Guide to the San Jose State Normal School Records
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San Jose State University
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0028
Phone: (408) 808-2062
Fax: (408) 808-2063
Email: special.collections@sjsu.edu
URL: http://library.sjsu.edu/sjsu-special-collections/sjsu-special-collections-and-archives
Guide to the San Jose State Normal School Records
Collection number: MSS-2010-04-01
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
Phone: (408) 808-2062
Fax: (408) 808-2063
Email: special.collections@sjsu.edu
URL: http://library.sjsu.edu/sjsu-special-collections/sjsu-special-collections-and-archives
- Date Completed:
- August 2010
- Encoded by:
- Silke Higgins
© 2010 Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: San Jose State Normal School Records
Dates: 1860-1990
Bulk Dates: 1887-1909
Collection number: MSS-2010-04-01
Collection Size:
42 boxes,
46.03 linear feet
Repository:
San Jose State University. Library.
San Jose, California 95192-0028
Abstract: The San Jose State Normal School Records document the early history and student life of the State Normal School. This collection
consists of various types of records: accounting and financial files and ledgers, attendance and achievement records, board
meeting minutes, commencement records, diplomas, enrollment statistics, graduate lists, student placements filed in cards
and ledgers, teachers class journals, and trustee information, as well as general records pertaining to the daily operation
of the school. Also included are a large number of records created by students of the San Jose State Normal School, such as
alumni publications,
Alpha Phi Omega meeting minutes, class diaries, photo albums, scrapbooks, and sketches. In addition, the collection contains a small number
of realia in the form of banners, flags, and the dress of a 1906 Normal School graduate. This collection is arranged into
six series: Series I: Administrative and Financial Records, 1861-1932; Series II: Legal Documents, 1870-1936, undated; Series
III: Office of the Registrar Records, 1860-1934; Series IV: Students, Faculty, and Alumni Records and Publications, 1863-1927,
undated; Series V: Miscellanea, 1871-1990, undated; and Series VI: Textiles, 1881-1921.
Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright is assigned to the San Jose State University Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives. Copyright restrictions may apply to digital reproductions of the
original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
San Jose State Normal School Records, MSS-2010-04-01, San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Silke Higgins. Finding aid EAD encoded by Silke Higgins. Reviewed by Danelle Moon.
Organizational History
In 1857 the San Francisco Board of Education established Minns' Evening Normal School for current and prospective teachers
in the city. Named after its principal, George W. Minns, the institution was formally established as the first California
State Normal School by the State Legislature in 1862. A decade later, the Legislature voted to move the Normal School to San
Jose, and the school relocated to its new home on Washington Square prior to the fall term of 1872. After a fire destroyed
the Normal School building in 1880, the Legislature authorized $200,000 to construct a new building on the same site. Completed
in 1881, the building was commonly referred to as the Second State Normal School. After several names and curriculum changes,
Minns' Normal School is now San Jose State University, offering more than 134 bachelor's and master's degrees with 110 concentrations,
and is recognized as one of the top public universities granting such degrees in the West.
Bibliography
Gilbert, Benjamin F., and Burdick, Charles.
Washington Square, 1857-1979: The History of San Jose State University. San Jose, California: San Jose State University, 1980.
San Jose State College.
Historical Sketch of the State Normal School at San Jose, California, With a Catalogue of its Graduates. Sacramento, California: J. D. Young, supt. State Printing, 1889.
Walsh, James P.
San Jose State University: An Interpretive History, 1950-2000. San Jose, California: San Jose State University, 2003.
Related Material
San Jose State Normal School Principals and Early Presidents Records, MSS-2009-02-01, San Jose State University Library Special
Collections & Archives.
San Jose State Normal School Teaching Tools Collection, MSS-2009-02-06, San Jose State University Library Special Collections
& Archives.
