HistoryMiami Archives & Research Center 101 West Flagler Street Miami, Florida 33130 305-375-1623 archives@historymiami.org A Guide to the Elizabeth Virrick Papers Overview Creator: Virrick, Elizabeth, 1897-1990 Title: Elizabeth Virrick papers Dates: 1948-1994 (bulk 1948-1968) Quantity: Abstract: 6 Linear Ft. Identification: 1991-314 to her efforts to improve living conditions in the African American section of Coconut Grove (Miami, Fla.), especially during the 1950s and 1960s. Her papers include materials on slums, public housing, urban renewal and the organization, Coconut Grove Cares. 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 photographi Index Terms African Americans -- Florida -- Miami -- Coconut Grove African Americans -- Housing Boxing -- Florida -- Miami -- Coconut Grove Coconut Grove (Miami, Fla.) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources Coconut Grove Cares (Miami, Fla.)
Coconut Grove Citizens Committee for Slum Clearance Elizabeth Virrick Gymnasium (Miami, Fla.) Housing -- Florida -- Miami -- Coconut Grove manuscripts photographic prints poems Saint Albans Nursery School (Miami, Fla.) scrapbooks Slums -- Florida -- Miami -- Coconut Grove Urban renewal -- Florida -- Miami -- Coconut Grove Virrick, Elizabeth Landsberg, 1897-1990 Administrative Information Preferred Citation: Elizabeth Virrick Papers, HistoryMiami 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 Series 1: General Correspondence, 1948-1978 1 1 Correspondence, 1948-1953 2 Correspondence, memos, etc., 1949-1967 3 Correspondence, minutes, memos, etc., 1950-1967
4 Correspondence, 1950-1964 5 Correspondence, 1957-1967 6 Correspondence, minutes, reports, 1961-1963 7 Correspondence, memos, 1963-1966 8 Correspondence, minutes, memos, etc., 1965-1967 9 Correspondence, 1961-1971 10 Correspondence, 1960-1972 11 Correspondence, 1965-1978 12 Correspondence [finance], 1952 and 1954 Series 2: Organizations and Topics, 1949-1978 1 13 Awards, honors and biographical material 14 Bacon foundation, 1967-1968 15 Citizens Advisory Committee. Membership lists, 1960s 16 Citizens Advisory Committee. Minutes, 1965-1966 2 1 Citizens Advisory Committee. Minutes, 1965-1966 2 Citizens' Planning and Housing Council of Dade County, 1959-1960 3 Coconut Grove Advisory Board, 1967 4 Coconut Grove Cares, Inc., 1964-1974 5 Coconut Grove Cares. Arts and Craft Committee, 1968-1969 6 Coconut Grove Cares. Employment Committee, 1968-1973 (Correspondence on various topics, including Coconut Grove Cares for Youth and housing) 7 Coconut Grove Cares. Financial records, 1968-1969 8 Coconut Grove Cares. Programs, etc. 9 Coconut Grove Citizen Committee for Slum Clearance, Inc. - meetings, 1960s 10 Coconut Grove Citizen Committee for Slum Clearance, Inc. - reports, 1960s 11 Community Relations Board, 1967-1978 12 Community Relations Board. Reports and memos, 1966 13 Conservation in Florida / Robert King High campaign, 1966 14 Dade Fair Housing Agency, 1960s 15 Douglas, Marjory Stoneman. Correspondence and articles, 1950s 16 Economic Opportunity Program - reports, 1960s-1970s
3 1 Elizabeth Virrick [boxing] Gym, 1994 2 Equal Opportunity Program of Dade County, 1960s 3 Golden gloves [boxing] programs, 1976-1977 4-5 Housing and Home Finance agency, 1949-1962 6 Housing and urban renewal, 1967-1968 7 Housing and urban renewal - articles, pamphlets and reports, 1966-1967 (Includes several documents on Islandia and the creation of Biscayne National Monument) 8 Housing and Urban Renewal Programs and Reports 9 Housing, general, 1960s 10 Housing issues - pamphlets, 1950s-1960s 4 1 Housing reports - general, 1950s-1960s 2 Housing reports - Miami and general, 1960s 3 Magazine articles (Typescripts of articles written for Ink?) 4 Metro-Dade County Youth Opportunity program - report, 1970 5 Miami Housing Authority -reports, 1960s 6-7 Miami Planning Board - agendas, 1966 8 National Public Housing conference - news releases, 1960s 9 Poems written by Elizabeth Virrick 10 Public housing - letters, articles, newsletters, 1940s-1950s 11 Saint Albans Nursery School, 1966-1967 5 1-2 Sanitation ordinances, 1960s 3 Slum clearance and public housing, 1960s 4 Urban renewal - articles, letters, memos, 1960s-1970s 5-6 Urban renewal - reports, newsletters, 1960s 7 Urban renewal and housing - reports, 1960s 8 Welfare Planning Council of Dade County. Monthly reports, 1965-1966 9 Workable program for the City of North Miami, 1960 Series 3: Periodicals, Photographs and Newspaper Clippings 1950-circa 1979 6 1 Ink newsletters, 1950s-1970s 2 de Grazia, Alfred, ed., Grass roots private welfare: Winning essays of the New York University Press, 1957., 1956 National Awards Competition of the
Foundation for Voluntary Welfare. New York (Includes Mrs. Vladimir E. Virrick and Mrs. Franklin Johnson, "Civic Cooperation in Miami.") 3 Photographic prints 7 1 Newspaper clippings, 1950s 8 1 Newspaper clippings, 1950s-1960s 9 1 Newspaper clippings, 1960s-1970s 10 1 Florida Home 2 Florida Builder, Florida Contractor and Builder, The Florida Architect 3 House and Home, Forum, Chicago Plan Commission Population and Housing Report No. 2 December 1956, Housing Research, City 4 Journal of Housing, 1947, 1968, 1969 5 Journal of Housing, 1950 11 1 Journal of Housing, 1951-1955 12 1 Journal of Housing, 1956-1958 Series 4: Oversize Materials, circa 1940-1979 13 1 Oversized awards and honors 14 1 2 Photographs Scrapbooks, 1940s-1970s (Topics include the judiciary system, Civil War, desegregation, race relations, slum clearance, black housing, GI housing, public housing, Miami's refusal of federal slum clearance funds and gardening)