Education

The records contained in the President Robert Emory record group pertain only to his time and affairs as president of Dickinson College. As such, any papers from Emory’s acting presidency during John Price Durbin’s sabbatical are not included here, neither are his personal papers, nor his papers as a faculty member. Please see the Robert Emory Personal Papers in the Manuscript Collections for further personal information. The Emory records are divided into three series: General Business, Personnel, and External Affairs.

The McClintock Riots sub-series revolves around the aftermath of the incident and includes letters to the school about the incident, with regards to funding, enrollment, and concerns for the school and its students.

M. Margaret Eslinger graduated from Dickinson College in 1923.  This scrapbook contains a variety of items from her time at Dickinson College and as a graduate student at Ohio State University between 1919 and 1925. Materials include letters, grade slips, school bulletins, event programs, coursework, postcards, concert tickets, newspaper clippings, holiday cards, account books, photographs, name tags, and such objects as utensils, cigarettes, pressed flowers, pinned badges, and napkins.

The J. William Frey Photograph Album contains photographs chronicling his year in Giessen, Germany; he titled it "'Mein Jahr in Deutschland': A Year of Attending College in 1937-1938 Nazi Germany." Captions in both English and German were written on the pages. The subjects of the photographs range from people that Frey lived and traveled with to locations in Germany, France, and Italy. The collection also contains loose photographs that have been removed from the album.

The collection consists of the diaries of Zenanah Gilbert and Dora Gilbert Tompkins; very little else is known about either woman. Gilbert was born in Rome, New York on January 31, 1784; her family ran a guest house in town. Tompkins was born in Knoxville, Illinois, and was a schoolteacher. Gilbert's diary is dated 1805-1809 and describes the typical life of a young woman in the early part of the nineteenth century: household chores, social events, the simple joys of friendship, the depression of being alone. The diary has been written in a code created by Gilbert but has been deciphered and transcribed.

The diary of Tompkins contrasts that of Gilbert, describing her studies as well as her lessons prepared for her students; however, she too enjoyed the simple joys derived from friendship and bike riding. Tompkins mentions the explosion aboard the U.S.S. Maine on February 25, 1898 and is fearful that war is imminent. Miscellaneous items in the collection include a sample of Henry S. Chaffer's handwriting and fragments of the Gilbert family pedigree.

Lewis Daniel Gobrecht graduated from Dickinson College in 1955. This collection primarily represents his academic and extracurricular life as a student, with particular emphasis on his involvement in theatre and music activities.

James Hargis, a Dickinson alum (Class of 1870) and trustee, worked in education for several years before becoming a clergyman, earning his doctorate of divinity in 1888. The collection consists of essays and orations written by Hargis and miscellaneous materials dealing with the Belles Lettres Society and Dickinson oratorical contests.

The collection consists of papers pertaining to Hartigan's military career and to a proposed "Dickinson College School of International Activities." It includes correspondence with Dickinson College, foreign universities, and other institutions regarding similar plans. The collection includes numerous photographs of pre-World War II Germany and Austria, particularly with regard to the performing arts.

John B. Hood was an educator and writer from Mount Airy, Maryland. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1864, and earned a master's degree from that institution in 1867. The John B. Hood Collection is housed in one document box and contains papers and notes taken by Hood while he was an undergraduate student at Dickinson College from 1859 to 1864.

The records contained in the President Herman Merrills Johnson record group pertain only to his time and affairs as president of Dickinson College. As such, no personal papers or papers pertaining to Johnson’s tenure as a faculty member are included in this record group. For records concerning Johnson’s interactions with students, please refer to RG 5/1. The Johnson records are arranged into two series: General Business, and Personnel.

Please see the Herman Merrills Johnson Personal Papers (MC 2003.9) and the Herman Merrills Johnson Scrapbook (MC 2000.9) in the Manuscript Collections for further personal information.

Julius "Steve" Kassovic taught in the Sociology-Anthropology Department at Dickinson from 1979 to 1984. This collection contains assignments from his popular Introduction to Folklore course, during which students gathered jokes, stories, myths, ethnic expressions and other pieces of folkore from encounters with their families, local communities, and Dickinson peers.

Charles Flint Kellogg was a member of Dickinson's history department from 1946 to 1975. His scholarship focused on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Kellogg helped to establish black studies courses at the College and taught courses on black history. This collection documents his academic career, including his graduate studies at The Johns Hopkins University, his teaching career at Dickinson, and his research into the NAACP. In addition to Kellogg's own correspondence and research materials, this collection also includes press releases produced by the NAACP from 1957 to 1964.

Horatio Collins King was the son of Postmaster General Horatio King and the nephew of Dickinson College President Charles Collins. A graduate of Dickinson College, class of 1858, King was admitted to the bar in 1861 and saw active service in the Civil War from 1862 until 1865. A songwriter, King composed the Dickinson Alma Mater, among other works. The collection contains King's correspondence, diaries, and copies of his songs. Topics in correspondence and diaries include student life, Civil War, and democratic politics.

The journals in this collection are available for reading online (see links for related entries below).

These records contain materials related to the termination of Dr. Laurent R. LaVallee, assistant professor of economics.  In 1956, the Dickinson Board of Trustees voted unanimously to dismiss LaVallee as a result of his failure to answer questions about his alleged participation in Communist activities. 

