Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Correspondence and Subject Files of the Director's Office, 1954-1986. Accession 44897, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Transferred from the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation on 15 April 2010.

Processing Information

This collection has been processed using minimal processing standards: the original arrangement has been maintained for the most part, the container list is brief and simple, and the records have not been refoldered and fasteners have not been removed.

Historical Information

The Jamestown Foundation was created by an act of the General Assembly passed on March 29, 1958, to administer, develop, and maintain Jamestown Festival Park. The Foundation was administered by a board of trustees consisting of twenty-four members, eight appointed by the Speaker of the House from its membership, four appointed by the President of the Senate from its membership, and twelve members appointed by the Governor from the citizens of the Commonwealth. Effective July 1, 1976, the Foundation was renamed the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and also was charged with acquiring, operating, and maintaining Yorktown Victory Center at the request of the Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission.

In addition to administering Festival Park and Victory Center, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation is charged with developing and maintaining national and international awareness of the important role played by Virginia in the creation of the United States through programs, related research, and educational programs. The overriding educational purposes of the Foundation were first recognized when the General Assembly declared the agency to be an educational institution within the definitions of the Code of Virginia. That action also identified Jamestown Festival Park and Yorktown Victory Center as historical museums and commemorative shrines by law. The Foundation actively directs private sector efforts to increase tourism in the areas in which the foundation has its centers.

Scope and Content

Contains correspondence and subject files belonging to Parke Rouse, Jr., the first executive director of the Jamestown Festival Park, and later the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. In addition, Rouse served as director of the Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission. Includes correspondence, news releases, clippings, programs, minutes, maps, reports, publications, bylaws, contracts, invitations, speeches, financial records, lists, photographs, questionnaires, blueprints, budgets, plans, memorandums, and other sundry items. These files document the planning and commemoration of Virginia's 350th Anniversary, Virginia's Independence Bicentennial, and the Yorktown Bicentennial. In addition, there is information on First Assembly Day, the George Washington Bicentennial Center (Alexandria, Va.), the Western Virginia Bicentennial Center (Charlottesville, Va.), the Bicentennial Council of the Thirteen Original States, and the Yorktown Victory Center.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series: