Access is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Center.

 

Access Note:

Two kinds of material in this collection need special attention. They are:

• students' academic records in the form of student credits and grades certificates issued by the Admissions Office and included in the General files, 1932-1962

• the Personnel Files, 1935-1992.

 

ARRANGEMENT

The Records of the Office of the Dean consist of seven subseries--the General files, 1932-1962; the General files by Subject, 1932-1965; the General files, 1975-1989; the Personnel files, 1935-1992; the University files, 1964-1989; the External (outside the University) files, 1973-1989, and Scrapbooks and video-tapes, 1914-1977.

The General files, 1932-1962, document the activities of the Office of the Dean of the School for the entire period except for the year 1933-1934, which was missing when the collection was accessioned. The subseries has been organized chronologically by year and within each year alphabetically either by the name of the correspondent or by subject. All other subseries have been organized alphabetically.

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SCOPE AND CONTENT

The chronological files of 1932-1962 represent a range of issues which involved the Office of the Dean. These include: applications for positions at the School of Education, Cultural Olympics, the training of dental hygienists, extension schools, fraternities, the Illman School, nursing education, Penniman Library, physical education, Reading Clinic, recommendations for the students, and the program of Schoolmen's Week. The major correspondents consist of three groups: 1. offices and departments of the University as well as institutions outside the University, which include Admissions Office (of the University), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, College for Women, Office of the Secretary of the University, and the Departments of Public Instruction of the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York; 2. Deans and Acting Deans of the Graduate School of Education, among them John Harrison Minnick (1921-1948), Emit Duncan Grizzell (1948-1956), William Edwin Arnold (1956-1963), Morris Simon Viteles (1963-1967), William Benfamin Castetter (Acting Dean, 1967, and Dean, 1974-1975), Neal Gross (1968-1974), Dell H. Hymes (1975-1987), and Marvin Lazerson (1987-1992); 3. University leaders including Josiah H. Penniman (Provost, 1921-1939), Thomas S. Gates (President, 1930-1944), George McClelland, (Provost, 1939-1944, and President, 1944-1948), Harold E. Stassen (President, 1948-1953), Gaylord P. Harnwell (President, 1953-1970), Paul H. Musser (Provost, 1944-1951), Edwin B. Williams (Provost, 1951-1955), Jonathan E. Rhoads (Provost, 1955-1959), Loren C. Eiseley (Provost, 1959-1961), Vice Provost John M. Fogg, and University Recorder George E. Nitzsche.

Major points of interest represented in the General files by Subject, 1932-1965, include the educational survey (1954-1960), the Family Financial Security Workshop, financial records, the Student Activities Fund, graduate student files (1932-1937), applications for the Master of Science in Education program (1935-1940), and the National Science Foundation program of Academic Year Institute. This subseries also includes records related to various University committees in the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Structure, the Advisory Council on Athletics, the Advisory Council on General Education, the Board of Teacher Education and Practice, the Committee of Fifteen, the Committee on Adult Education, the Committee on Teacher Education, the Committee on the Advancement of Research, the Committee on the Future Size and Composition of the University of Pennsylvania, the Committee on the National Defense Education Act, the Council of the Baccalaureate Faculties, the Educational Council, the Educational Policy Committee, the Institute for Cooperative Research Council, the Scholarship Committee, and the Teacher Education and Professional Standards Conference. In addition, records of such national institutions as the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the American Association of School Administrators may be found in the subject files.

The General files, 1975-1989, the University files, 1964-1989, and the External files, 1973-1989, principally document the operation of the Office of the Dean from 1975 to 1987 when Dell H. Hymes was Dean of the Graduate School of Education. The General files, 1975-1989, document the operational administration of the School's major divisions, centers, and programs active in the 1970s and 1980s. These include the Educational Leadership Division, the Language in Education Division, the Psychology in Education Division, the Teacher Education program, the Writing program, the Ethnography Forum, and the Literacy Center. There is also information on such subjects as the School's Five-year planning, the annual budget of the School for the fiscal years from 1979 to 1988, personnel searches for various positions, the writing of the history of the School by William W. Brickman, and the discussion of fellowships and scholarships.

The University files focus on the communication between the School and other parts of the University. These files include such subjects as affirmative action (1971-1987), alumni relations (1983-1987), black presence at Penn (1980-1987), University development campaign (1975-1980), faculty appointment and promotion policies and procedures, folklore studies (1958-1987), grievance mechanism for non-academic staff (1974), guidelines for research faculty grants and awards (1975), minority recruitment (1985), Penn-Israel exchange (1978-1987), University planning, Policy on extra-mural consultative and business activities (1972-1978), President's Forum, Program for the Eighties (1975-1979), Provost's Staff Conference (1977-1987), South Asia regional studies (1979), the United Way Campaign, Board of University Trustees appointments, Women for Equal Opportunity at the University of Pennsylvania and women's studies (1979-1986). Among the correspondents were the Center for the Study of Aging, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Council of Deans, the Daily Pennsylvania, the Faculty Club, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty Senate, the Gazette (1976-1986), the Office of General Counsel (1987-1988), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1972-1974), the Graduate School of Fine Arts, the Office of Human Resources, the Inter-School Coordinating Committee for International Programs, the Office of International Programs, Law School, the School of Medicine, the Middle East Center, the School of Nursing, the Center for Philadelphia Studies, the President's Office (1971-1984), President Sheldon Hackney (1983-1988), Provost David R. Goddard and Provost Thomas Ehrlich, the Provost's Office, the Office of Research Administration, SAMP (the School of Allied Medical Professions), the School of Social Work, Secretary of the University, the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, the University Council, the University Development Commission, the University Museum, the Van Pelt Library, the School of Veterinary Medicine, and the Wharton School.

The External files, 1973-1989, chronicle the relationships between the School of Education and institutions or individuals outside the University. Among the major institutional correspondents are the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the American Federation of Teachers, the Citizens Committee on Public Education in Philadelphia, the Harvard School of Education, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the School District of Philadelphia, the Teachers College of the Columbia University, and the United States Department of Education.

The Personnel files, 1935-1992, contain information on individuals employed as faculty, graduate assistants, staff of the School, as well as non-recruited applicants. Also included are appointment letters from 1985 to 1990, secondary appointments, special files on the Assistant Dean search in 1986, the Educational Psychology search in 1992, visiting scholars and other temporary job appointments, and cases of disputes over reappointment or tenure.

There are three scrapbooks and three video-tapes in the last series. Two scrapbooks comprise schedules, programs, and correspondence regarding school activities held from 1914 to 1916, which provide valuable information on the history of the School in its early years. The third scrapbook ( now unbound and repackaged in a folder) consisted of clippings of the Cultural Olympics Week held in 1954. The three video-tapes are recordings made in 1977 of someone called Basil Bernstien on "Pedagogy, Class and Communications." They are marked as "for Helical Scan Video Tape Recorders."

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