The Howard County
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F O C U S
VOL.2, NO.7
F O R
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Kellner, who graduated from FarleighDickinson University in New Jersey with a degree in English, says, “I’ve become an historian by default.” After coming to Columbia when her husband was transferred for business reasons to the area, she volunteered at the archives, deciding it would be the best way to learn about her new community. They raised two children here, and she became a full-time employee at the archives in 1995. Her husband died in 1999. Now, after nearly three decades of immersing herself in Columbia’s story, she is the author of two books about Columbia. She is called upon to give talks at schools
JULY 2012
I N S I D E …
PHOTO BY FRANK KLEIN
An accidental historian
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More than 30,000 readers throughout Howard County
The keeper of Columbia’s past By Robert Friedman The urban planners come from Korea, China, Belarus, California and Pennsylvania, all wanting to know the same thing: “How did Columbia do it?” How were some 15,000 acres of farm land turned into a city of 100,000 residents often rated, along with nearby Ellicott City, as one of the most livable communities anywhere? The questions are put to Columbia Archives Director Barbara Kellner, who then pulls from the file cabinets and drawers the planning documents and blueprints, the personal papers and committee reports, the organizational records, photos, posters, maps, builders’ brochures, surveyors’ plots, newspapers, artwork, etc. — all held in a room located off the lobby in a building on Wincopin Circle. The archives, now under the aegis of the quasi-government Columbia Association, started as a community initiative in 1983, some 16 years after the birth of Columbia. It grew to a community institution through the donation of materials from those who helped plan, develop and build the unincorporated community. Kellner, a native of the New York City borough of Queens, started volunteering at the archives when she moved to Columbia in 1983. She is now the go-to woman for those who want to know the history of, and the perspective on, what James Rouse and others shaped into 10 villages after purchasing property from 150 landowners in the mid-1960s.
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ARTS & STYLE For nearly three decades, Barbara Kellner has immersed herself in the archives of Columbia’s past — from planning documents and blueprints, to personal papers and newspaper clips. She started working at the archives as a volunteer, and rose to the position of Columbia Archives Director, where she remains the city’s historian and chronicler, having written two books about the city.
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and in forums, and until recently hosted the local TV program, “Columbia Matters.” She still has a monthly segment on the show. “Never in a million years did I think the work at the archives would become such an exceptional part of my life,” she said.
An inclusive community Kellner is a believer in the Rouseian philosophy of an inclusive, diverse, planned living experience. “Living in a community with that ethos has made me even more appreciative and embracing of the importance of economic, social and racial diversity,” she said.
From its inception, Columbia was developed for economic and racial diversity. A range of living units were built, from subsidized housing to custom-designed family homes. Rouse sent a memo to developers, realtors, builders and sales people that said, in part, “Simply stated, we are color blind.” The realtors were told not to steer people to any one neighborhood. The people working at the exhibit center, which was open from 1967 to 1989 to attract residents, were both white and African-American, and everyone there was “up front,” See ARCHIVIST, page 27
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