Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None

Use Restrictions

Consult repository for information

Preferred Citation

Ruth “Snip Peter Papers, MSS 06-20, Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library

Acquisition Information

Donated by Sue Peter Jones on February 25, 1997

Processing Information

Chris Barbuschak, December 2016
EAD generated by Ross Landis, 2024

Historical and Biographical Information

Ruth Katherine Doehrman was born in Elizabeth, N.J. on December 10, 1910.

She was a ballet dancer in New York as well as a member of the Elizabeth, N.J. Dramatic Club. She married Paul Peter, a Washington D.C. native and research director for the National Association of Broadcasters. The couple had two children, Suzanne and Paul B. Peter, and settled down in Falls Church, Va. in 1938.

“Snip”, as she was called by her friends, led an active life in community affairs. She taught ballet and ballroom dancing to local students and performed in Falls Church Community Theater shows. She founded the Tuesday Afternoon Club, Fairfax Christmas Ball, and served as president of the Garden Club of Fairfax as well as a board member on the Garden Club of Virginia. “Snip” also sung in the choir of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, acted as a founder and vestry member of the Church of the Apostles in Fairfax, and served as a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Centreville.

The Peter family frequently appeared in the society sections of local newspapers. “Snip” also wrote as a columnist for the Northern Virginia Sun’s Woman’s Page.

In 1958, “Snip” opened her own pre-school, Greenwood School, on Orchard Drive in Fairfax, Va. running it until the late 1960s. Her husband, Paul, also became a teacher, teaching social studies at Fairfax High School (1951-1962) and Oakton High School (1968-1969). From 1962-1968 Paul acted as chief of the Fairfax Education Association which represented Fairfax County’s 5,200 teachers.

Ruth “Snip” Peter died March 6, 1995 at Goodwin House West in Falls Church.

Scope and Content

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1940-1994, Box 1

This series contains personal papers found among Mrs. Peter’s possessions after her death. Items include a notebook, certificate, report cards for her daughter Suzanne (Sue), newspaper clippings, a program, correspondence, notes, and a garden club yearbook. Also included is correspondence and teaching contracts between W.T. Woodson and Paul F. Peter as well as Mr. Peter’s papers on the Fairfax Education Association. The folder containing the small green plastic 1993-1994 Yearbook for the Garden Club of Fairfax binder also contains newspaper clippings and notes that were folded and tucked into the side of the binder

Series 2: Greenwood School, 1965-1982, Box 1

This series contains papers, a list of students, a recipe, correspondence, and artwork relating to Greenwood School, which Ruth Peters operated out of her house in Fairfax, Va. Thank you letters from students and parents contain artwork which date from the school’s operation and from 1982, when Mrs. Peter visited an unknown school on Grandparent’s Day. The binder, “To the Boys and Girls of Greenwood School" by Isabel L. Schulte, contains drawings and a poem describing life at Greenwood School.

Related Material

None

Separated Material

Tuesday Afternoon Club Yearbooks removed and added to the reference collection, VRARE 917.5529 T

Index Terms

• Fairfax County Public Schools
• Fairfax Garden Club
• Greenwood School (Fairfax, Va.)
• Peter, Paul F. (1904-1990)
• Peter, Ruth “Snip” (1910-1995)
• Schools - Virginia - Fairfax County

Adjunct Descriptive Data