Papers of
the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School
1921-1988
42.77 cubic feet
Processed by Martha Foley S. L. Hunter CONTENTS
PART I
FINDING AID ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT 1
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE 3
FINAL NARRATIVE REPORT FOR THE DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE PROGRAM 5
PART 2
INVENTORY LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES 11 pages
MISSION STATEMENT 3 pages
GUIDE FOR PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION VOLUNTEERS 2 pages
OUTSIDE REFERENCE REQUEST FORM 1 page ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT
The Collection includes documents and records that belonged to or were created by the school's founder, Elisabeth Irwin. Some personal photographs and newspaper clippings are included along with drafts of articles, correspondence, minutes, speeches and reports of various committees. There are scrapbooks and newspaper clippings illustrating student activities.
There are lists of donors, patrons and patronesses and other materials related to fundraising events. Correspondence of administrators, faculty and students in addition to various publications are included. Visual materials include photographs, slides, negatives, video, 16mm films and a variety of audio recordings.
The papers of Elisabeth Irwin are arranged chronologically as are her photographs. The early records of Little Red are arranged by subject .
The photographs are arranged by decade except for one subject box. Volunteers from the alumni association and the faculty are identifying and sleeving this extensive collection which dates back to the earliest days of the school. A simple guide for volunteers to follow has been created. See Guide for Photo Collection Volunteers.
PROVENANCE
The papers of the Little Red School House/Elisabeth Irwin High School are the physical and intellectual property of the LRSH/EI . The personal papers of the Elisabeth Irwin were intermingled with those of the organization. Additional materials were donated by family members through the efforts of the Gay and Lesbian Parents Association.
RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS
There are no restrictions on the access of this collection. Researchers are encouraged to make appointments in advance, by calling 212 477-5316 and speaking with Ms. Rebecca Sallar or Ms. Jackie Brown. See Mission Statement.
HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY
Elisabeth Irwin was born in Brooklyn on August 29, 1880. She attended Packer Collegiate Institute there before enrolling in Smith College, from which she graduated in 1903. After graduation, she joined the College House Settlement in the Lower East Side of New York City. From 1905-1909 she lived in Greenwich Village and tried her hand at journalism, focusing on life in the tenements, and the lives of single professional woman like herself.. She and her friend Katherine Anthony were charter members of the Heterodoxy Club. The Club was exclusively for women and its membership included some of the most prominent group of professional and intellectual women of the time.
1 With a background in social settlement work and reform journalism to recommend her, Miss Irwin joined the staff of the Public Education Association in 1910. She quickly progressed from field worker to psychologist, earning her MA in psychology from Columbia University's Teachers' College in 1923.
In a series of articles beginning in 1919, Miss Irwin argued for changes in the traditional public school curriculum. Her research was based on a program sponsored by the Public Education Association. In 1921 it was expanded and moved to an annex of New York City Public School 64. Funding for the school came from the Public Education Association , and additional funds were provided from the Board of Education and the Children's Aid Society. Miss Irwin was appointed Director.
The children in the experimental program were grouped according to age, not grade levels . The curriculum stressed field trips and group projects. Traditional subjects like reading, arithmetic and spelling were not introduced until the children had reached 8 years old. Repeated tests and research by Miss Irwin and her staff demonstrated that these children did as well or better than children in the regular public school classes.
In 1932, when the Board of Education moved to close the school, a group of parents founded Little Red School House as an independent school, capable of demonstrating educational innovations that could be replicated within the public school system. Classes were large and children from all over the city were accepted without tests or interviews. The tuition of $160 was equal to the per capita cost of educating a child in the public schools. In 1941, the program was expanded with the establishment of Elisabeth Irwin High School, thus creating one of only a handful of independent schools that offered a continuing educational experience for children from pre-school age through grade 12.
Elisabeth Irwin died on October 16, 1942. The school she founded as continues to be a model of innovation, and experimentation. The faculty of Little Red welcomed both refugees from World War II as well as the victims of racial discrimination and anti-Communist repression. Many went on to successful careers; Charity Bailey, Earl Robinson, and Edith Kramer are notable examples.
In the 1950s, Randolph Smith, Elisabeth Irwin's successor, continued her tradition and also challenged the forces that planned on reinventing New York's neighborhoods by campaigning to prevent the school's buildings and their surroundings from being leveled in slum clearance programs. This work, outlined in Smith's correspondence, preserved the historical face of Greenwich Village.
The students of the school traveled extensively on field trips from Boston to Washington D. C. and west to the coal mines of West Virginia. They corresponded with such nationally and globally prominent people as Arthur Miller, Prime Minister Nehru of India as easily as they did with local politicians. Photographs document the entire school's annual migration to a rural area for June School. The curriculum did not stereotype students by gender; girls as well as boys learned to handle tools. The schools' music program has always been considered to be outstanding.
