New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools Collection

10 linear feet; 12 boxes (5.5 document cases, 5 book boxes, 1 oversize box)

Content warning: The materials in this collection include inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of people indigenous to the area, Black people (including Blackface minstrel shows), and Asian people. Please see TCNJ Gitenstein Library Archives and Special Collections Statement on Potentially Harmful Content (https://library.tcnj.edu/about-the-library/archives-and-special-collections/tcnj-gitenstein-library-archives-and-special-collections-statement-on-potentially-harmful-content/).

Series 1 - Academics, 1900-1988 (bulk 1900-1934)
This series contains student materials and items from the Education, English, Music, Physical Education, and Psychology Departments. From the Education Department are the following items: Lillian Brandriff Silvius’ scrapbook of sample paper weaving, stitching, folding, and piecing from 1900 that was used to represent activities for teaching children (and correspondence describing it); “The Quest for Brotherhood: A Peace Morality Play,” written by Avis Black in 1914; a Handbook for Student Teaching from the late 1920s to mid 1930s; and Edna E. Wood’s position paper in support of a four-year [education] program from the early 1930s when the New Jersey State Normal School was transitioning to a bachelor’s program. The English Department is represented by “Fresh Viewpoints 1933-1934,” compositions from the second semester freshman English class of Josephine Peretz. From the Music Department is the paper “Myths-Dramas - A Series of Original Plays based on Greek and Norse Legends: by the Freshman and Sophomore Music Students of State Teachers College, 1930-1931.” From the Physical Education Department is the paper “Essaying the Essay” by the Physical Education Class of 1929 with a bookplate stating it was a gift of Marianna G. Packer (head of the Physical Education Department 1923-1945). From the Psychology Department are Gertrude Kern Herriot Coyle's extensive notes from Lillie A. Williams Psychology Class from 1910-1911, and notes and essays from Elsie Storms Parsloe from 1914-1915.

Series 2 - Administration, 1855-1999 (bulk 1856-1931)
This series is divided into seven subseries: Admissions, Policies, and Procedures; Financials; Trustees; Principals; Publicity; Reports; and School Songs.

Admissions, Policies, and Procedures (1856-1930) contains the following: a prospectus and admissions requirements from 1856, rules of conduct from 1876-1889, list of courses and fees for both the Model and New Jersey State Normal Schools from 1879, table etiquette policy from c.1900, manual of rules for both Model and New Jersey State Normal Schools from 1916, information on the four-year course from 1925, and curricula and entrance requirements for New Jersey State Teachers College in 1929-1930.

Financials (1858-1888) contains treasurer’s bonds for the New Jersey State Normal School in the 1880s, Model School tuition receipts for Elizabeth Hillman in 1858 and Ella Green in 1870, and New Jersey State Normal School boarding fee receipts for Frances R. Meyers from 1870-1871.

Trustees (1868-1884) contains four New Jersey State Normal School Trustee certificates for Benjamin Williamson from 1868 to 1884.

Principals (1858-1999) contains items from or about each principal who served during the New Jersey State Normal School years including the following: correspondence between William Phelps and G.L. Wilson, George H. Cook, Charles T. Wight, and W. H. Payne from 1858 to 1878; a biographical article about Phelps from 1999; programs for the induction of John Seeley Hart in 1862 and his memorial in 1878; research request correspondence regarding biographical information about Lewis Johnson from 1945; a transcript of Washington Hasbrouck’s obituary that was published in The Signal from March 1895; a handmade keepsake banquet program bound in white vellum and green silk end sheets by Mary C. Field with hand lettering by Dickerson H. Farley given in honor of James Green’s 20th anniversary as principal in 1909 and his memorial service announcement from 1920; correspondence between Jerohn Savitz and Governor Edward Stokes, Stephen Congar, Elmer D. Wagner, J. M. Arnold, and H. Brewster Willis from 1919 to 1923; and “publicity notices” that Savitz or his office penned from 1921 to 1923. Additionally, there are materials from Don C. Bliss, including his introduction in 1923; correspondence with Sophie M. Braun and Caroline Woodruff 1927 to 1930; his publication State Teachers College - Past, Present, and Future from 1930; speech transcripts and programs from honorary events in 1930; and articles about Bliss from 1930 and 1937.
Note: Roscoe West became principal (later president) in 1930, and his papers are housed in a separate collection.

