JArlington Public Library Exhibit on WETA Founder Elizabeth Campbell Opens with an April 7 Event

oin WETA, the Arlington Public Library and the Center for Local History for a special celebration of Elizabeth Campbell (1902-2004) — the first president of WETA and a co-founder of the station. The free event takes place Friday, April 7, 1-3 p.m. in the Campbell Room at the Arlington Public Library’s Shirlington branch and will feature the opening of the Elizabeth Campbell Desk Exhibit. WETA has donated Mrs. Campbell’s longtime office desk to the library, which has prepared an educational exhibit about her life and her extraordinary contributions to the Arlington community. Guest speakers will introduce the exhibit, the library will provide a children’s craft and light refreshments and attendees can enjoy a photo op with Clifford the Big Red Dog.

A lifelong education advocate, Campbell in 1947 became the first woman to be elected to a school board in Virginia when she won a seat on the Arlington County School Board. She served for three terms and took up the struggle to desegregate Virginia’s public schools. Recruited to head the Greater Washington Educational Television Association, she joined a group of visionaries that in 1961 launched WETA’s noncommercial educational television service for the national capital area. Campbell served as the station’s president for a decade before stepping aside to become vice president of community affairs in 1971, a position she held as an unpaid volunteer for more than 40 years, until her death at the age of 101 in 2004.

WETA and the opportunities for lifelong learning that it provides are Elizabeth Campbell’s magnificent legacy. An educator, mother and idealist, she dared to create change in our community and succeeded. She remains an inspiration at WETA. Please join us at Shirlington Library on April 7 to celebrate this remarkable woman.