2 SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
I Papers of Elisabeth Irwin
This includes documents and records that belonged to or were created by Elisabeth Irwin. Personal photographs and clippings are included, along with many articles from her career in journalism. Drafts of articles, speeches and reports, and the minutes of the Evaluation Committee appointed by the Board of Education are included. There are lists of teachers, supporters and Patronesses, and some materials relating to fundraising events, such as tickets and programs. Most interesting and no doubt valuable are the findings of the final report for the year 1932 that led to the Board Of Education's withdrawal of support for the school. This collection of papers contains writings that were the core of Elisabeth Irwin's educational philosophy and illustrate her transition from journalist to innovative educator.
II Minutes of the Parent Teacher's Association
This group was founded in 1921 by the parents of the first students enrolled in the experimental program that became Little Red School House. Without this group's efforts the school might not have existed at all. The minutes are very detailed and are arranged chronologically.
III School Administration
This includes correspondence and papers of the Faculty and Administration of the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School. It includes correspondence, directories, reports, minutes, and publications, all arranged chronologically. This series illustrates the close ties the school enjoyed with the Greenwich Village Community.
IV Students
Being a part of the student body at LRSH/EI is a unique experience. An extensive photograph collection illustrates many of the different aspects of student life. Instead of being confined to a desk in a classroom students traveled about New York City and vicinity. While the primary grade children visited such local sights of interest as the Fulton Fish Market, dairies, livery stables and train and. bus stations, the older children visited striking National Biscuit Company workers on the West Side and striking miners in Pennsylvania. Each senior class traveled to Massachusetts to see Lexington and Concord, Walden Pond and the site of the Witch Trials in Salem. Class work on every level involved group participation unheard of in other schools at the time. Drama was an all-encompassing endeavor that involved the entire student body. They built sets, designed and sewed costumes, designed posters, directed and produced every aspect of a performance. It was not unusual for the plays' authors to observe and advise the students' interpretation of their works. June Camp was an all school event until recently. Rare early motion picture film footage documents this many of the earlier session. This series is arranged chronologically With the exception of one cubic foot arranged by subject.
Student projects which produced magazines and other publications are filed with publications.
3 V Alumnae Association/Development
These are the records of the various fund raising efforts over the years including the phonathon, art shows and musicals. The papers are arranged chronologically.
VI Photographs
A vast compilation of photographs including the studio portraits of Miss Irwin's youth, camping expeditions at the beginning of the century, snaps and professional photographs of students' every activity. Arranged by decade and subject with in each decade. A subject catagory for faculty and some events was also created. See attached sheet.
VII Publications
Each publication of the administration, faculty, parents association, students and development office are listed chronologically.
4 Final Narrative Report for the Documentary Heritage Program Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School
The final phase of the grant year was a productive one. Since January we have completed the tasks set forth in our grant application. Attached is our Finding Aid, Mission Statement, Guide for Volunteers and Reference Request form.
Our consulting archivists, Martha Foley and Sherry Hunter together have completed processing and arranging the schools earliest records. This includes the papers of Elisabeth Irwin as well. Working together with
Rebecca Sallar, the project director, and Olga Heisler, our volunteer team leader we have arranged the photograph collection chronologically by decade. A great many have been identified and put in archival enclosures.
The arrangement is constructed in such a way that the photographs are easily accessible with or without a printed guide. It also allows for additions of materials. The archive committee expects to expand the photograph collection and is working to identify as many as possible. The number of photographs exceeded all previous estimates and additional supplies were required which the school has paid for.
5 LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
SERIES ELISABETH IRWIN (1880-1942) 2 cubic feet Publications and Writings Photographs Ephemera Writings about Elisabeth Irwin ADMINISTRATION (1929-1993) 5 cubic feet Minutes Records Correspondence Newspaper and magazine clippings ALUMNI ASSOCIATION/DEVELOPMENT (1936-1992) 3.5 cubic feet PHOTOGRAPHS (1884-1998) 17 cubic feet PUBLICATIONS and PRINTED MATERIAL (1929-1997) 11 cubic feet SCRAPBOOKS (1929-1992) 4 cubic feet
FOLDER LIST F.! ISABETH IRWIN Box 1 - Publications and Writings
"Canoe Lover's Paradise" July 12, 1908 magazine section New York Herald
"A Study of the Feeble-Minded in a West Side School in New York City" Public Education Association of the City of New York December 8, 1913 reprinted from The Training School Bulletin Vineland NJ September 1913
"Struggles of Women" August 3, 1913 NP
"Gender in Jobs: Some Plain Talk by a Farm Mother for Folk Whose Minds Haven't Jelled" Retold by Elisabeth Irwin Today's for June 1914
"Peelers We" Today's July 1914
"Get a Weight Degree From a School of Health" August 25, 1918 New York Tribune
"Why Do You Give at Christmas?" The Designer and Woman's Magazine December 1920
"What the Child's Weight Tells" The Delineator December 1920
"How to Nag Your Children" The Designer and Woman's Magazine October 1923
"How Much Wood Would a WoodChuck Chuck If He Didn't Chuck All Day Long?" Progressive Education Vol 5, Number 1 April - June 1928 LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
undated articles "How I Made the Most of My Job" A Successful Mother N.D.