The collection consists of correspondence, genealogical materials, legal materials, printed and scrapbook materials relating to George Burt Lincoln. Correspondents include Abner Doubleday, Horace Greeley, Julia Ward Howe, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Of particular note is a letter from Julia Ward Howe discussing women's study clubs.

This collection primarily provides evidence of the personal and public life of Frank E. Masland Jr., environmentalist, preservationist, explorer, entrepreneur, author, and community leader.  Also found in this collection is correspondence from prominent twentieth-century figures such as leaders of the National Park Service, journalists, politicians throughout the world, and American presidents. Information on Dickinson College is featured prominently throughout this collection through the close association of Masland with the institution during most of his life. This collection offers information on a number of social, political, economic, and historic topics through the eyes of a man who witnessed nearly the entire twentieth century.  Some of these broader topics include the industrialization of the United States, south central Pennsylvania community, the rise of environmentalism, reactions to communism, the rise of the New Left, and twentieth-century exploration. The processing of this collection was made possible by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

The records contained in the President James Andrew McCauley record group pertain only to his time and affairs as president of Dickinson College. As such, no personal papers or papers pertaining to McCauley’s time as a student are included in this record group. For records concerning McCauley’s interactions with students, please refer to RG 5/1. The McCauley records are arranged into two series: General Business, and Personnel.

William C. McPherson graduated from Dickinson College in 1829 before beginning a life-long career as a physician. The collection is comprised of two diaries that contain entries dating from his college days, some notes from medical school lectures, and his post-college daily life in Marietta, Pennsylvania.

The records of Metzger Institute (Carlisle, PA) date from 1881 to 1913. They include catalogs and promotional materials, documentation of student grades and deportment, financial records, library circulation records, ephemera, and scrapbooks.

Virginia Irene Meyers graduated from Dickinson in 1932. This scrapbook documents her college experience from 1928-32. It includes coursework and grades, academic awards, Dickinson memorabilia, campus event programs, Pan-Hellenic rushing information, personal letters and cards, notices from the College, and personal drawings.

Hiester Henry Muhlenberg (1812-1886) was a member of the distinguished Muhlenberg family of Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1829. This collection contains almost 200 letters, most of which were written by members of Muhlenberg's immediate family. These letters reflect American politics, European diplomacy, social life, and the student experience at Dickinson College. The collection also includes photographs and engravings of some members of the Muhlenberg family.

The Dickinsoniana Newspaper Collection consists of various newspapers acquired by the Library over the years. These items feature articles which concern mainly Dickinson College: happenings on campus, curriculum offerings, and doings of famous alumni such as James Buchanan and Roger Brooke Taney. The newspapers are arranged alphabetically by title and then chronologically; a description of the pertinent article, its location in the paper, and donor information are included in this inventory. In order to find newspapers dealing with particular individuals or events, a subject index has been included with the collection.

The records contained in the President Eugene Allen Noble record group pertain only to his time and affairs as president of Dickinson College. As such, no personal papers are included in this record group. For records concerning Noble’s interactions with students, please refer to RG 5/1. The Noble records are arranged in one series: General Business.

The General Business series is comprised of records concerning miscellaneous affairs of college business. The records within this series are arranged chronologically, with undated material housed first. All records concerning college financial affairs and interactions with the church are housed within the Board of Trustees record group.

Record group 5/2 consists of both materials dating from 1962-1989 while the Office of the Chaplain existed under the leadership of a full-time chaplain, as well as materials regarding campus religious affairs functions prior to the establishment of the chaplaincy, as early as 1924. The bulk of the material, however, dates from the appointment of Paul Kaylor in 1967 to the resignation of Mary Anne Morefield in 1989. The record group is organized in eleven series:

Series 01 General Administrative Materials

Series 02 Finances

Series 03 General Correspondence

Series 04 Chapel Programming for Weekday Services and Special Events (before fall 1965)

Series 05 College Church Programming for Sunday, Holiday, and Other Special Services

Series 06 Events

Series 07 Social Action

Series 08 Other Religious Traditions/Organizations

Series 09 Other Campus Organizations

Series 10 Other Chaplain’s Activities

Series 11 Chaplains’ Personal Papers

A fuller description of each series is given before each series inventory.

The records contained in the President Jesse Truesdell Peck record group pertain only to his time and affairs as president of Dickinson College. As such, no personal papers or papers pertaining to Peck’s tenure as a faculty member are included in this record group. For records concerning Peck’s interactions with students, please refer to RG 5/1. The Peck records are housed in one document box with RG 2/2 through RG 2/10 and are arranged into three series: General Business, Personnel, and External Affairs.

This collection consists primarily of the diary of Esther Popel Shaw (Class of 1919), the first African American woman to graduate from Dickinson College.  Esther kept this diary between the conclusion of her junior year in high school on June 10, 1914 and April 30, 1915 of her senior year.  The diary entries document her daily activities, particularly her interactions with family, friends, and neighbors. Esther routinely listed the names of the individuals she met each day and the people with whom she corresponded.  She also included accounts of her school days, the books she was reading, the lectures and social events she attended, and her membership in a basketball team named the Philanders.  It was during this time that Esther self-published her first collection of poetry, titled Thoughtless Thinks by a Thinkless Thoughter, which she sold to establish a college fund.  The diary traces the evolution of this publication, which was printed on February 26, 1915.  A transcription of this diary is housed with this collection. 

In addition to the diary, this collection includes a newspaper clipping from the July 20, 1954 Baltimore Afro-American newspaper that features a profile of Esther’s retirement activities.