Scope and Content of Collection
The San Jose State Normal School Records document the early history and student life of the State Normal School. This collection
consists of various types of records: accounting and financial files and ledgers, attendance and achievement records, board
meeting minutes, commencement records, diplomas, enrollment statistics, graduate lists, student placements filed in cards
and ledgers, teachers' class journals, and trustee information, as well as general records pertaining to the daily operation
of the school. Also included are a large number of records created by students of the San Jose State Normal School, such as
alumni publications,
Alpha Phi Omega meeting minutes, class diaries, photo albums, scrapbooks, and sketches. In addition, the collection contains a small number
of realia in the form of banners, flags, and the dress of a 1906 Normal School graduate.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into six series: Series I: Administrative and Financial Records, 1861-1932; Series II: Legal Documents,
1870-1936, undated; Series III: Office of the Registrar Records, 1860-1934; Series IV: Students, Faculty, and Alumni Records
and Publications, 1863-1927, undated; Series V: Miscellanea, 1871-1990, undated; and Series VI: Textiles, 1881-1921.
Subject Headings
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Minns' Evening Normal School -- History.
California State Normal School -- History.
San Jose State Normal School -- History.
San Jose State Normal School -- Training School -- History.
San Jose State Teachers College -- History.
San Jose State University -- History.
Education, Higher -- California -- San Jose.
Collection Contents
Series I:
Administrative and Financial Records
1861-1932
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series documents the administrative and financial aspects of the San Jose State Normal School. Included are accounting
books in English and Spanish, bills issued for building maintenance labor, correspondence regarding financial matters, payroll
records for special appropriations, and numerous ledgers and files documenting incidental funds transactions, invoices paid,
and maintenance completed. Also included are handwritten minutes of the Normal School Board of Trustees, records pertaining
to the daily operations of the school, trustee information, and statistical reports prepared for the Bureau of Education.
Of special interest in this series are documents, newspaper clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, and petitions filed by interested
parties from Chico, Colusa, Red Bluff, and Redding in an effort to convince the selection committee of the Board of Trustees
for the State Normal School that their city should be chosen as the place to establish the first branch of the State Normal
School on the West Coast.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 1
Accounting Ledgers
1867-1895
Box 2
Bills, Incidentals, Invoices Paid, Receipts, Vouchers
1861-1901
Box 3
Board of Trustees Minutes, Correspondence, Petitions
1863-1895
Box 4
Board of Trustees Reports, Surveyor General Reports
1884-1900
Box 5
Financial Records
1888-1932
Box 6
Payroll Records, Bills for Building Maintenance Provided
1906
Series II:
Legal Documents
1870-1936, undated
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series is comprised of legal documents, including architectural contracts, insurance contracts, and land deeds. Also
included is a historically significant document written by the architects who surveyed and summed up the damages the San Jose
State Normal School building suffered during the 1906 earthquake.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 7
Legal Documents
1870-1936, undated
Series III:
Office of the Registrar Records
1860-1934
Series Scope and Content Summary
The materials in this series document the early curriculum, coursework, and student body demographic of the San Jose State
Normal School. Included are attendance and achievement records, commencement records, course catalogs, diplomas, enrollment
statistics, faculty meeting minutes, grade books, graduate lists, and official entrance exams for a variety of subjects, teacher
training manuals, and student placement records. Of special interest in this series are student contracts, which detail the
commitment to teach in the public school environment for a set amount of time after graduation from San Jose State Normal
School. These contracts allowed students to attend and graduate from San Jose Normal School without the payment of tuition
fees. Also included are two ledgers containing promises made by students to report in writing to the President of the State
Normal School twice a year for three years after graduation, and once a year thereafter while working in the teaching profession
