The records contain documents created by or relating to the office of the County Superintendent of Schools in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, mainly 1950-1965. Series highlights the educational culture of mid-20th century rural Wisconsin by documenting administrative, school, teacher and student activities.
The ADMINISTRATIVE files, 1947-1965, contain records generated by county committees and leaders. These include an incomplete run of meeting minutes and agendas from the County School Committees, 1964-1965, especially regarding district and school line division changes and board/committee elections. Minutes are arranged by the school at which the meeting took place. The series also contains agendas, meeting minutes, and documents from the County Board of Education (alternatively, the County Board Educational Committee), 1954, 1964-1965, in which the County Superintendent of Schools acted as Secretary.
District planning documents detail plans for the future of the district, including a "master plan," 1951, descriptions of altered and created districts, 1961-1964, and county district maps, 1929, 1951.
Annual Reports, 1946-1965, prepared by principals and teachers of one-room schools, 1963-1965, record information about the number of students, attendance, and school property. Annual Reports produced by the county clerks, principals, and treasurers for the County Superintendent of Schools, 1963-1965, combine information from Supervisory visits, descriptions of district events, and some overviews of financial matters. This information is also used by the County Superintendent of Schools to generate annual reports, 1946-1965, for the State Superintendent of Schools.
Also included are Administrative correspondence and memos, 1953-1964 (bulk 1962), between the County Superintendent of Schools and school committees, teachers, parents, and the Department of Public Instruction. These papers document the day-to-day activities of the Superintendent, are loosely organized by date, and are not divided by subject or individual.
The majority of the information contained in the FINANCIAL files, 1906-1965, consists of a sub-series of documents relating to ordering library books (1906-1946) and textbooks (1960-1965), by the County Board of Education Committee. Both library and textbook information includes lists of books, 1960-1963. Books chosen give an insight into trends in the educational curriculum of the school district. Some miscellaneous financial documents that included book titles were retained in this sub-series.
Somewhat unrelated, but perhaps of research interest, the collection also includes information about the World War II - era "Victory Tax," 1943-1944.
Finally, the FINANCIAL files contain Self-Evaluation Data Sheets for Basic or Integrated Aids, 1961-1964, which include information on budgets and financial expenditures. These reports were submitted to the Department of Public Instruction to help determine which kind of educational funding would be provided by the state. In addition to budgetary information, the reports for each school include facts about the makeup of the student body, school resources such as the number of classrooms and the state of the buildings and property, the educational level of the teachers, and the variety of courses offered during this period.
Annual Reports by the Superintendent of Schools, mentioned in the Administrative Series, also contain some financial information.
SUPERVISORY DUTIES files, circa 1939-1965, contains documents relating to the supervisory duties of the County Superintendent of Schools. Supervisory Reports, 1953-1964, arranged by date and by school, make up the bulk of this series. These were written by supervising teachers representing the County Superintendent of Schools, or the Superintendents themselves after visits to schools. The main purpose of these reports was to describe the supervisors' observations of the teacher leading class lessons and activities, and offer a critique of teacher performance, curriculum, class behavior, and classroom set-up and decoration. Teacher names are recorded in these reports. Recommendations for purchases, library books, and building renovations or repairs are also described. Additionally, the reports record the attendance of students, broken down by age group.
In addition to documenting the supervisory process, these files give insight into the social organization of the classroom, including how educators were expected to teach, and how students were expected to learn and behave. Single room schools that include multiple student ages under the care of one teacher illustrate how the different educational expectations of each grade fit under the county curriculum. Additionally, reports often include notes about physical classroom layout, and the tools of teaching including how chalkboards were arranged and used, which books were present (or lacking) in the classroom, and the role that educational posters and student artwork were expected to play in class success.
