Finding Aid

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Scope and Contents

This collection consists of records for the University Elementary School and University High School.  These include reports, correspondence, bulletins and catalogs, minutes, handbooks, and documentation from workshops.  This collection is primarily organized chronologically by material type within three series.  Series I consists of Administrative records. Series II (University Elementary School) consists of six sub-series: Annual Reports, Handbooks, Note to Teachers, Testing Programs, Minuet Annual Plays, and Photographs. Series III (University High School) consists of 10 sub-series: High School, Athletic Program, Annual Reports, Teacher's Handbook, Testing Program, Yearbooks, U-High Life, Parnassus, Memorabilia, and Fiftieth Anniversary.

This collection is a rich source of images.  There are three carousel slide trays of images taken during the 50th anniversary celebration in 1966, and nearly four feet of index cards bear the names and addresses of alumni.  Photographs may be found in each volume of the U-Hi Hawkeye yearbooks, 1921 -- 1972.  In addition, three document boxes hold fifteen linear inches of University Elementary School photographs which document the classroom activities, field trips, and annual portraits.  Not all of these boxed photographs are described in the list below, because few of them are dated or identified, with the exception of the class portraits, 1957 through 1972.  An unknown number of the photographs are by University Photographer, Frederick W. Kent.  Mr. Kent’s son, Jim, graduated from University High School in 1937, and displayed his own photographs of students at the 1966 anniversary celebration.  It is not known if his photographs are included in this collection.

In addition to the yearbooks, other publications represented include U-High (or U-Hi) Life, a monthly newsletter, and Parnassus, an annual collection of poetry by the high school students.  The Scribe, a monthly publication of poetry, is represented for the years 1965 – 1968.  Town Crier, a weekly newsletter, consists of four 1969 volumes.  “Note to Teachers” is a collection of memoranda and guidelines for elementary school teachers, bound by academic year.  “Program of Studies” student handbooks were printed within the high school between 1967 and 1972.

The Memorabilia sub-series includes a 1935 University High School diploma, report card examples, and material regarding the 1981 homecoming for the Blue Hawks’ 65th anniversary.  A large scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the University High School covers roughly 1966 through 1977.  The Administrative series includes ten linear inches of records documenting the closing of the two schools in 1972.

[D. Anderson; 10/2006]

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Organizational History

The creation of the University Schools, known as the experimental schools or the University Laboratory Schools, began during the President Walter A. Jessup administration, allowing for Director Dr. Ernest Horn to open the experimental elementary school on September 20, 1915.  The University High School was established, also within the College of Education, in 1916 for grades 9-12, and grades 7 and 8 were added the following year.

The University Elementary School and the University High School operated on campus for nearly 60 years.  Parents welcomed the benefits afforded their children of a school directed through the University of Iowa College of Education rather than a school board, which allowed greater autonomy in curriculum design.  Advanced training in science, art and music, among other subjects, was provided on campus, and resources such as the University Libraries were readily available.  Through observation and testing, teaching programs were devised around methods that produced optimal results, hence the experimental designation.

The 1919 Bulletin of the State University of Iowa states the purpose of the University Elementary school was for supervisory training of principals and superintendents, and not for teacher training.  The High School, however, was intended for teacher training from the outset, as well as for exploring new methods of teaching, according to the 1917 Bulletin of the State University of Iowa.  The purpose of the elementary school expanded over time to include teacher training.  President Willard (Sandy) Boyd reluctantly closed the University schools in 1972 due to reduced state appropriations.

[D. Anderson; 10/2006]

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Related Materials

Cravens, Hamilton. Before Head Start: The Iowa Station & America's Children. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. 327 pp., illus., notes.

The academic records of individual University High School students are held at the University of Iowa Office of the Registrar.

The University Archives Subject Vertical Files, in the Department of Special Collections, contain five linear inches of folders under the heading “Experimental School”, with such topics as history, class schedules, anniversary, and clippings, among others.

Related collections include Early Childhood Education Center records (RG09.02.03), 17 linear feet, and Teacher Education Program records (RG09.02.14), 0.25 linear feet, within the College of Education records in the University Archives.

University Schools (North Hall) Construction Collection of Photographs RG30.01.15

Papers of Forest C. Ensign (RG 99.0220)

Papers of Ernest Horn (RG99.0223)

Papers of Anne E. Pierce (RG99.0232)

Theses and Dissertations:

Jackson, Harry Dunham. "University High School--The University of Iowa: A Task-Oriented Study of the First Fifty Years." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1968. 185 pp. Dissertation Abstracts 29: 131-A.  Main.

Schoenfelder, Carroll M. "A History of the University High School Athletic Program: 1916 to 1972." M.A. paper (non-thesis), University of Iowa, 1973. 147 pp.  Archives.

Wine, Margaret Anne McGehee. "A Narrative History of the University High School, University of Iowa, 1916-1972." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1979. 371 pp. Dissertation Abstracts International 40: 2584-A.  Main; Archives.

Yearnd, Moretta Arda. "History of the State University of Iowa: The Experimental High School since 1930." M.A. thesis, University of Iowa, 1943. 172 pp.  Main T1943 .Y39; Archives.