Publicity (1855-1931) contains newspapers, loose clippings, and clipping scrapbooks about a variety of subjects pertaining to the founding of the New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools, faculty, students, and school events. Of note is a scrapbook of clippings from the time of Principal James Green and his daughter, Registrar Lucile Green, that dates from 1909 to 1912.

Reports (1917) only contains one report, “Report of Survey of New Jersey State Normal Schools, June 11, 1917.”

School Songs (1905-1933) contains lyrics and sheet music for official school songs including variations of the Alma Mater and “The Blue and the Gold.”

Series 3 - Buildings, Campus, and Locations, 1855-1990 (bulk 1855-1932)
This series contains correspondence about the Trenton location of the new New Jersey State Normal School between Lyman A. Chandler, H. B. Hope, and Henry Woodhull Green from 1855, and a document with building specifications for the New Jersey State Normal School. There is a print of the New Jersey State Normal School from c.1860 that belonged to student Anna M. Cook, as well as several postcards from the 1900s-1910s. Also in this series are materials about Camp Macressav, including several documents about its initial fundraising in 1919, and instructions and rules for use through the early 1930s.

The move to the Hillwood Lakes is not covered in this collection except for the manuscript “Interesting Fact of Historic Hillwood” by Anna Louisa Collins Leaming, who recorded anecdotes about the area from long-time resident Susan Titus in the early 1930s. Note: This document contains racist and derogatory language about Indigenous and Black residents and their burial sites on the land that is now the site of TCNJ’s campus.

Series 4 - Faculty, 1907-1973
The majority of this series comprises banquet programs honoring New Jersey State Normal and Model School teachers including Sarah Ely, Austin Apgar, Lillie A. Williams, Elias F. Carr, Dickerson H. Farley, Mary C. Field, Levi Seeley, and Sarah A. Dynes. This series also includes a list of faculty from 1855-1939 that has been annotated up to 1973, and a handwritten biography (and accompanying typewritten transcript) of Levi Seeley that was written near the time of Seeley’s retirement in December 1917 or celebration in late January 1918.

Series 5 - Students, Student Life, and Student Organizations, 1878-1993 (bulk 1878-1936)
This is the largest series and is divided into eight subseries: Self-governance and Student Government, Literary Societies, Performing Arts Clubs, Performances and Events Programs, Class Year Collections from the New Jersey State Normal School, Personal Collections from the New Jersey State Normal School Students, Class Year Collections from the Model School, and Personal Collections from the Model School Students.

Self-governance and Student Government (1894-1921) contains the constitution and by-laws of the Self-Government Society of the State Schools from c.1894 and the constitution of the New Jersey State Normal School Student Government Association from 1921.

Literary Societies (1896-1936) begins with the scrapbook: “Society Plays, 1910-1918” which includes performance programs, lists of literary society officers and members, and expenses for performances. The first page is numbered 31. There were many loose programs found in the back of the scrapbook; one of them was from 1896, but the rest date from 1913 to 1916, and these are now in a separate folder in chronological order following the scrapbook. The next folders contain performance and event programs that involved multiple societies, usually for debates, and the “Contest Association” dating from 1900 to 1921. There also are folders of event programs for each club including: Adolphian Society (a Black student organization) from 1921, Arguromuthos Society from 1897 to 1923, Clionian Society from 1896, and Gamma Sigma Society from 1897 to 1916 (an historically white student organization that staged annual minstrel shows), Ionian Society from 1910 to 1916, Normal Dramatic Club from 1902 to 1921, Normal Pedagogical Club from 1910 to 1918, Philomathean Society from 1902 to 1936, Sapphonian Society from 1902, Shakespeare Society from 1906 to 1924, Thencanic Society from 1896 to 1915, and Theta Phi Society from 1911 to 1915. Note: This series contains materials that contain and/or refer to inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of Black people.

Performing Arts Clubs (1896-1920) includes the Orpheus Glee Club record book from 1906 to 1908 and performance programs from 1908 to 1917, performance programs from Philomela Glee Club from 1908 to 1917, and State School Glee Club from 1896 to 1920.

Performances and Events Programs (1888-1936) include all of the other events and performances that took place at the New Jersey State Normal School, including concerts given by the school music faculty to the students, holiday celebrations, school-wide musicals and plays, lecture series, presentations by language classes, presentations from gymnastics classes, entertainment from one graduating class to another, and special presentations. This subseries begins with a Memorial Day program from 1888 and ends with a scrapbook of programs from the 1920s to 1933. Other items of note are: the school’s 50th anniversary celebration program from 1905, an invitation to the unveiling of the Farley mural in 1910, and programs from several patriotic festivals following WWI from 1918 to 1920.

