Library Home Page > Library Index A to Z > Archives Home Page > Guide to the Archives Collection

Bank Street College Archives: Record Group 10, Subgroup 2

RECORD GROUP 10, Subgroup 2
Jessie Stanton Papers (1923-1976)

Biographical Note
Scope and Content Note
Descriptions
Container List

Photo: Child at the Nursery School, where Jessie Stanton was director after Harriet Johnson.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Jessie Stanton was born in Brooklyn in 1887. After leaving Barnard College in 1919, Stanton taught at the City and Country School for 10 years. She then went on to organize the Mt. Kemble School in Morristown, NJ. Following her time at Mt. Kemble, she served as assistant director of the Nursery School under Harriet Johnson and took over the directorship after Johnson's death in 1934.

Stanton taught classes on child development and nursery education at Bank Street and several other institutions. She was a strong advocate for early childhood education. She worked with Dr. Benjamin Spock on The Baby Institute, a nationwide daily radio program about young children. She served on the Board of Trustees for Bank Street, as well as for other private nursery schools, daycare centers and committees. She died in 1976.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The collection documents Jessie Stanton's professional work from 1923 until her death in 1976, and is divided into seven series. These are correspondence; lectures, transcripts, and published and unpublished writings; observations and notes; personal and biographical materials; course materials; consulting work; and press clippings.

DESCRIPTIONS

SERIES A - Correspondence (1937-1974) contains general correspondence in chronological order. A 1941 letter to Eleanor Roosevelt written by Stanton on behalf of the Advisory Committee on Schools for Young Children is included.

SERIES B - Lectures, Transcripts, and Published and Unpublished Writings (1928-1950) includes articles by Stanton as well as talks and transcripts of the radio show The Baby Institute, arranged in chronological order.

SERIES C - Observations and Notes (1923-1943) includes observation records which appear to have been taken by Stanton's students at New York University and the Vassar Summer Institute. Chronological arrangement.

SERIES D - Personal and Biographical Materials (1963-1976) contains biographical notes written by Stanton, an invitation to, and article on the opening of New York University's Jessie Stanton Developmental Playground for Handicapped Children, and Stanton's obituary. Pamphlets on pre-schools in Europe are also included. Arranged alphabetically.

SERIES E - Course Materials (1942-1952) includes course planning materials, copies of lectures given during classes, as well as minutes taken during class meetings. Courses at Bank Street, New York University and Louisville are represented. Arranged alphabetically.

SERIES F - Consulting Work (1934-1961) includes records of Stanton's work with Arthurdale Nursery, Adelphi College Nursing School, Bellevue, Fresh Meadows Nursery Center and the Masters Nursery School. A final report of a trip to British nursery schools is also included. Arrangement is alphabetical.

SERIES G - Press Clippings (1942-1943) includes press coverage of the Bank Street in the Country experiment and articles from the Parent and Child series in the New York Times Magazine.

CONTAINER LIST

 

Box	Subgroup	Series	Title/Contents	Date
2	2	A	Correspondence, 2 folders	1937-1974
		B	Talks, 4 folders	1928-1950
			Block building notes and writings, 3 folders	1930-1935
			The Baby Institute transcripts	1943-1944
			Writings, 3 folders	1939-1949
		C	Block building observations	1923-1932
			Vassar Summer Institute observations	1931
			NYU course observations	1942-1943
		D	Vassar and Little Red School House 7’s plan	n.d.
			Biographical notes	1963
			Eulogy, tributes and obituaries, 3 folders	1971-1976
			Pamphlets on Nursery Schools in Europe	1927-1932
		E	Lectures	1942
			Course materials, 4 folders	1945-1952
		F	Adelphi College	1946
			Arthurdale Nursery School	1934-1935
			Bellevue lectures and reports, 2 folders	1951-1956
			Misc. consultation and volunteer	1930s-1960s
			Fresh Meadows Nursery	1949
			Masters Nursery	1955-1956
			British Pre-schools	1961
		G	“Parent and Child” articles	1943
			Bank Street in the Country	1942

 

Record Group 1 > Record Group 2 > Record Group 3 > Record Group 4 > Record Group 5 > Record Group 10