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Box Contents List

Series I: Administrative

Sub-series A: ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS

Box 1

Bulletins

---. University Pre-school, 1922-1939

---. University Elementary school, 1931-1965

---. University Junior High School, 1930

---. University High school

------. 1917

------. 1918

------. 1919

Catalogs

---. University Elementary School

------. 1919-1920

------. 1923-1924

------. 1925-1926

---. University High School

------. 1916

------. 1917

------. 1918-1919

------. 1925-1926

Announcements

---. University Elementary School, 1926-1970, incomplete

---. University High School, 1924-1970, incomplete

Commencements

---. University High School, 1924-1970, incomplete

Handbooks

---. University High School, 1926-1962, incomplete

Workshops, 1953

Miscellaneous, 1963-1972

Box 2

Meeting minutes, 1962-1967

Box 2a

Correspondence, minutes, budget, courses, graduation rates, salaries, 1959-1966

Box 3

Reports and Correspondence, 1961-1971

Box 4

Schools closing, 1970-1973

Documentation of uniqueness, 1950s-1960s

Box 5

Schools closing, includes elementary students transferred to other schools, 1972-1973

Inventory

Staff members’ vitae

 

Series II: University Elementary School

Sub-series A: ANNUAL REPORTS

Box 1

1924/25-1927/28

Box 2

1928/29-1934/35

Box 3

1935/36-1939/40

1943-1944

1945-1946

1946-1947

Box 4

1947/48-1956/57

Box 5

1957/58-1962/63

Box 6

1963/64-1967/68

Box 7

1968/69-1971/72

Sub-series B: HANDBOOKS

Box 8

“Special University Elementary School Programs”, thesis by Jane Westphal Gray, 1961

“Kindergarten Guide, University Elementary School”, by Sandra Ballagh, 1962

“History of University Elementary School”, Bulletin of the State University of Iowa, September 15, 1919

Newspaper clippings

Elementary School philosophy

Sub-series C: NOTE TO TEACHERS

Box 9

1959/60-1963/64

Box 10

1964/65-1965/66

Box 11

1966/67-1971/72

Sub-series D: TESTING PROGRAMS

Box 12

1924-1935

Box 13

1935-1939

Sub-series E: MINUET ANNUAL PLAYS

Box 14

Programs

---. “A Christmas Program for the Elementary School”, by Anne E. Pierce, 1947

---. Minuet play, 41st, 1966

---. Last Minuet play, 47th, February 25, 1972

Newspaper clippings about plays

---. 1950

---. 1954

---. 1956

---. 1957

---. 1959

Costume patterns

Sub-series F: PHOTOGRAPHS

Box 15

School plays

Box 16

Fourth grade class making bulletin boards, Kathryn Freyder, John Mott, Nancy Fisk, 1940

First grade class visiting Dane farm, 1937

Plays

Conservation field trips, 1936-1937, 1939

Study of Native American Indians, 1926, 1934, 1935

Trip to Mesqwaki settlement, Tama, Iowa

---. 1932

---. 1934

Mesqwaki Indian children from Tama visit campus, 1937-1938

John Mott showing snakes, third grade, 1939

Junior primary class

Tea party, 1938

Fund-raiser for Red Cross, 1936-1937

Playhouse, 1937-1938

Box 17

Class portraits, 1957-1972

 

Series III: University High School

Sub-series A: UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

Box 1

Athletics

Commencement program, June 7, 1967

Student Handbooks, n.d., 1967-1971

“Program of Studies”, 1967-1972

Fine Arts

Earth Day; Read-In; Saving U-High

Homecoming

---. 1967

---. 1971

Reunion

---. 1948, 1960 (50-year)

---. 1962

---. 1972

Commencement

---. 1970

---. 1972

Box 2

Records and reports, 1970-1973

Box 3

Records and reports, 1969-1972

Box 4

U-High seal (box of two metal plates)

Number of graduates by year, 1921-1964

Names of graduates by year, 1918-1966

Anniversary and commencement, 1966

Anniversary, July 1966

Box 5

Programs, 1931-1940

Class list, 1917-1973

50th anniversary, 1966

The Scribe, 1965-1968

Town Crier, 1969

Graduate assistantships, 1957-1966

Sub-series B: ATHLETIC PROGRAM HISTORY

Box 6

1916-1972

Sub-series C: ANNUAL REPORTS

Box 7

1920/21-1931/32

Box 8

1932/33-1936/37

Box 9

1937/38-1941/42

Box 10

1942/43-1946/47

Box 11

1947/48-1950/51

Box 12

1951/52-1953/54

Box 13

1954/55-1958/59

Box 14

1959/60-1964/65

Box 15

1965/66-1968/69

1970-1971

Box 16

1971-1972

Sub-series D: TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK

Box 17

1945-1946

1954-1955

1955-1956

1956-1957

Sub-series E: UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL TESTING PROGRAM

Box 18

1933

Sub-series F: U-HIGH HAWKEYE YEARBOOKS

Box 19

1921-1937

Box 20

1938-1954

Box 21

1955-1961

Box 22

1962-1969

Box 23

1970-1972

Box 24

U-High Hawkeye duplicates

Sub-series G: U-HIGH LIFE

Box 25

1919-1959

Box 26

1960-1972

Box 27

U-High Life duplicates

Sub-series H: PARNASSUS

Box 28

Parnassus

---. 1956

---. 1960

---. 1962

---. 1963

---. 1969/70

---. May 1971

---. Spring 1972

Parnassus II

---. April 1969

---. May 1969

Sub-series I: MEMORABILIA

Box 29

National Honor Society of Secondary Schools charter granted to University High School, June 9, 1930

High school diploma, 1935

Report cards

Blue Hawks homecoming, 65th anniversary, 1981

Sub-series J: FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

Box 30

Carousel slide trays of fiftieth anniversary

Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about University High School, 1966-1977

Box 31

Alumni names on index cards, 25 linear inches

Box 32

Alumni names on index cards, 21 linear inches