Education

Ruth E. Cole Collection

Ruth Cole was a longtime Nursing Department chair who shaped her program into one of Murray State's more popular offerings in the postwar years. MS15-01 includes her notes, including genealogical research, Genealogical Society information, and a departmental history of Murray State nursing.

Here is a report card from one of the various one-room schoolhouses that children attended in Calloway County up to the middle of the twentieth century. The card records subjects and grades, absences, and signatures from the parent.

A class photo from the Donham School, a one-room schoolhouse in Calloway County, from 1927(?). The teacher is R. H. Hopper.

George S. Hart Papers

George Hart was a teacher, WWI army veteran, bank manager, and longtime mayor of Murray. MS78-01 consists of newspaper clippings, photographs, campaign materials and memorabilia from 1917 to 1972. The bulk of the collection is made up of newspaper clippings from the 1950s and 1960s on his community activities, certificates, and awards.

Teacher's contract for George Hart for teaching in District Number 3 in Calloway County, 1917. Hart became mayor of Murray in 1937 and later served on the Board of Regents at Murray State.

Calloway County School District No. 26 Ledger

MS10-58 includes a bound ledger documenting administrative, financial, and statistical information related to School District No. 26 of Calloway County from 1890 to 1908. The ledger contains a list of donors contributing to the building of the school, members of the Board of Trustees, teacher contracts and the name, age, and birth date of each enrolled student. Included with the ledger are teacher’s term reports, district tax information, and student report cards from the 1920s and 1930s.

A Teacher's Term Report from a single-room school in Calloway County, KY from 1893 to 1894. The report lists the number of students, how many progressed to the next grade, and the conditions of the schoolhouse.

Joe Pat James Collection

MS13-07 contains photographic prints of the Western Kentucky Normal School in the early 1900s and Murray State founder Rainey T. Wells and wife in 1945. Included in the collection is biographical information on Joe Pat James of Murray, host of a popular radio program on WNBS from the 1970s to his death in 2012.

A class photo from the Calloway Normal College, in operation from 1899-1913.

Aden Family Papers

MS78-02 consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, and legal and financial documents relating to the Aden family of Henry County, Tennessee. The bulk of the collection contains legal documents acquired by James S. Aden while serving as Henry County judge in the late 19th and early 20th century. Included in the collection are records from the Odd Fellows College (1859), Ladies Aid Society (1911-1915), and letters from the Rogers family (1853-1904) of Paris, Tennessee.

A Bill of Sale to the Board of Trustees of the Odd Fellow College in Western Tennessee, 1839. Some items listed include desks, benches, an "eight day Clock," and other miscellaneous items.

Rufus L. Grogan Papers

Rufus Grogan was a local doctor who practiced in the late 19th and early 20th century. MS73-09 consists of ledgers, debit receipts, disbursements, and ephemera associated with his practice from 1856 to 1918. The papers contain receipts from numerous businesses that operated in Murray, including payment notes to the Murray Male and Female Institute from 1886 to 1892.

Below is a letter of recommendation for Rufus Grogan from (?) W. Gardner certifying that Grogan is eligible to teach a variety of classes, including "English literature ... Writing, Arithmetic" and other subjects. Gardner also comments that Grogan is a "young man possessing a good moral character."

Frank H. Vittetow Papers

MS00-01 consists of correspondence, reports, studies, and published information produced or acquired by Frank H. Vittetow on education reform in the Philippines during the late 1950s and early 1960s and Laos during the mid-1960s. The papers contain government correspondence and reports from the United States, the Republic of the Philippines, and the Kingdom of Laos relating to the supervision and management of schools and teacher education. Included with the papers are photographs of schools and institutional administrators in both the Philippines and Laos.

Frank H. Vittelow served in southeast Asia in an effort to create educational programs and schools for the children of the Philippines, Laos, and Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s. Below are two photographs taken in the Philippines, first a group photo outside a school, and then a classroom science presentation (Vittetow is pictured in the back row, second from left).

Carlos E. Williams Papers

MS12-09 primarily consists of correspondence written by Sergeant Carlos E. Williams to his parents and wife during the Second World War.

This is a high school diploma of Mildred Hart, granted in 1931 from Hazel High School. The number of children, especially girls, who completed a primary education rose dramatically in the 20th century.