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Education Department Records

 Record Group
Identifier: UA-05-A12

Contents

This collection concerns the Education Department, the earliest document being the announcement of a kindergarten certificate program being set up in 1928. Information directly related to the Education Department includes department meeting minutes, planning, self-studies, correspondence, handbooks, student-teaching paperwork, licensure programs, accreditation, course proposals, syllabi and course information, and other administrative files, as well as other tangentially related topics such as information from an elementary school teacher’s service in the Peace Corps. The meeting minutes are the best represented topic out of those listed above, with about two boxes worth. A limited number of folders contain information specifically about the master’s program. Other material is connected to the running of the Montessori School and Early Childhood Center, at one time under the Education Department, being both about the training of early childhood professionals by the Education Department and about the school itself. Included are files on space, correspondence with parents, discussion around the possible closing of the center, the Early Childhood Advisory Council, information on training early childhood teachers, accreditation of licensure programs, finances, summer session materials, advertising, and two boxes of lesson plans and activities for small children. Most of this material comes from when the childcare center was connected to the Education Department, however loosely, but some of it dates from after their split as well. The bulk of the collection is made up of reports concerning the planning, creation, and accreditation of various Montessori schools around the country.

Dates

  • 1928 - 2017
  • Majority of material found within 1960 - 2010

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for use.

About the Education Department

The Education Department was first paired with Philosophy in 1914, and then was paired with Psychology until 1944. Education then remained its own department under the Division of Community Service until 1969, where it remained a department but did not belong to a division. The department went from offering two areas of teaching, Primary and Secondary, to four different areas for a major, two areas for a minor, and multiple types of licensures and endorsements. In 1994 the graduate program for the Education Department began, its main focus started out as helping prepare teachers at the elementary level to recognize students that may be at risk for not being successful in their education, and being able to help these students not fall behind. Sister Ann Harvey was an important figure early in the education department’s history, establishing and becoming the first director of the Laboratory Pre-School and Kindergarten when the program, restructuring the program as a possibly informal Montessori school in 1955, working there and in the education department until 1971. Though early on some teacher’s courses had been offered, prior to 1950 kindergarten certificates, with training in the on campus kindergarten, were the only option for official certification, but in 1950 the College of St. Catherine officially affiliated with the St. Paul Diocesan Teacher’s College, with the diocese’s Hill House as the elementary education center for the College. In 1958 the program was moved to St. Catherine College, officially expanding the options for education students beyond just a kindergarten certificate, to eventually result in the many programs offered today. Although separate today, and threatened with cancellation in 1979, up until at least 1985 the Early Childhood Center and Montessori Program were considered part of the education department, with students from various departments still doing observations there currently.

Extent

10.85 Cubic Feet (31 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Education Department was founded in 1914, expanding from being a kindergarten licensure program at its conception to offer Bachelors of Arts for Elementary and Secondary Education as well as a Masters of Arts in Education today. This collection includes departmental records such as meeting minutes as well as materials connected to the university's Early Childhood Center and the department's Montessori programs and their accreditation.

Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the St. Catherine University Archives Repository

Contact:
St. Catherine University
Archives and Special Collections
2004 Randolph Avenue
St. Paul MN 55105 U.S.A.
651-690-6553