Richmond Comprehensive Planning Slide Collection

from Virginia Commonwealth University

The Richmond Comprehensive Planning Slide Collection contains over 8,000 photographs primarily depicting the city of Richmond, Virginia. The collection of 35mm slides was compiled by the staff of the Planning and Preservation Division of the City of Richmond's Department of Planning and Development Review. It functioned as an archive of planning imagery used for presentations to the public, to community groups, and to the Planning Commission and City Council for the adoption of plans. The collection was also used to illustrate the Richmond Master and Downtown Plans as well as neighborhood planning documents. It is an important resource for understanding the larger context of planning as practiced in Richmond during the second half of the twentieth century. The images document the changes in numerous Richmond neighborhoods, in the city's architecture and streetscapes, and in other various aspects of the built environment. Dating from the 1940s to 2000, with the majority ranging from the '70s to the '90s, the photographs depict buildings, streets, aerial views, parks, parking lots, floods, people, and events, mostly in Richmond, but also in other cities in Virginia and in other states. The non-Richmond views were used by the Division as examples of best planning practices. David Sacks, a longtime city planner who headed the Comprehensive Planning Division for a number of years, shot a large number of the slides.

VCU Libraries digitized this collection in 2008 and 2010. Jennifer Cason supervised student employees, digitization, and quality control. Student employees Kaitlin Foray and Kelly Crone assisted with digitization. Metadata Librarian Mary Anne Dyer created the metadata for this digital collection.

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