Class Year Collections from the New Jersey State Normal School (1896-1993) include a poem and class cheer from class of 1896, manuscript with reminiscences from the class of 1899, class of 1904 wall calendar (with photographs from class of 1903), treasurer’s book from class of June 1912, 1920 class directory, church program dedicated to the class of 1930, class roll and minutes for the junior and senior class of 1931, “Memories of Campus Life by the class of 1933” by Charlotte Wenman Snyder written c.1993, and certificates for George Washington bicentennial tree planting for the classes of 1932 to 1935.

Personal Collections from New Jersey State Normal School Students (c.1878-1961) includes items created or kept by students while at the New Jersey State Normal School such as the following: Sara E. “Sallie” Nivison’s autograph book from the late 1870s to 1890, Anna Watson’s library card from c. 1893-1896, a teaching job offer letter for Adele Cazin from 1896, correspondence between alumni Florence Byrd Dixon and Rachel Jarrold discussing the class of 1899 written in 1954 and 1961, Raphael Petito’s varsity football certificate from 1930, a class schedule for Carol Matthews with notes on musicians from c. 1902 on the back that may date to the early 1930s, and John W. Nuttal’s library card from 1934.

Class Year Collections from the Model School (1901-1940) include W. Brokaw Bamford's copy of “Quinquennial Record of the Boys of the Class of Model ‘96” and clipping of F.W. Roebling, Jr.’s obituary; “A History of the Class of 1904 State Model School” from May 1930; and the “First Supplement” to the history of the Class of 1904 published in October 1940.

Personal Collections from Model School Students (1883-1963) includes items created or kept by students while at the Model School such as “In Memoriam George White Worman, by The Philadelphia Alumni Association of the Trenton Model School, 1890;” and Mary Blackwell's Model School grade card signed by her father John Blackwell in 1902. But the highlights of this subseries are two scrapbooks from Edith Swan Cooper Horner Johnson, class of 1910, and Mary Lawrence, class of 1911.

Edith Swan Cooper Horner Johnson's Model School scrapbook dates mostly from 1910, but was updated to 1971. It contained many loose items tucked inside the back cover dating from 1883 to 1957 that have been rehoused in separate folders for preservation purposes. The scrapbook is commercially printed with a full color image of a bouquet of roses on front inscribed “My Commencement.” The interior pages are printed with a floral border and prompts for adding content. Included in the book are poems, a photograph of Edith, images of the school removed from an Annual Report, a handwritten history of the school, candid photographs of classmates, clippings from local newspapers and The Signal, photographs of faculty with their inscriptions and signatures, 1910 class day and Commencement programs and invitation, essays, programs for literary society plays and concerts (including minstrel shows), photographs of the 1910 champion basketball and relay teams, tickets for basketball games, small souvenir scissors, a receipt for class dues, school songs and yells, and several items from her post-Model (and New Jersey State Normal School) years. Post-school items include programs for Philomathean Club reunions, notes and attendance on Model and or New Jersey State Normal reunions from 1917-1965 (with gaps), and a list for “round robin” letters for 1970-1971. The loose items removed from the back of her scrapbook include: memories of her brother Isaac Cooper Jr. by her mother Laura Cooper from 1883 to 1887, clippings, unidentified photographs, various ephemera from the Model School c.1910-1912, and clippings about reunions.

Mary Lawrence's Model School scrapbook itself dates from 1909 to 1913, although there were two portrait photographs (possibly her parents) by Bell Studio in Philadelphia that were loose inside the front cover that date to c.1901-1907 based on the photographer’s address. The bulk of the material dates to the Model School class of 1911. The scrapbook appears to be homemade from two boards covered in linen or silk, hand stamped with a floral pattern that is also embroidered in yellow and green thread. It was bound with cord through three punch holes. The contents include handlettering; pressed flowers; snips of ribbons and fabric; loose commencement invitations; photographs of the school buildings, faculty (with their signatures), and fellow students; printed images of school interiors (removed from the 1911 Annual Report) with humorous commentary; small watercolor designs; inscriptions and signatures from classmates; and a clipping. There also is a 1913 New Jersey State Normal School Commencement program in the back.

