ODU Libraries Acquires Norfolk Public Schools Papers on Integration

The Old Dominion University Libraries announces the acquisition of a collection of materials from Norfolk Public Schools related to school integration from 1951 to 1993.

The papers include correspondence, court cases, school board resolutions, inter-district memoranda, press releases, reports, news clippings and district maps. The materials cover the 1958 school closings to prevent integration, integration progress in the 1960s, busing to achieve integration in the 1970s and the end of busing in the mid-1980s.

Among the most important historical materials is correspondence between Gov. Lindsay Almond and the school administration, beginning with the letter ordering the closing of six Norfolk schools as mandated by the state's "Massive Resistance" law. Other letters from this time period discuss allowing groups to meet in those schools as long as the schools would not be used for educational purposes.

The donated material also includes school directories from 1922-23 and 1956-88 as well as school calendars from 1952-93.

For information, contact Sonia Yaco, Special Collections librarian and university archivist, at 757-683-4483 or syaco@odu.edu.