Street, Mason Street, N. Main Street

Broad Street, E. Gay St.

N. Mason St, Rock St.

Effinger St., Broad St.

N. Mason, E. Rock St.

Broad St., Rock St.

Broad St., Rock St.

Broad St., E. Rock St.

This series comprises photographic prints and slides created or collected by Sullivan that primarily document neighborhoods, buildings, and other locations in and around Harrisonburg, Virginia from circa 1930 to 2006. Images document the areas of Harrisonburg targeted for urban renewal in the 1960s, street widening and other planning commission projects, as well as buildings and other features of downtown Harrisonburg from the 1960s-early 2000s. Images in this series were taken and used by Sullivan both in his professional capacity as City Planning Director, as well as for personal use. Other content found among this series includes images of Harrisonburg High School football games in the early 2000s as well as images of JMU students in classes taught by Sullivan and on walking tours conducted as part of his courses from 1990-2006. Items identified as photo albums in the inventory were removed from their original albums and foldered individually with corresponding captions as folder titles.

All slides have been digitized and are available within JMU Scholarly Commons (https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/rjs/). Slides are arranged topically from the original arrangement created by Sullivan, and are listed alphabetically. Descriptive titles for the topical groupings listed in the inventory were transcribed from Sullivan's own description, written onto slide reel boxes. Additionally, Sullivan wrote item level image description onto most slides in the collection. That descriptive information is listed as the image title when viewing the images within JMU Scholarly Commons.

Most slide images document Harrisonburg and the surrounding area from the 1960s-1980s. Other content includes images of Reston, VA, and Durham, NC that feature housing complexes and downtown areas. Note that images of Harrisonburg are found within the grouping labeled as "Durham, NC," as well as in the grouping titled "non-H'burg."

Includes Turkey Statue - "Welcome to Rockingham County Turkey Capital."

Harrisonburg "City Hall" Bryan Mabry, Harrisonburg School Board Office, VA Quilt Museum, Massanutten Regional Library, Rockingham County Office Building, Rockingham County Court House, Rockingham-Harrisonburg Judicial Center, Rockingham-Harrisonburg Dept. of Health and Social Services, J. R. Lineweaver Apartments, Harrisonburg Fire Station #4, VA Dept. of Taxation Office, ABC Store, Rockingham Co. Government Administration Center, Rockingham Harrisonburg Judicial Center, Harrisonburg Electric Commission, Court House Clock Tower

Two aerials of Harrisonburg and one of JMU.

Biographical / historical:

Robert "Bobby" James Sullivan Jr. was born on November 18, 1937 in Harrisonburg, Virginia and was the eldest son of the late Robert J. Sullivan Sr. and Goldie Liskey Sullivan. He passed away on February 4, 2013. Sullivan graduated from Harrisonburg High School in 1956 and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Mount St. Mary's College in 1960 and a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh in 1962. He married Kathleen Marie Donovan on June 27, 1964.

Sullivan was the City Planner for the city of Harrisonburg from 1965-1991 during the years that saw Urban Redevelopment for parts of the city as well as growth through annexation. He also taught as an adjunct Assistant Professor of Political Science for James Madison University from 1970-2006. See folder titled "Background Information, Robert J. Sullivan, Jr., August 1998" from the Personal Papers series for details of his life and career.

Known locally as the "unofficial historian" of Harrisonburg, Sullivan often spoke to groups about the history of Harrisonburg. He was responsible for creating walking tours of downtown Harrisonburg first with his JMU Political Science classes, and later with the larger community.

Sullivan was a life-long member of Blessed Sacrament parish and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He served on the Rockingham Public Library Board and the Salvation Army Advisory Board for over thirty years. He was especially fond of the Harrisonburg High School athletic teams and was recognized as the Harrisonburg Blue Streaks biggest fan when he was inducted into the Harrisonburg High School Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of 2008.

Acquisition information:
The collection was donated by Kathleen Sullivan, wife of Robert James Sullivan Jr., in two separate donations in April 2014 and August 2015.
Processing information:

When this collection was received from the donor, some materials had been wet and suffered from mold damage. Materials with excessive water damage or mold were photocopied and the originals discarded.

Arrangement:

The papers are arranged in six series. Series 1: Reports and Series 2: City of Harrisonburg are arranged further into subseries. All series and subseries arranged chronologically.

  1. Reports, 1946-1992
  2. City of Harrisonburg, 1958-2012
  3. Personal Papers, 1952-2013
  4. Scrapbooks and Newspaper, 1945-2012
  5. Maps, 1958-2003
  6. Photographs and Slides, circa 1930-2012

Arranged topically.

Arranged under two headings: Photographs, and Slides. Photographs are arranged chronologically, and Slides are arranged topically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard