A Guide to the Elizabeth Virrick Papers

Contents

• Overview
• Biographical Note
• Scope and Content
• Restrictions
• Related Material
• Index Terms
• Administrative Information
• Bibliography
• Container List
  • General Correspondence, 1948-1978
  • Organizations and Topics, 1949-1978
  • Periodicals, Photographs and Newspaper Clippings 1950-1970s
  • Oversize Materials, 1940s-1970s

Overview

Biographical Note

Elizabeth Virrick was born in Winchester, Kentucky, and came to Miami in 1925 with her husband, Vladimir, a prominent local architect.

In 1948, she co-founded, with Father Theodore Gibson, the Coconut Grove Slum Clearance Committee, which sought to improve the living standards of Coconut Grove's African American community. Mrs. Virrick and her committee's battle with city and county officials resulted in the outlawing of privies, regular garbage pick-up and the building of low cost public housing units. Later on, she promoted zoning to protect these neighborhoods from overcrowding and industrial encroachment, and sought police protection and day care services for the residents. In 1967 the organization changed its name to Coconut Grove Cares and shifted its emphasis to social programs for the community's youth. Among these were the boxing program, and job training and placement for ex-offenders.

A leading non-professional authority on housing and urban renewal, Mrs. Virrick served on various committees and government boards and wrote many articles on the subject. She also served as the editor of Ink, a journal of civic affairs.

Scope and Content

The papers consist of correspondence, memos, reports, photographic prints, magazines and newspaper clippings, and relate primarily to Mrs. Virrick's extensive involvement in housing and urban issues in Coconut Grove and Miami-Dade County, and of her interest on a national level. Includes material on the founding and evolution of the Coconut Grove Citizens for Slum Clearance and the Citizens Advisory Committee and other boards on which she served.

Mrs. Virrick corresponded extensively with government officials and other influential people. Correspondents include Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Claude Pepper, Lawton Chiles, Rubin Askew, Dante Fascell, and Maurice Ferre.

The magazines and newspaper clippings were originally interfiled with the papers, but have been boxed separately for conservation purposes.

Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Related Material

Nine folders of photographic prints providing visual documentation of Mrs. Virrick’s work are filed in the Research Center’s photographic collection under the heading, Virrick, Elizabeth.

Index Terms

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation:
Elizabeth Virrick Papers, Historical Museum of Southern Florida

Provenance:
Gift of her daughter, Tatiana Duttenhofer, 1991, and her granddaughter, Totsie Walton, 1995.

Processing Information:
The magazines and newspaper clippings were originally interfiled with the papers, but have been boxed separately for conservation purposes.

Bibliography

Mohl, Raymond A. "Elizabeth Virrick and the 'Concrete Monsters' : Housing Reform in Postwar Miami." -- In Tequesta, no. 61 (2001), p. 5-37.

Container List

General Correspondence, 1948-1978

Organizations and Topics, 1949-1978

Periodicals, Photographs and Newspaper Clippings 1950-1970s

Oversize Materials, 1940s-1970s