St. Louis Public Schools Photograph Collection See online at http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/412093. Missouri History Museum, Photos and Prints Department P.O. Box 11940 St. Louis, MO 63112-0040 (314) 746-4511 [email protected] Collection Overview ID Number: P0900 Collection Title: St. Louis Public Schools Photograph Collection Dates: ca.1870-2003 Creator: St. Louis Public Schools (Saint Louis, Mo.) Extent: 165 boxes Formats: Photograph; Negative; Snapshot; Lantern slide; Slide; Scrapbook; Photograph album Language: nol Rights and Access Viewing and use restrictions: Contains material that may be under copyright protection; No special use restrictions; No viewing restrictions Physical and technical restrictions: No physical or technical restrictions Credit line: St. Louis Public Schools Photograph Collection, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis. Administrative information Acquisition: The collection was donated by the Special Administrative Board of the Transitional District of the City of St. Louis in 2016. Related material: P0041 – School Buildings P0048 – School Groups P0631 – Educational Museum Collection A3030 – St. Louis Public School Records A0439 – Educational Museum of the St. Louis Public Schools Records A0255 – Central High School Collection A1486 – Schools Collection Processed by: Processed by Sabrina Gorse and Kristina Perez, 2016-2017 Subject Headings St. Louis Public Schools (Saint Louis, Mo.) School employees School buildings children school Education Public schools School buildings high school students Scope and Content Note The collection is divided into ten series: Activity Negatives, Photographs by Subject, Community Information Department, Audiovisual Services Slides, Susan J. Abernathy Scrapbooks, Southwest High School Library Transparencies, Library Services Scrapbook, School Partnership Program Photos/Slides, Samuel Shepard Photo Collection, Albums/Visual Material by Schools/Groups. The Activity Negatives Series, c.1904-2005, consists primarily of original photographic negatives arranged chronologically and created by a series of unknown photographers. The materials document the schools, organizations, and educational and professional activities in the St. Louis Public Schools. 91 boxes - dating between 1904 to May 1952 - have been processed and are available for research; the remaining materials will become accessible as the series is further processed. The Photographs by Subject series, c.1875-2003, comprises 40 boxes arranged alphabetically by subject. Schools comprise the majority of the subjects but they also include departments within the St. Louis Public Schools such as Special Education, Greenhouse, and the Educational Museum. There are also a large number of photos from KSLH, the district's radio station and a few photos for KSD-TV. For most schools in this series there are photos of the school buildings, many dating from circa 1900. Class photos are primarily graduating classes from middle schools, not high schools. There are also classroom photos, group photos or collage photos of students assigned to a classroom with a single teacher. The Community Information Department series, c.1966-1999, comprises 11 boxes and contains primarily photos arranged alphabetically by subject. Interspersed among the photos are news releases and newsclippings relating to the events and people. There are also slide presentations: Magnet schools (with audiocassette), Dr. (Jerome) Jones' Accomplishments, and the SLPS 150th Anniversary. Of special note are the photos concerning the awards and special visitors (Pres. Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Sec. of Education, etc.) received by the Gateway School Complex. The Audiovisual Services Slides series, 1950-1969, comprises one box containing slide presentations. The Susan J. Abernathy Scrapbooks series, 1966-1993, comprises three volumes (1 box) of candid and school photos of her students at three elementary schools: Shepard, Sigel, and Dewey. The Southwest High School Library Transparencies series is a set of ten sets of job seeking transparencies that were part of the school library collection. The Library Services Scrapbook series is a single volume titled "Corridor Libraries and the New Motivation in Reading," 1969. The School Partnership Program series consists of photos, clippings, and some correspondence arranged in alphabetical order by name of the community partners participating in the program. The Samuel Shepard Photo Collection series, c.1946-1970 comprises one box. The Albums/Visual Materials series, c.1920-2003, is 16 boxes comprised of scrapbooks, photos albums, and lantern slides compiled by schools, school groups, individuals associated with a school, or SLPS departments. 2 Arrangement Ten series based upon image type and provenance: Activity Photographs and Negatives, Photographs by Subject, Community Information Department, Audiovisual Services Slides, Susan J. Abernathy Scrapbooks, Southwest High School Library Transparencies, Library Services Scrapbook, School Partnership Program Photos/Slides, Samuel Shepard Photo Collection, Albums/Visual Material by Schools/Groups. Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically; arrangement varies by series. Series Descriptions St. Louis Public Schools Photograph Collection: Series 1 Activity Negatives, c. 1904-2005 Series 1, c.1904-2005, is a collection of original glass and film negatives documenting the daily activities and operations, students, staff, and buildings of the St. Louis Public Schools system. Most of the material consists of film-based negatives, but there are also a small number of photographic prints and related documents. Activities and institutions highlighted include: special schools for children with disabilities, open air schools, portable schools, vocational education schools, classroom and club activities, graduations, employee professional development activities, Educational Museum (later renamed the Division of Audio-Visual Education), the Greenhouse (opened in 1926), the St. Louis Public Schools Stadium (opened in 1928), and the FM radio station, KSLH, 91.5 FM, which started broadcasting in 1950. Former St. Louis Public Schools Archivist, Sharon Dolan, arranged the photographic negatives chronologically and assigned them sequential numbers; this numbering system has been retained. Any photographic prints in this series are also arranged by their negative numbers. Dolan also created basic index records for the material including: School, subject, and date of creation. Individual students are not identified by name, but teachers and administrators occasionally are. Some records refer to single images while others refer to small sets of related images; these record groups have also been retained. A succession of unknown photographers have created these materials, but some creators have been identified including a Board of Education photographer known as Princell, the Director of Audiovisual Education Elizabeth Golterman, and the Assistant Director of Elementary Education Ruth Rowe. 91 boxes have been processed in the series as of July of 2017. Materials dating from 1904 to May 1952, the bulk of which dates between 1936 and 1950, are available for research and the records can be viewed online in the Missouri Historical Society's Cross Collection search. Materials dating from late May 1952 to 2005 are unprocessed; as work continues on the collection they will become available. (See online at http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/501591.) St. Louis Public Schools Photograph Collection: Series 2 Photographs by Subject, c.1875-2003 The series includes photographs arranged by subject, the dates spanning from approximately 1895 to 2003, with the majority dating between 1930 and 1970. There are oversize photographs arranged in two alphabetical sets, check the box labels carefully. An additional box added at the end of the collection contains photos of Central High School's 100th anniversary, Northwest High School, and Students in Industry (Box 74). Schools comprise the majority of the subjects but they also include departments within the St. Louis Public Schools such as Special Education and the Greenhouse. There are also a large 3 number of photos from KSLH, the district's radio station and a few photos for KSD-TV. For most schools in this series there are photos of the school buildings, many dating from circa 1900. Class photos are primarily graduating classes from middle schools, not high schools. There are also classroom photos, group photos or collage photos of students assigned to a classroom with a single teacher. Photos of classes and classrooms are either staged or impromptu, showing students during their daily activities. It is likely that this series was created by the St. Louis Public Schools Archives as there are several prints with donor notations, proving that photos were added to the series over a number of years. Many photos have negative numbers on the back that correlate to the negatives that comprise series 1. These negative numbers, or a range of negative numbers, are noted in folder descriptions and were used to assist in dating the photographs. In addition, a stamp located on the verso of many photos states that the photo should be returned to the Audiovisual Department or Department of Audiovisual Education (DAVE). This department may have provided the primary photographic services for the St. Louis Public Schools. Other notes on the versos indicate that many photos appeared in School and Home, the district's publication for students, teachers,