Series 6 - Magazines and Newspapers, 1923-1925
This series contains two publications: The Keyhole, a school news magazine by the Commercial Department of the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton from March 1923, June 1923, and January 1924. It was later taken over by the Chi Phi Club and revamped to a professionally printed magazine with advertisements for June 1924, November 1924, and February 1925. The other publication, The Weekly Bulletin was issued by the New Jersey State Normal School to function as a calendar of events and updates from January 20, 1925, to June 11, 1925 (the first two issues are missing from the collection). Both publications existed during the years that The Signal newspaper was not published.

This collection is arranged in the following six series:

Series 1 - Academics
This series is in alphabetical order by department name; the items are in chronological order within each department.

Series 2 - Administration
This series is divided into six subseries: Admissions, Policies and Procedures; Financials, Trustees, Principals, Publicity, and Reports. All items are in chronological order within each subseries.

Series 3 - Buildings, Campus, and Locations
This series is arranged chronologically from the start of the school in Trenton, Camp Macressav in the 1920s, to the beginning of the Hillwood Lakes campus in Ewing.

Series 4 - Faculty
This is the smallest series and it is arranged chronologically rather than alphabetically due to several items pertaining to more than one faculty member at the same time.

Series 5 - Students, Student Life, and Student Organizations
This is the largest series and is divided into eight subseries: Self-governance and Student Government, Literary Societies, Performing Arts Clubs, Performances and Events Programs, Class Year Collections from the New Jersey State Normal School, Personal Collections from New Jersey State Normal School Students, Class Year Collections from the Model School, and Personal Collections from Model School Students. Within all subseries, the materials are arranged chronologically. Literary Societies and Performing Arts Clubs series are arranged alphabetically by name, then chronologically.

Series 6 - Magazines and Newspapers
Contains the two publications: The Keyhole and Weekly Bulletin, arranged chronologically.

Note on the intellectual arrangement of the AtoM pages: In order to preserve the intellectual arrangement of the finding aid, the arrangement of the collection on the AtoM web site is by series and subseries levels, with box and folder identifiers on item level records.

This collection is open for research.

The items in this collection may be used by patrons who abide by the Archives and Special Collections Use Policy of the R. Barbara Gitenstein Library at TCNJ.

Portions of the collection have been digitized and are available for viewing in the library on a provided computer, or at: https://atom.tcnj.edu/index.php/TCNJ018-Normal-and-Model-School-Collection

Copyright restrictions apply. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the College Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Archives and Special Collections, R. Barbara Gitenstein Library, The College of New Jersey, PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ 08628-0718, email: Ask a Librarian via the library’s website https://library.tcnj.edu/

• English

The bulk of the materials came from interdepartmental transfers and intentional collection by librarians, with the following exceptions: Benjamin Williamson’s Normal School Trustee certificates were a gift of Francis B. Lee in February 1912; New Jersey State Normal School 50th anniversary program was a gift of Charles S. Aitkin in 1936; letters from William Phelps to George H. Cook and Charles T. Wight were a gift/transfer from Rutgers University in July 1941; letter from William Phelps to W. H. Payne was a gift of Al Crabb in March 1941; Anna M. Cook’s print of the New Jersey State Normal School was a gift of Charlotte G. Marshall in October 1950; Model School tuition receipt for Elizabeth Hillman was a gift of Lewis Travers in April 1945; notes from Miss Williams’ Psychology class were a gift of Gertrude Kern Herriott in September 1951; reminiscences from the class of 1899 were a gift of O. Watson Flavelle in May 1956; correspondence between Rachel Jarrold and Florence Byrd Dixon was a gift of Dixon in May 1961; Psychology notes were a gift of Elsie Storms Parsloe in May 1978; Memorial Day event program from 1888 was a gift of Irene Medaugh Crowell in April 1978; New Jersey State Normal School 1904 calendar was a gift of Sadie Gulick (Lane) in February 1979; Lillian Brandriff's “Kindergarten Work,” book was a gift of her daughter Lorelle S. Francis in January 1988; class roll and minutes for class of 1931 were a gift of Helen Sadley in April 2001; 1920 class directory and correspondence were a gift of Anna T. Burr in August 2002; “My Commencement” scrapbook from Edith Swan Cooper Johnson was a gift of Maria Calderone Kenner (class of 1983) in 2005; programs for “The Normal Follies” and “Sleeping Beauty” in 1928 were a gift of Eleanor Schaed Eppinger in April 2009; John W. Nuttal’s library card was a gift of his great grandson Kevin Potter in June 2020; and Sara E. “Sallie” Nivison’s autograph book was a gift of Jeff Wasserman in November 2019.

