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July 31, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Andrea Castillo

(301) 699-3500 x6158

andrea.castillo@pgcmls.info

Library Makes New Deal-Era Blueprint Collection Available Online

Largo, Maryland – The Prince George’s County Memorial Library System’s (PGCMLS) Greenbelt Homes, Inc. Blueprint Collection is now available online. The newly digitized collection, scanned in cooperation with the Maryland Archives from the original microfilm owned by PGCMLS, includes more than 3,000 images of blueprints and other documents for many of the original homes built in the core of historic Greenbelt, Maryland, as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal program, dated between 1936 and 1938.

“Paramount to our mission, with this project PGCMLS reaffirms our commitment to the preservation of local history,” said Blane Halliday, the Library’s director for collection strategies. “The digitization of these reels of microfilm represents one of the Library's first attempts at making our collections more readily available to the public beyond the four walls of our branches. PGCMLS is thrilled to have been given the opportunity to make these historic images more accessible to the local community, as well as researchers from around the country and the world.”

The blueprints are part of the Library’s larger Tugwell Special Collection, with most of its physical items housed inside of the Greenbelt Branch Library. The collection provides materials for researchers of all ages interested in city and urban planning, sociology, architecture, American history of the New Deal era, consumer cooperatives, and the city of Greenbelt, MD. The collection is named for Rexford G. Tugwell, who created and developed the New Deal-era Greenbelt Towns project during his time as the head of the Resettlement Administration.

View the collection

    About the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System

    The Prince George’s County Memorial Library System (PGCMLS) helps customers discover and define opportunities that shape their lives. The Library serves the 967,000+ residents of Prince George’s County, Maryland through 19 branch libraries, a 24/7 online library, and pop-up services throughout the community. PGCMLS is a responsive and trusted community-driven organization. Programs, services, and outreach activities serve book lovers, immigrants and refugees, job seekers, children, young professionals, seniors, and families alike. PGCMLS is the recipient of the 2021 Urban Libraries Council Top Innovator Award for Workforce and Economic Development. Learn more at pgcmls.info/about-us.