Sullivan, Robert James Jr. Papers, ca. 1930-2013 *JMU Faculty Papers*

Subseries 1.1: City Planning Commission Annual Reports, 1966-1981, contains a continuous run of annual reports for the City Planning Commission from 1965 through 1981. These annual reports include planning commission highlights and monthly summaries of activities. The 1965-1966 report notes that Robert J. Sullivan Jr. took over the duties of Planning Director on October 1, 1965.

Subseries 1.2: Urban Planning Grants, 1965-1966, contains reports prepared under the contract for the Local Planning Section: Department of Conservation and Economic Development, State of Virginia. The preparation of these reports was funded in part through an urban planning grant from the Housing and Home Finance Agency. The reports contain analysis of various aspects of the city of Harrisonburg, including population statistics and information pertaining to residential neighborhoods and the downtown area. These Urban Planning Grants also include a 1966 comprehensive plan for development over the following twenty years as well as a summary report of that plan. These reports were office copies that belonged to Robert James Sullivan Jr. and have his name written on the cover. Because of excessive mold on these reports, all items from this subseries have been photocopied and originals discarded.

Subseries 1.3: Miscellaneous City Planning Reports, 1946-1992, contains various other reports that relate to city planning in Harrisonburg or city planning in general. Two reports relate to city planning in Norfolk, Virginia from the 1940s and 1950s and document urban renewal or "slum clearance" efforts there. Box 1 folder 27 contains an outline of the history of City Planning in Harrisonburg, beginning with the establishment of the Planning Commission in March, 1938. The report titled Harrisonburg: "The City with the Planned Future," contains a detailed history of the founding and growth of Harrisonburg, including population statistics and documentation of land annexation as well a listing of the members of City Council from 1849-2006.

Subseries 2.1: City Planning, 1960-2012, contains materials that Sullivan created in his role as City Planner, or that relate to city planning functions. Types of materials include photos and other documents related to the Northeast Urban Redevelopment Project, newspaper articles about city planning and the growth and development of Harrisonburg, and documents relating to zoning and historic district status. The folders titled "What do you think of Federal Aid? Photos and description," contain a document written in 2012 by Sullivan explaining the history of urban redevelopment in Harrisonburg, and his role in the "slum clearance" projects of the 1950s and 1960s.

Subseries 2.2: Harrisonburg History, 1958-2008, contains materials collected by Sullivan that relate to the history of Harrisonburg, as well as materials he created related to the history and development of the city. Sullivan was known as the "unofficial historian of Harrisonburg" and materials in this subseries document the history and development of Harrisonburg. Items of note include original drawings of downtown Harrisonburg from the 1950s and 1960s as well as posters and brochures that contain Sullivan's sketches for the 1980 Bicentennial celebration. Other materials include the text of various talks Sullivan gave on the history of Harrisonburg to various groups in town.

Subseries 6.1: Photographs, ca. 1930-2006, contains images of Harrisonburg from ca. 1930-2006. Images document the areas of Harrisonburg targeted for urban renewal in the 1960s, buildings and other features of downtown Harrisonburg from the 1960s-early 2000s, historic buildings in Harrisonburg, and some images of Harrisonburg High School football. Also included are images of students in classes taught by Sullivan from 1990-2006, as well as images from the walking tours that he conducted with his students. Items identified as photo albums in the inventory below were removed from their original albums and foldered individually with corresponding captions as folder titles.

All images within the Slides subseries have been digitized and are available to view within JMU Scholarly Commons (https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/rjs/). Each individual grouping is also listed and linked in the inventory below. The slides are arranged topically based on the original arrangement created by Sullivan and are listed alphabetically in the inventory below. Sullivan wrote additional information that describes the images onto most slides in the collection. That descriptive information is listed as the title when viewing the images within JMU Scholarly Commons. Most images in the slides subseries document Harrisonburg and the surrounding area from the 1960s-1980s. Other content includes images of Reston, VA, and Durham, NC that feature housing complexes and downtown areas. Please note that images of Harrisonburg are found within the grouping labeled as "Durham, NC," as well as in the grouping titled "non-H'burg."