Accession numbers: 1912.01; 1936.02; 1941.01; 1941.02; 1945.01; 1950.01; 1951.02; 1956.02; 1961.01; 1978.01; 1978.02; 1979.02; 1988.01; 2001.02; 2002.02; 2005.01; 2009.01; 2019.01

None anticipated

Room 410, Archives and Special Collections, Gitenstein Library, TCNJ

New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools photographs and artifacts (jewelry, textiles, etc.) will be maintained in two additional separate collections.

Edith Swan Cooper (Horner, Johnson’s) scrapbook was featured in TCNJ Magazine, Autumn/Winter, 2005, pages 20-25.

Abstract: The New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools Collection contains an eclectic mix of materials ranging from documentation of the New Jersey State Normal School’s founding in Trenton in 1855 to school play programs from the early 1930s. The collection includes materials from both the New Jersey State Normal School – a teachers’ education school – and the Model School used as a demonstration school for student teaching. Of note are scrapbooks created by Model School students in the last decade of its existence in the 1910s, a book of paper weaving techniques for teaching young children from 1900, and extensive notes taken during Psychology classes in 1910. The bulk of the collection comprises ephemera from the schools’ popular literary societies who filled a robust schedule with performances and events. This collection compliments and adds context to many related collections created by the New Jersey State Normal School, and its students and faculty.

Biographical information/Organizational history:
The College of New Jersey’s academic tradition reaches back to 1855 when it was established by the state legislature as the New Jersey State Normal School. It was the first state-established teacher training school in the state and the ninth in the nation. Governor Rodman Price promoted the idea of a training institute for New Jersey’s teachers and mobilized support among influential state leaders. Located on Clinton Avenue in Trenton from 1855 until the early 1930s, the New Jersey State Normal School flourished in the latter 1800s, expanding both its academic offerings and physical facilities.

For some, student life at the New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools included membership in “Literary Societies,” which were required to produce an annual performance or event. Also popular were music clubs and debate societies, some of which competed against other schools in the region. Some of the literary societies later transformed into social sororities and fraternities, but none were linked to national organizations. Hiking along the Delaware River also was a popular pastime for students. Camp Macressav was purchased in 1919 by Trenton State Normal School Student and Alumna Camping Association for weekend and summer gatherings. It was located in Ewing Township near Jacob’s Creek. The name “Macressav” was the combination of the names of two physical education teachers Elizabeth MacPherson and Anna Cressman, and school principal Jerohn Savitz. The students and faculty enjoyed the camp until it was sold in 1935, after the school moved to its current location.

Shortly after the New Jersey State Normal School was founded, the Model School was created to serve as a teacher training laboratory, where Normal School students could apply their skills teaching elementary and secondary school children. Tuition was charged for students attending the Model School, but only room and board was charged for Normal School students. Tuition was waived when students committed to teach in New Jersey Schools for two years after graduation. Additional affiliated teacher training and specialty schools operated outside of Trenton such as The Farnum Preparatory School of New Jersey located in Beverly (1856-1912) and Rural School Observation Centers at Hart’s Corner, Harbourton, and Plainsboro (1917-1930). A variety of partnerships were established with schools around the state for teacher training. The Model School closed in 1917 and was replaced by the Training School, which served grades 1-6 and was tuition-free. While the new New Jersey State Normal School was under construction at the Hillwood Lakes campus, the Training School closed. In 1931, the New Jersey State Normal School entered into an agreement with Ewing Township to use the Lanning School for teacher training. This arrangement lasted until the late 1950s.

In 1925, the first four-year baccalaureate degree program was established at the school. This change marked the beginning of its transition from a normal school to a teachers’ college. Later, the shift was accompanied by a change in physical surroundings. In 1928, a 210-acre tract of land in Ewing Township, then known as Hillwood Lakes, was purchased as the new site for the College.

Graduate study was instituted at the college in 1947, and accreditation quickly followed during the 1950s. The enactment of the Higher Education Act of 1966 paved the way for then Trenton State College to become a multipurpose institution by expanding its degree programs into a variety of fields in addition to education. By 1972, 70% of entering students selected non-teaching majors.

