St. Louis Public Schools Photograph Collection
Scope and Contents
The collection is divided into ten series: Activity Negatives, Photographs by Subject, Community Information Department, Audiovisual Services Slides, Susan J. Abernathy Scrapbooks, Southwest High School Library Transparencies, Library Services Scrapbook, School Partnership Program Photos/Slides, Samuel Shepard Photo Collection, Albums/Visual Material by Schools/Groups.
The Activity Negatives Series, c.1904-2005, consists primarily of original photographic negatives arranged chronologically and created by a series of unknown photographers. The materials document the schools, organizations, and educational and professional activities in the St. Louis Public Schools. 91 boxes - dating between 1904 to May 1952 - have been processed and are available for research; the remaining materials will become accessible as the series is further processed.
The Photographs by Subject series, c.1875-2003, comprises 40 boxes arranged alphabetically by subject. Schools comprise the majority of the subjects but they also include departments within the St. Louis Public Schools such as Special Education, Greenhouse, and the Educational Museum. There is also a large number of photos from KSLH, the district's radio station and a few photos for KSD-TV. For most schools in this series there are photos of the school buildings, many dating from circa 1900. Class photos are primarily graduating classes from middle schools, not high schools. There are also classroom photos, group photos or collage photos of students assigned to a classroom with a single teacher.
The Community Information Department series, c.1966-1999, comprises 11 boxes and contains primarily photos arranged alphabetically by subject. Interspersed among the photos are news releases and newsclippings relating to the events and people. There are also slide presentations: Magnet schools (with audiocassette), Dr. (Jerome) Jones' Accomplishments, and the SLPS 150th Anniversary. Of special note are the photos concerning the awards and special visitors (Pres. Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Sec. of Education, etc.) received by the Gateway School Complex.
The Audiovisual Services Slides series, 1950-1969, comprises one box containing slide presentations. The Susan J. Abernathy Scrapbooks series, 1966-1993, comprises three volumes (1 box) of candid and school photos of her students at three elementary schools: Shepard, Sigel, and Dewey. The Southwest High School Library Transparencies series is a set of ten sets of job seeking transparencies that were part of the school library collection. The Library Services Scrapbook series is a single volume titled "Corridor Libraries and the New Motivation in Reading," 1969.
The School Partnership Program series consists of photos, clippings, and some correspondence arranged in alphabetical order by name of the community partners participating in the program. The Samuel Shepard Photo Collection series, c.1946-1970 comprises one box. The Albums/Visual Materials series, c.1920-2003, is 16 boxes comprised of scrapbooks, photos albums, and lantern slides compiled by schools, school groups, individuals associated with a school, or SLPS departments.
Dates
- ca.1870-2005
Creator
- St. Louis Public Schools (Saint Louis, Mo.) (Creator, Organization)
Language of Materials
English; no language
Conditions Governing Access
No viewing restrictions
Conditions Governing Use
No special use restrictions. Copyright restrictions may apply. The user assumes full responsibilty for conforming to copyright laws.
Biographical / Historical
On 1 April 1838, the St. Louis Public Schools opened its first school building at the southwest corner of 4th and Spruce known as South School and later as Laclede Primary School. Prior to this, the district rented spaces appropriate to house students. Erecting new school buildings continued as St. Louis grew and twenty new schools were built before 1860. Included in the tally was Central High School, the first high school building in the district.
The district boasts several firsts in education. In 1873, under the direction Susan Blow, the first public kindergarten in North America opened in St. Louis. Sumner High School opened in 1875, the first African-American high school west of the Mississippi. Then in 1905, the district purchased items that were displayed at the 1904 World’s Fair as the basis of the Educational Museum. The department was unique in public education and grew into the nation’s first audiovisual department.
The district was responsive to the needs of its pupils. In 1868, it opened its first vocational school. As tuberculosis became a greater health concern, it offered open-air schools to at-risk children. Schools for the deaf and for children with disabilities opened in the early 20th century. More schools were built in the 1950s.
In 1954, the St. Louis Public Schools began the process of desegregation. Charles Guggenheim directed a documentary short about desegregation in St Louis in 1956, A City Decides. In 1972, five parents who had grown frustrated with the bussing solution to segregation filed a complaint in the U. S. District Court that the Board of Education and the State of Missouri followed policies and practices that encouraged segregation. This led to two decades of court involvement, to the creation of the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation, and an extensive capital improvement program.
In the 21st century, the school district struggled with the results of urban flight. The St. Louis Public Schools hit its highest enrollment of over 115,000 students in 1967 and its lowest of just over 23,500 students in 2011. The district systematically closed schools and began selling many of the historic buildings in order to make shrink its size to match the declining enrollment. It determines the buildings’ fate with the assistance of a Building Revitalization Collaborative in order to redevelop the closed schools into projects that benefit the city’s neighborhoods.
The district also encountered accreditation issues with the State of Missouri. After several attempts at oversight, the district was placed under the direction of a Special Administrative Board with three members appointed by three officials: the Governor of Missouri, the Mayor of St. Louis, and the President of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.
Extent
68.7 Cubic Feet ( (165 boxes))
Arrangement
The collection is composed of ten series based upon image type and provenance. Arrangement varies by series with most arranged numerically, alphabetically by subject, or chronologically:
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Some film stored in freezer.
Additional Indexes
See PDF finding aid for full folder list.
Donor Information
Collection donated by Special Administrative Board of the Transitional District of the City of St. Louis in 2016.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digital copies and item-level records of select images are posted as they are created and can be accessed via the Cross-Collections Search on the Missouri History Museum website:
Digitized images are generated from the original item whenever possible and files are adjusted only to ensure an accurate representation. Master files are
saved in TIF format and JPEG viewing files are automatically generated from the master files.
Formats
Photograph; Negative; Snapshot; Lantern slide; Slide; Scrapbook; Photograph album
Processing Information
Processed by Sabrina Gorse and Kristina Perez, 2016-2017
Creator
- St. Louis Public Schools (Saint Louis, Mo.) (Creator, Organization)
- Title
- Guide to the St. Louis Public Schools Photograph Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- EAD by Amanda Claunch using ArchivesSpace
- Date
- 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Missouri Historical Society, Photographs and Prints Department Repository
Library and Research Center
225 South Skinker Boulevard
St. Louis MO 63105
photo@mohistory.org