These Supervisory Reports and their corresponding summaries and correspondences are organized in two different ways. One section of Supervisory Reports is arranged by date, 1953-1963, then alphabetically by school district or school name, and thereunder by town. The other section of the files include Supervisory Reports organized by school, 1954-1964, with correspondence intermixed. Although there is some overlap between reports organized by date and those organized by location, each method also contained some unique information. Therefore, both arrangements were retained.
Intermixed with the reports are documents, 1939-1958, from the State Department of Education. Some documents refer to the implementation of programs like the Special Milk Program, while others again summarize the recommendations made during supervisory observations. These documents are also addressed to school principals. Not all individual school district files contain documents from the Department of Education.
In addition to the Supervisory Reports, the series includes Supervisory Correspondence, 1939-1950, from the State Department of Education, and 1947, 1955-1965 from the Superintendent to the school boards or the heads of each school, as a follow-up to the supervisory observations. These letters summarize the reports and reiterate recommendations. Supervisory reports were also submitted to the State Superintendent of Schools.
The SUPERVISORY DUTIES files also contain Teaching and Curriculum Instructions, 1940-1942, 1945-1946, 1948-1949, which were distributed to teachers annually. These pamphlets contain mission statements, learning objectives, and directions for instruction.
The district-wide records include files on DISTRICT EVENTS, including brochures, pamphlets, and newspaper articles, 1945-1966. These events include commencement, county fairs, art contests, conventions, and spelling bees. Spelling bee materials include newspaper (Wisconsin State Journal) documentation about Kewaunee District students who made it to the National Bee in 1963-1964.
The SCHOOL RECORDS series, 1907-1963, contains school and class information and class photographs. It contains various materials associated with individual schools within the Kewaunee School District, and with individual classrooms within those schools.
One list, 1946-1947, contains teachers' names and their corresponding schools. Other documents list the number of students from each district in the 1907-1908 and 1921-1922 school years.
Five volumes, circa 1924-1963, contain student information arranged alphabetically by school name. Entries for each school usually include class rosters listing students and their academic performance, pupils' dates of birth, grades in school, addresses, and names of parents. Volume 4, 1937-1940, also includes teacher name and curriculum, arranged by district and school.
Files containing student performance and supervisory visit notes range from 1954 through 1962. Aside from two general year files from 1954-1955, these records are organized by year and divided by school. Many individual school files contain notes from visits to the school, similar to those made by visitors from the office of the Superintendent of Schools, though it is unclear whether these notes were a part of that process. Notes from visits to the student teacher's college, Door-Kewaunee Laboratory School (also known as the Door-Kewaunee Cadet School), are included among the K-12 school notes.
The professional CLASS PHOTOGRAPHS, circa 1946-1965, are arranged alphabetically by school. Several undated, candid photos of students in the classroom are also included. These latter photos illustrate classroom layout and decoration, and suggest educational trends.
The TEACHER RECORDS series, 1925-1969, contains information regarding the training and licensing of teachers. Related to student teachers, the series includes student teacher's reports about Visiting Day, 1953-1957, in which teachers-in-training would visit schools and record their experiences and observations.
Other information about teacher training and qualifications, 1939-1963, is present in lists of teachers, which give teachers' educational history, type of school at which they received their education (rural or city), and the number of credits earned. Additional lists were presumably organized to indicate which teachers needed to reapply for permits, licenses, and certificates.
Actual certificates, licenses, and permits, 1942-1962, are also included within this series. The series contains correspondence, 1941-1959 relating to all the aforementioned topics, and particularly take place between potential teachers and the school officials facilitating hiring.
Series also includes the County Superintendent's overseeing of the Door-Kewaunee Cadet (student teacher) school, 1956-1960.
Teacher's Qualification and Experience records, circa 1927-1969, document the education, training, and past teaching experience of teachers accepted to teach within the Kewaunee School District. Cards are arranged alphabetically. The earliest dates refer to the years some teachers began teaching, but do not necessarily reflect the dates of the records themselves.
Records in this series reflect the demographics of teachers, especially during the mid-20th century, and illustrate the levels of education and training that were expected in the profession.