Currently known as The College of New Jersey, the school emphasizes the undergraduate experience, but also offers many strong graduate programs. A liberal arts core forms the foundation for a wealth of degree programs offered through TCNJ’s seven schools — Arts and Communication; Business; Humanities and Social Sciences; Education; Science; Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science; and Engineering.

In all, the college has experienced six name changes over its history:
1855 - New Jersey State Normal School
1908 - New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton
1929 - New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton
1937 - New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton
1958 - Trenton State College
1996 - The College of New Jersey

Individuals named in this collection include:
Austin Craig Apgar was born on August 4, 1838, to Hannah Whitehead and David Apgar in Peapack, New Jersey. He entered the New Jersey State Normal School on February 21, 1860, and graduated in 1862. He taught at the Farnum Preparatory School before being appointed to teach at the New Jersey State Normal School in 1866. There, he taught mathematics, then botany and zoology. Also in 1866, he married Maria Elizabeth Whitlock, and they had three children: Lillian (Cook) (Model class of 1885), Ada (Draycott) (Model class of 1888), and Walter Apgar (Model student). He published several works on geography, birds, mollusks, trees, and other natural history subjects, and taught in summer schools in many states. He later served as Vice-Principal at the New Jersey State Normal School. He died on March 4, 1908, in Trenton.

William Brokaw Bamford was born on August 22, 1878, to Catherine and Charles Y. Bamford, in Trenton, New Jersey. He attended the Model School where he was a member of the Thencanic Society and graduated in the class of 1896. He was a colonel in the 1st Regiment, Volunteer Engineers during the Spanish American War, and served as a military instructor in World War . He graduated from Princeton University in 1901, and worked as an architect and engineer. Later, he served as mayor of Belmar, New Jersey. He died on April 10, 1945, in Belmar.

Don Carroll Bliss was born on March 9, 1868, to Harriett Prescott and Willis R. Bliss in Corinth, Vermont. He attended Thetford Academy; then Dartmouth College, graduating in 1892, earning a master's degree in 1894, and doctorate in 1913. In 1894, he married Frances Marian McConnell (1870-1953), and they had sons Don C. Bliss, Jr. (1897-1978), and Robert W. Bliss (1905-1928). Robert was a Normal School student who served as its Office Assistant in 1926, and Instructor in English beginning in 1927. Don C. Bliss’s career included a series of school superintendent positions: beginning in Northville, Michigan; then Kearny, New Jersey from 1900 to 1905; Brockton, Massachusetts from 1905 to 1910; Elmira, New York from 1910 to 1912; and Montclair, New Jersey from 1912 to 1923. In the fall of 1923, he became the Principal and first president of New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton until his retirement in 1930. In 1935, Bliss Hall, a new men’s dormitory at Trenton State was dedicated to him. By 1940, he was living in Biloxi Mississippi, where he died on May 19, 1945, and was buried in Vermont.

Elias Ford Carr was born on March 6, 1839, to Lucy Crittenden and Silas Carr, in Cummington, Massachusetts. He attended Troy Academy, then Union College where he graduated in 1864. In 1892, he was awarded both a master's and doctorate degree from Union College. He married Julia Amelia McMasters (1844-1893) in 1868, and they had five children: Lulu Mcmaster's, Clara Jeannette, Frederick Julian, Florence Elizabeth, and Julia Brewer Carr (Harding). After his wife’s death, he married widow Margaret Noyes Green in 1899. He served as an Assistant Principal or Principal in high schools in Troy and Hoosick Falls, New York from 1865 to 1875, then spent a year teaching in Yonkers before coming to the New Jersey State Normal School as a faculty member and head of the Math Department in 1876. He also was the supervising editor of The Signal student newspaper. He retired in 1911. In addition to his teaching, he was a published literary critic, toastmaster for student groups, and Vice-President of the New Jersey State Teachers’ Association. He died on August 7, 1918, in Trenton, New Jersey, and was buried in Troy, New York.

Anna (also went by “Hannah”) M. Cook was born on October 1, 1836, to Phebe Harrison and Joseph Cook in Livingston, New Jersey. According to stories she recounted to family friend Charlotte G. Marshall, she began teaching at a young age in a one-room school in, or near, Whippany, New Jersey. The letter also states that she struggled with confidence in teaching boys nearly her own age and decided she needed training to become a better teacher, so she enrolled in the new New Jersey State Normal School. Although she entered the school’s fifth term on September 7, 1857, she does not appear in school records as having graduated or attended another year. Her gravestone’s inscription reads: “Erected by the pupils of the Westville School in grateful and loving remembrance of a faithful teacher,” referring to the Gloucester County school. She later returned to her family home in the Livingston and/or Roseland area of Essex County, New Jersey by 1870 (her mother died in 1865). She and her younger brother Joseph maintained the family’s farm for the rest of their lives. She died on February 18, 1919, in Essex County.