"A Novel Outing - A Canoe Trip on a Jersey Canal - How Two Women Enjoyed a Four Days' Vacation at a Total Cost of Five Dollars Including Railroad Fares" - The Suburbanite ND
"A Witch's Revel for Hallowe'en" ND NP
"Your Many-Sided Self ND NP pages from New Idea Woman's Magazine ND
"The Story of a Transplanted Industry: the Lace Workers of the Italian Quarter of New York" ND NP
"When We Were Eighteen: a letter from middle age to youth" People's Favorite Magazine ND
New Idea Woman's Magazine pages 83 -102
"Antonio Corsi -The Most Famous Model in the World" circa 1913 typescripts typescript draft "Field Trips on Elementary School Level" after 1913
Report of the Experimental Classes - PS 41 Man September 1929-1930
"We Begin" , and other articles and correspondence 1932-1939
"Going to School" October 1932
"Are There Opportunities for Women? Teaching in a Progressive School" Vocational Radio Series October 1935 drafts, speeches, papers circa 1936 correspondence "subversive" charges May June 1941 clippings - articles in response to Elisabeth Irwin's writing "The Facts About the Uncontrolled Feebleminded are Appalling" Henrietta Rodman N.D.
"Find Most Truants are Feeble-Minded" LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
Fr ISABETH IRWIN Box 2 - Photographs (1884 - 1947) childhood portraits from age 4 portraits 1890s - 1900 casual shots three women man outdoors with dogs three girls EI on right two girls EI on right head shot two mid distance portraits women outdoors with dogs 1894 pictures from canal trip 1906ish and a few from school portraits 1910-1942 August 1942 - in hospital August 1942 outdoors with friend and dogs, also negative seated in spindle back chair half turned away to waist seated in cushion chair full body outdoors in street seated in wicker chair hand to head portraits 1990s in classroom portrait pictures with children and grand children circa 1937 Katharine Anthony portraits
FT ISABETH IRWIN Box 3 - Ephemera (1926 - 1948) documents Teachers Union AFT
passport 1926 , 4 photocopy of death certificate obituary In Memoriam - Elizabeth Goldsmith - October 1942 New York Times Obituary eulogies tributes in memoriam lease for 23 Bank Street to Mr. Burleigh Cushing Rodick 1948
ELISABETH IRWIN Box 4 - writings about Elisabeth Irwin and Katherine Anthony (1957 - 1994)
"A Fresh and Original Portrait of Marie Antoinette" The New York Times Book Review January 29, 1933 review of Katharine Anthony's Marie Antoinette
Info magazine - Elisabeth Irwin High School, 1957
Mabel Hawkins tribute - Oct. 28, 1957 3 LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
Hannah Josephson's biographical study of Katherine Anthony and Elisabeth Irwin - 100 plus pages
biography of Elisabeth Irwin (typescript) by Floyd Hammack February 1994
dictionary entry by Patricia Alberbjerg Graham
Katherine Anthony: the Evolution of a Butterfly into a Chrysalis Alden Wain - Master of Arts in Women's Studies (typescript -no date)
ADMINISTRATION Box 1 - Minutes (1929 - 1936)
Aims of the Experiment - PS 41 Kindergarten through 2A 1929- 1930 manuscript notes draft final report Little Red School House Parents and Teachers Association Minutes October 1929-1933
Little Red School House Parents and Teachers Association Minutes 1933 -1936
Evaluating Committee on Experimental Classes 1930 Minutes correspondence notes of Elisabeth Irwin Minutes of the Evaluating Committee November 5, 1931
Minutes of the Parents of Experimental Classes at PS 41 April 5, 1932
Minutes of Committee in favor of continuing Experimental Class May 3, 1932
ADMINISTRATION Box 2 - Records (1929 - 1936)
Kindergarten Record - Esther Gray October 18, 1929
List of Patronesses 1930s
Equipment & Supplies PS 41 for Experimental Classes 1930 Public Education Association
Evaluation PS 41 September 1931
Annual Report on the Experimental Classes at PS 41 1930-1931
4 LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
Press Release - Experimental Program at PS 41 April 29, 1932 Public Education Association
Public Education Association May 1932 Press Release - Howard Nudd
Provisional Charter of the Little Red School House, Inc Nov 17, 1932
Report to Associated Experimental Schools 1933-1934
Answers to Elizabeth Healy's questions about Little Reds By-Laws N.D. with curricula vitas for Rhoda Harris, Marguerite Goodkind, Florence Beamen, and Elisabeth Irwin
Mrs. Lewisohn's Committee list Mid 1935? includes Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Henry Morgenthau
Description of Little Red House circa 1936 curriculum administration
Publication "The Public and the Schools" Public Education Association May 20, 1930
Publication 1930s "Democracy" by Rhoda Harris, Mabel Hawkins, Norman Studer foreword by Elisabeth Irwin
ADMINISTRATION Box 3 - Correspondence (19375- 1956)
Parents Teachers Association 1937 - 1947
