James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
820 Madison Drive MSC 1706 Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807 Telephone: (540) 568-3612 library-special@jmu.edu URL: https://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/
Tiffany Cole, Philllp Wong and Sarah Roth-Mullet
Repository
James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
Identification
SC 0230
Title
Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition Records 1977-2018
Quantity
1.9 cubic feet, 5 boxes
Quantity
2.6 Gigabytes, 2,738 digital files
Language
English
.
Abstract
The Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition Records, 1977-2018, document the activities of the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition
(SVBC), formerly named the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Club. Materials include newsletters, meeting minutes, correspondence,
promotional material, route maps for the Annual Shenandoah Valley Century Ride and other rides, and digital photographs.
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).
Access 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.
[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition Records, 1977-2019, SC 0230, Special Collections,
Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
Acquisition Information
This collection was donated in several accessions. On January 30, 2017, SVBC members, Art Fovargue and Marshall Hammond delivered
materials to Carrier Library on bicycle. On July 20, 2018, a second donation was made by Art Fovargue, which consisted of
paper and digital images of newsletters, meeting notes, and ride information, transferred to the Special Collections from
a flashdrive, which was retained by the donor. In July 23, 2018, a third accession was made by Kyle Lawrence, who transferred
MailChimp account information to Special Collections via google drive. SC staff also downloaded meeting minutes from the SVBC
website at this time. Art Fovargue made a donation in April 2019 of GEAR ride maps and badges, which was added to existing
folders.
Processing Information
Newsletters were removed from three-ring binders and foldered chronologically by year. An additional file of newsletters was
interfiled and all duplicate copies were retained. The archivist removed correspondence and certificates that were interleaved
within the newsletters and organized them chronologically according to document type.
The MailChimp accession included membership lists, account activity, and various reports on geolocations, opens, clicks, etc.,
which are restricted due to the presence of personally identifying information. Electronic newsletter content and images are
accessible in their exported formats as text files and chrome html documents. The folder containing electronic newsletters
was originally titled, "campaign_content" which is the terminology MailChimp uses for its messaging, and was renamed to "Newsletters"
in keeping with the physical documentation. SC staff removed 23 files that were empty. Original filenames have been retained.
Newsletter images are comprised of ~1500 jpegs (converted from pngs, jfifs, and gifs) which presumably accompanied all electronic
messages. The original filenames have been retained.
SVBC Meeting minutes downloaded from the website in 2018, were converted from word documents to pdf in 2019 for access copies.
Files were renamed at the point that they were downloaded in 2018.
The Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC), formerly the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Club, formed in December 1982 as a
road cycling club. The idea of forming a local bicycle club had been in the works since 1981 and after James Fulton, President
of the League of American Wheelman, visited the Shenandoah Valley in December 1982, it was decided that the Valley was ready
to play a more active role in the in the growing sport of bicycling. The club was founded with the basic purpose of providing
"opportunities for extending the individuals knowledge and appreciation of his/her environment and abilities through the experience
in bicycling." The founding officers were Mark Nissley, President; Bruce Werner, Vice President; Ray Miller, Secretary and
L.A.W. Representative; Sue Rippy, Treasurer; Norm Gulliksen, Touring Director; and L. B. Branner, Newsletter Editor.
The Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition hosts weekly, monthly, and annual rides with the most noted and longest running being
the annual Shenandoah Valley Century, a 100-mile bicycle ride. This annual ride began in 1983 and takes place in September,
coinciding with National Century Month. Rides of various lengths are offered at this event to accommodate all abilities and
skillsets. Other SVBC-sponsored rides of note include the Annual Icicle Bike Ride (January 1), the Annual Super Bowl Sunday
Ride, and the Annual Great Valley Interstate Tour from Harrisburg (PA) to Harrisonburg (VA) (AGVITHH). The starting location
and final destination of AGVITHH rotated every year.
In 2008, the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Club merged with the Shenandoah Valley Mountain Bike Club (founded in 1996) to form
the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition.
The Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition Records, 1977-2019, document the activities of the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition
(SVBC), formerly named the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Club. Materials include newsletters, meeting minutes, correspondence,
promotional material, route maps for the Annual Shenandoah Valley Century Ride and other rides, and digital photographs.
Series 1: Newsletters, 1983-2018, comprises exclusively physical and digital newsletters produced by the Shenandoah Valley
Bicycle Coalition. The first issue of the SVBC newsletter was issued in March 1983. This series includes a full run of newsletters
beginning with the inaugural issue through 2006 with the exception of the following missing newsletters: December 1988, January
1991, April-July 1995, January/February-March 1996. From there after, only the January/February 2007 and April 2008 issues
are present in physical form, though a full run of digital copies (pdfs) is available from 2007-2010. From April 2008 until
May of 2010, the newsletter adopted the name The Mellow Vélo, after the French translation of bicycle. The newsletters were
issued monthly or bi-monthly and provided news stories, a calendar of upcoming meetings and events, member news, classifieds,
information on rides, and general happenings within the SVBC. Newsletters issued 2007-2010 are available as pdfs only, as
well as the following issues, which are not available in a physical copy: April-May 1998, May 2004, August 2005. Starting
in May 2010, newsletters were sent to members electronically using the content manager, MailChimp; these are available as
html files and text files. They retain the original filenames, which do not include the date, but they are listed in chronological
order.
Series 2: Administrative Files, 1983-2015, contains scattered SVBC organizational records and includes handwritten meeting
minutes, digital meeting minutes, board meeting minutes, SVBC's 1992 Constitution and Bylaws, awards and certificates, correspondence,
and treasurer's reports, and Several Adopt-A-Highway Certificates of Appreciation are included as is a copy of the May 1999
Certificate of Recognition of Bicycle Month by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The correspondence is primarily thank-you cards
and letters for donations made by SVBC to local organizations and scholarship funds.
Series 3: Ride Materials, 1977-2018, includes documents relating to various rides. The Shenandoah Valley Century Ride including
posters, route maps and cue sheets, and brochures. Ride Summaries includes documents written by Art Fovargue summarizing the
following rides: American Cancer Society, American Lung Association of Virginia Treks, Bike Aid, Bike Shenandoah, Fall Foliage
Bike Festival, National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) MS150 event, Tour and Taste, Tour duPont, and Tour deValley. The
series also contains 521 digital images from SVBC events, from 2008-2017. Digital materials in this series include both born-digital
content as well as images of original documents.
![[logo]](https://cdn1.lib.jmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/JMU-Logo_ASpace2VAHeritage.png){kind=logo}