to uphold the San Jose State Normal School's high standards and ensure the continuation of the graduate time line.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 8
Attendance, Grading, Graduation & Scholarship Records
1872-1934
Box 9
Course Catalogs and Diplomas
1873-1912
Box 10
Entrance Exams and Training Manuals
1877-1932
Box 11
Faculty Meeting Minutes
1881-1923
Box 12
Forms, Instructions, Exam Questions Scrapbook
circa 1860
Box 13
Student Enrollment Statistics in Ledger (Fragile)
1862-1867
Box 14
Student Enrollment Statistics in Ledgers
1899-1912
Box 15
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1863-1890
Box 16
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1891-1901
Box 17
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1902-1909
Box 18
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1910-1913
Box 19
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1915-1919
Box 20
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1920-1926
Box 21
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1927-1930
Box 22
Student Promises (Ledger)
1914-1918
Series IV:
Student, Faculty, and Alumni Records and Publications
1863-1927, undated
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series documents materials created by teachers, students, and alumni of the San Jose State Normal School. Included are
Alpha Phi Omega meeting minutes, photo albums, scrapbooks, sketches, teachers' daily class journals and class diaries, as well as the meeting
minutes, journals, and record books created by various student societies. Of special interest in this series are several volumes
of
Memory's Lane journals composed by students, which provide first-hand accounts of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and its impact on the
San Jose State Normal School campus. Also noteworthy is a student petition directed at the Board of Trustees circa 1890, requesting
them to rescind a policy that suspended Bible readings on campus. In addition, this series holds memorabilia from the 1926
Fiestas de las Rosas festival and the dance drama
Nightingale and the Rose performed in the same year. Also included are scrapbooks created by students, such as Mabel B. Dowser's herbarium, Sarah
Rich's extensive collection of geography clippings and class notes, as well as Hazel MacIntosh's
Ero Sophian Society book.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 23
Alpha Phi Omega Alumni Meeting Minutes
1898-1909
Box 24
Alumni Records (Handwritten Journals)
1863
Box 25
Alumni Records (Handwritten Journals)
1868-1906
Box 26
Alumni Records (Handwritten Journals)
1906-1921
Box 27
Bible Reading Student Body Petition
circa 1890
Box 28
Class Journals
1874, 1927
Box 29
Copies of Guide Posts Publication
circa 1927
Box 30
Herbarium and Geography Scrapbook
1895, undated
Box 31
Memory's Lane Journals
1925-1927
Box 32
Nightingale and the Rose,
Fiestas de las Rosas
1926
Box 33
Normal School Societies Minutes and Records
1873-1918
Box 35
Scrapbook by Hazel MacIntosh
1914
Series V:
Miscellanea
1871-1990, undated
Series Scope and Content Summary
The items in this series are a collection of miscellaneous materials related to the San Jose State Normal School, accumulated
over the years by various sources. Included are newspaper clippings, photographs, posters, and select items that were gathered
from the overall collection to become part of an exhibit commemorating the 150th anniversary of San Jose State University
in 2007. Of special interest in this series is a compilation of analytical data regarding the San Jose State Normal School.
Comprised of enrollment and graduation statistics and graphs; grade distribution figures; warning card counts; and withdrawal
rates, this large ledger provides at-a-glance information about some of the Normal School's vital statistics. Also included
are various publications by students, staff, and alumni, such as re-union class of 1878 brochures, poems commemorating the
class of 1884, the
Christmasse Booke of the 1913 class, the
Alumni Bulletin, and several issues each of
Teacher and Student,
Pacific Coach Teacher, and
La Torre publications.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 36
Affidavits, Constitutions, Letters, News Clippings
1871-1925
Box 37
Commencement & Convocation Records
1877-1990, undated
Box 38
Normal School Analytical Data (Ledger)
undated
Box 39
Photos, Clippings, Historical Sketch Books
1889-1966
Box 40
Various Publications
1878-1937
Series VI:
Textiles
1881-1921
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series is comprised of a small number of realia, including the San Jose State Normal School banner, flags created by
individual classes, and a dress worn by a 1906 Normal School alumnus.
Box 41
Class of 1916 Alumnus Gown
1916
Box 42
Normal School Banners and Flags
1881-1921