Elisabeth Irwin to Mr. William Fuerst, New York Foundation December 5, 1935 Elisabeth Irwin to Mildred Babcock November 1937
Roma Gens to Agnes De Lima January 16, 1942
letters (copies) to students from 1945 Eleanor Roosevelt Branch Rickey
Randolph Smith and Vinal Tibbetts 1945 - 1946 LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES Slum Clearance 1948 - 1952
Randolph Smith - Slum Clearance 1950 - 1953
Randolph Smith 1953
William Kilpatrick to Randolph Smith December 26, 1956
Text of Charter 1938
Landmarks Commission Report on Charlton Street August 1966
ADMINISTRATION Box 4 - Newspaper and Magazine stories (1920s - 1960s)
Clippings - mounted on cardboard 1920s Clippings 1920s - 1990s Clippings 1932 Clippings 1920s - 1950s Clippings 1932 Clippings articles about students and teachers 1950s - 1960s Slum Clearance 1952 Little Red anniversary 1958 donation to NAACP 1959 events, public relations 1958 - 1960s
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION/DEVELOPMENT (1936- 1989) Box 1 class lists 1936- 1959 staff lists 1932- 1970
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION/DEVELOPMENT Box 2 1968 -1978 parent addresses alumni parents fund drives publicity information publicity meeting minutes phonathons brochures LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION/DEVELOPMENT Box 3 (1957- 1969) Midnight Show of Stars
farewell dinner may 15, 1966 25th Anniversary
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION/DEVELOPMENT Box 4 (1957- 1979)
Class lists 1957- 1961 Class Lists 1961- 1965 Alumni list classes 1960- 1964 Class Lists 1965- 1973 Class lists 19'73- 1979 Randolph Smith retirement dinner May 8, 1968
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION/DEVELOPMENT Box 5 Taconic/Leicestershire workshops May - Aug 1969 correspondence 1970- 1973
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 1 1920 - 1930 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp
PHOTOGRAPHS 1930 - 1940 Box 2 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 3 1940 - 1950 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 4 1950 - 1960 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 5 1960 - 1970 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp
PHOTOGRAPHS 1970 - 1980 Box 6 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
PHOTOGRAPHS Box? 1980- 1990 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 8 1990 - 2000 class photos science block -building arts theater, dance, music shop sports trips June Camp
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 9 1920 - 1997 Subject File Events Faculty, alphabetical by last name Board Staff Alumni Parents Buildings
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 10 1920 - 1990 Contact sheets Negatives Slides
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 11 1920 - used in publications 1997
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 12 1920 - unidentified LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
PHOTOGRAPHS 1940 - 1960 Box 13 unidentified
PHOTOGRAPH 1950 - 1960 S Box 14 unidentified
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 15 1960 - 1970 unidentified
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 16 1970 - 1990 unidentified
PHOTOGRAPHS Box 17 1980 - 1998 unidentified
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL (1932 - 1997) Box 1 Program - Benefit Performance December 7, 1937
Program - Camp Housatonic 1939
Publications 1936 - 1942 programs tickets
Happy Holiday Tunes for Very Young Children 1943 by Nellie Kavelin - Teacher of Music at the Little Red School House
We Hold These Truths 1948 Foreword - Randolph Smith History and Heritage - Mabel Hawkins Our Concern for Children as Individuals William F. Marvin The Kinds of Experiences We Want and Plan for Children Norman Studer The Democracy We Live By - Randolph Smith
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 2 Student writings 1932 Bleecker St. Journal 6th grade 1973 - 1974 LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE ARCHIVES
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 3 Compleat Parent 1956 - 1964
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 4 Compleat Parent 1965 - 1974
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 5 EI Handbook
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 6 The Bulletin 1937- 1947
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 7 The Bulletin 1948- 1955 Newsletters 1961- 1980 Handbook for Parents
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 8 1945- 1956 Yearbooks
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 9 1956- 1970 Yearbooks
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 10 1971- 1992 Yearbooks
PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIAL Box 11 1975- 1997 Directories
11 "The Public and the Schools" Public Education Association May 20, 1930