View XML QR Code

Education College Records (Preliminary Inventory), 1911-1958

Overview of the Collection

Title
Education College Records (Preliminary Inventory)
Dates
1911-1958 (inclusive)
Quantity
34 linear feet
Collection Number
Archives 13
Summary
Includes general office records, correspondence, budgets, course materials, and conference proceedings, 1911-1958; Summer Session Records, Class Grade Records Books and In Service Teacher Preparation (ISTP) Records.
Repository
Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions

The Collection is open for research use.

Languages
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Return to Top

Historical Note

The early history of Washington State University's College of Education, as revealed in these records, was closely bound to the career of Dean Alfred Alexander Cleveland (b.1876) and the development of primary and secondary education within Washington State. Born in Oregon, Cleveland acquired the Ph.D. in psychology from Clark University in 1906. In 1907 A.. A. Cleveland joined the faculty of the, then, state College of Washington as Assistant Professor of Psychology. Between 1908 and 1910 he first became full professor and then temporary head of the education department. In those times education and psychology were parts of the same department. During the 1917 reorganization WSU was divided into five colleges and four schools. Cleveland's responsibilities then included the deanship of the School of Education and directorship of the annual Summer Session. The records indicate the important role the Summer Session played in enlarging the formal training of primary and secondary teacher in the State of Washington.

Thus from the early years Dean Cleveland was to play an important role in developing education and psychology at WSU. Often in those years he was the only full-time teacher in the department of education. In addition, he served on many statewide educational committees and groups. His students were potent forces within the State of Washington calling for increased attention to quality education for all and adequate teacher preparation. Cleveland served as Dean of the School of Education until his retirement early in 1941.

Dean Cleveland's replacement, J. Murry Lee, came to WSU in January 1941 directly from the faculty of the University of Wisconsin where he had been and active scholar, teacher, and consultant to educational groups. He held the Ph.D. in Education from Columbia University and had experience as a school principal in Los Angeles.

Upon arrival at WSU he proceeded to continue many of Dean Cleveland's policies but he also moved rapidly to help meet the impending war needs of the United States. Lee's first years at WSU were interrupted when he was called to serve in the U. S. Navy from 1943 to 1945. Cleveland temporarily resumed his duties as dean of the School of Education during Lee's absence. However, to ease Cleveland's administrative burden Lee removed the direction of the Summer Session from the Dean's Office. He placed fellow faculty member L. L. Chisholm in temporary charge of the Summer Session. The records show that this new situation produced great strain between the temporary Dean and the temporary Director of the Summer Session.

Upon Lee's return direction of the Summer Session reverted back to the Dean's Office. In addition, Lee began to take up the problems of post-war American education. For example, the program of inservice teacher Preparation was expanded to meet the new demands of returning veterans and the predicted post-war "baby boom." The records show that the WSU College of education actively worked to secure the same objectives it had always sought--quality education for all Washington State citizens through high quality teacher preparation.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The records of the College of Education comprise five series. The first series is arranged chronologically (there are several missing years) and alphabetically within each year. Some years in this series are designated by a year followed by "A-Z" This indicates that within that year the file folders have the heading 'A', 'B',etc. Other years are designated because they were separated from the major records series, on receipt.

Processing Note

These records were provisionally processed, September, 1974-March, 1975, by Robert A. Catale. That handwritten list was compiled by Tim Marsh in December 2008 into this provisional finding aid. Boxes and folders lacking any description were organized and detailed by Mark O'English and Nora Weichert in January 2009. A small quantity of material was removed and either photocopied or destroyed during a 2009 conservational survey.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Corporate Names

  • Washington State University. College of Education--Archives (creator)
  • Washington State University. College of Education--Records and correspondence

Occupations

  • Teachers--Training of--Washington (State)--Archival resources

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names

    • State College of Washington. College of Education. (creator)

Finding aid prepared by Robert A. Catale
April 21, 2015

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...