This brochure from the D.C. Historic Preservation Office provides a great introduction to Cleveland Park’s history and architecture.
Click here for access to an archive of blog posts on this site relating to Cleveland Park history.
Please see below for some starting-points for research in the history of Cleveland Park. Over the coming months, we will be digitizing some of our out-of-print publications and materials from our archives. See also the back issues of our newsletter, Voices, here.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CLEVELAND PARK HISTORY
Anderson, Cherrie, Kathleen Sinclair Wood, and John Weibenson. Cleveland Park: A Guide to Architectural Styles and Building Types. Washington, D.C.: Cleveland Park Historical Society, 1998.
Longstreth, Richard, ed. Housing Washington: Two Centuries of Residential Development and Planning in the National Capital Area. Chicago: Center for American Places, 2010.
Ozer, Mark N. Northwest Washington, D.C.: Tales from West of the Park. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2011.
Peter, Grace Dunlop, and Joyce D. Southwick. Cleveland Park: An Early Residential Suburb of the Nation’s Capital. Washington, D.C.: Cleveland Park Community Library Committee, 1958.
Smith, Kathryn S., ed. Washington at Home: An Illustrated History of Neighborhoods in the Nation’s Capital. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
Williams, Paul K., and Kelton C. Higgins. Cleveland Park. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.
HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS IN LOCAL LIBRARIES
Cathedral Archives
The archives of the Washington National Cathedral contain records of the search by Bishop Satterlee, the Cathedral Foundation trustees, and Phoebe Hearst, for land on which to build the Cathedral and its educational institutions in the 1890s, amid the early land-rush among developers buying up the old estates in this area.
D.C. Public Library
The Cleveland Park branch library has a good small collection of books on neighborhood history. Branch information and schedule here.
Washingtoniana Division, MLK Library: Washingtoniana’s collections, described here, are unparalleled for local-history and house-history research in the District, especially while HSW remains closed. It is worth following Washingtoniana on Facebook for notices about their programs and workshops.
Washington Post archives: Did you know that a D.C. public library card gives you free access to full-text search of the Washington Post back to 1877? Happy searching!
Historical Society of Washington
HSW’s Kiplinger Library is a very important archive and library for Washington history. HSW holds the archives of CPHS, as well as many other resources for neighborhood history research. Their hours are limited as they work to get back up to speed after closing for the summer for lack of funds, so it’s worth calling to check on their hours. The online search function for their collections is very user-friendly. Many of their photographs and archival finding aids have been digitized and can be consulted online via this search interface. Note that it is possible to search by neighborhood and/or street address.
Library of Congress
HABS: Records of the Historic American Buildings Survey, a WPA-era project that still continues to document historic structures, are searchable online here.
Pamela Scott, “Residential Architecture of Washington, D.C., and its Suburbs,” an essay online at the Library of Congress’s website, discusses a number of architects important in Cleveland Park’s development, including Waddy Wood, and covers LC’s and other area libraries’ relevant holdings.
DIGITIZED RECORDS IN OTHER COLLECTIONS
The National Register of Historic Places nomination form for the Cleveland Park Historic District: text and photos (PDFs)
MATERIALS AVAILABLE TO BUY FROM CPHS
coming soon
FILES FROM THE CPHS ARCHIVES AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
coming soon
