Summary Information
Committee on American History in the Schools and Colleges Records
1943-1951
- Committee on American History in the Schools and Colleges
Mss 362
0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Records of a committee appointed by resolutions of the American Historical Association and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association to study the teaching of American history in schools and colleges. Headed by Edgar B. Wesley, the committee conducted a year-long study, including the administration of a history test to schools and prominent Americans. Papers contain correspondence of Wesley and other committee members; letters to the board members of the National Council for the Social Studies, the New York Times, and the Rockefeller Foundation; conference minutes, reports, and reviews; publicity correspondence; test and course offerings study data; and newspaper clippings. The collection also includes a historical background file containing a copy of the New York Times report on American history which prompted the formation of the committee and publisher replies to letters sent by Wesley in 1950-1951 concerning the impact of the committee's published study.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00362 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
The Committee on American History in the Schools and Colleges was an outgrowth of the World War II re-examination of the purposes, extent, and quality of American history instruction at all levels. Public interest and controversy were especially stimulated by a report in the New York Times by Hugh Russell Fraser critical of American history knowledge and teaching methods. In response, through resolutions of the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (MVHA), a committee was organized to work in conjunction with the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).
President Theodore C. Blegen of MVHA, Executive Secretary Guy Stanton Ford of AHA, and President Allen Y. King of the board of directors of NCSS appointed a committee headed by Edgar B. Wesley to conduct the study. The committee's work included consultations and correspondence with professional educators at different levels, studies of course offerings, and a standardized test administered to prominent individuals and student groups in an attempt to discover weaknesses in American history knowledge, and construct guidelines for teaching students. The report was released in December 1943 and published in book form the next year by the MacMillan Company under the title American History in the Schools.
Scope and Content Note
The records include correspondence with members of the Committee on American History in the Schools and Colleges, members of the National Council for the Social Studies, financial correspondence, complaints and inquiries, published reviews, course offerings, test materials, and publisher responses. The collection is divided into three series: Historical Background, Correspondence, and Subject Files.
The HISTORICAL BACKGROUND file contains a copy of the New York Times report critical of American history knowledge and teaching methods in American schools and colleges by Hugh Russell Fraser, and the responses to it in published sources which prompted the creation of the Wesley committee.
CORRESPONDENCE includes Edgar B. Wesley's professional correspondence; letters to and from committee members, usually with Wesley; correspondence with members of the board of NCSS; financial correspondence with MVHA and the Rockefeller Foundation; letters exchanged with representatives of the New York Times; and miscellaneous complaints and inquiries on the committee's work. The Wesley correspondence includes material prior to his chairmanship of the committee and routine arrangements for hotel reservations and speaking engagements as well as committee-related correspondence.
Items in the SUBJECT FILES are minutes of the two Chicago conferences of 1943; a large test folio containing correspondence with the test's designers, Howard Anderson, Walter W. Cook, and E. F. Lindquist, and test materials; course-offerings; studies of school districts; publicity correspondence, press releases, and published report reviews; newspaper clippings; and publisher replies to subsequent inquiries by Wesley in 1950-1951.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Edgar B. Wesley, Carmel, California, 1966, 1970. Accession Number: M66-17, M70-395
Processed by Ken Fones, 1975; and by Robert Burk and Joanne Hohler, 1979.
Contents List
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Series: Historical Background
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Box
1
Folder
1
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New York Times Report and Responses, 1942 June-1943 May
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Series: Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Edgar B. Wesley, 1943-1944 February
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Committee Members, 1943 April-1944 February
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Box
1
Folder
3
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General; Ander, Blegen, Bradley
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Cordier, Davidson, Dumond, Ford, Hicks
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Long, Pelzer, Seehausen, Strayer, Wilson
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National Council for Social Studies, 1943 April-1944 January.
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Anderson, Barnes, Dimond, Hartshorn, Hunt, Kelty
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Box
1
Folder
7
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King, Murra, Price, Quillen, Taba
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Financial Correspondence, Mississippi Valley Historical Association and Rockefeller Foundation, 1943 May-1944 January
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Box
1
Folder
9
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New York Times, 1943 April-December
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Miscellaneous Complaints and Inquiries, 1943 June-1944 February
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Series: Subject Files
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Chicago Conferences, 1943, July 7-9; August 14-15
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Box
2
Folder
2
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American History Test, 1943 June-November
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Box
2
Folder
3
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History Course Offerings Study, 1943 June-November
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Box
2
Folder
4
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History Report Publicity, Reviews, 1943 June-1944 April
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Newspaper Clippings, 1943 April-1944 June
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Publisher Replies, 1950 October-1951 January
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