Gertrude Marguerite Kern Herriott Coyle was born on September 6, 1891, to Catharine A. and Ferdinand Kern, in Linden, New Jersey. She graduated from Woodbridge High School in 1910 and enrolled at the New Jersey State Normal School shortly thereafter. Her final evaluation in the Grade Books and Reports, volume 3, page 46 (pdf), reads: “Promises to do excellent primary work. Has shown resource, judgement, and real teaching ability. Attractive in person. A trifle inclined to pose.” She graduated in the class of February 1912. According to the Teaching Appointments Register, volume 1, page 40 (pdf), she was assigned to teach second grade at Monroe Street School in Ridgewood, New Jersey for a salary of $600 per year. By the 1920 census, she and her family were living in Dallas, Texas where she was working as a teacher. In the early 1920s, she attended Columbia Teachers College where she received a bachelor's degree in 1926. She briefly taught at Ohio University until her marriage in 1927 to David Paul Herriott (1883-1953), a minister, in Texas. After their wedding, the couple moved to New York where they had sons David Jr. and Robert Herriott. They were settled in Rhode Island by the early 1950s, but her husband died in 1953. Gertrude then married George Love Coyle (1885-1973) in 1965, in West Virginia. She died on November 13, 1986, in Massachusetts, and was buried in Linden, New Jersey. After her death, the Gertrude Kern Herriott Coyle Scholarship was established at Columbia Teachers College.

Florence May Byrd Dixon was born on September 30, 1879, to Carrie M. and Thomas E. Bryd in Hackensack, New Jersey. She attended the New Jersey State Normal School where, in addition to her studies, she played piano and participated in the Apgar Science Club and Glee Club. Her final evaluation in Grade Books and Reports, volume 1, page 76, reads: “Dignified, quiet, agreeable. Has high natural teaching power.” She graduated in the class of June 1899. In 1904, she married fellow ‘99 classmate Charles Righter Dixon (1874-1954), who was recorded in the same grade book on page 79 as making slightly lower grades (90 average vs. her 95) and described as: “Intelligent, capable, refined. Lacks force and magnetism.” Charles was a supervising principal of Ridgefield Schools, while Florence continued to teach in the Hackensack area (after a few years dedicated to caring for their children). Their children were daughter Mildred (Sturtevant) (1908-2002) and son Charles Righter Jr. (1914-1943). According to her obituary in the The Record, August 5, 1970, page 14, she taught in New Jersey schools at Closter, Haworth, Woodridge, and Hackensack. Florence died on July 30, 1970.

Sarah Ann Dynes was born to Eleanor “Ellen” McComiskey and Valentine Dynes, in Columbus, Wisconsin, on May 7, 1862, 1863, or 1864. Her Normal School Teacher’s Register card and the 1880 census records her birth year as 1862; her tombstone records her birth year as 1863; and her 1900 passport application and later censuses record her birth year as 1864. Her childhood was spent on her family’s farm as well as at school, graduating from Oshkosh State Normal School in 1888. She taught in Michigan and Wisconsin schools, then Oshkosh State Normal School for a few years. In 1892, she left to attend Cornell University where she studied history and graduated with a PhB in Philosophy in June 1894. In 1895, she came to Trenton, New Jersey to teach History at the New Jersey State Normal School. In 1900, she was given a leave of absence to travel in Europe and the Middle East. She returned in 1901, and was the Head of the History and Civics Department until she retired on June 30, 1923. In addition to her teaching work, she was involved with the History Section of the Association of the Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States, Teachers’ Association of the State Normal Schools, the New Jersey State Teachers’ Association, and the Trenton College Club. She also published her research and writing on education. After her retirement, she returned to Wisconsin to be closer to family members. She died on September 16, 1926, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Sarah (nicknamed “Sallie”) Yardley Ely was born on April 22, 1849, to Lydia Dorsett Hulse (1817-1906) and William Carver Ely (1801-1857) in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After her father’s death in the late 1850s or early 1860s, her mother moved the family to Lambertville, New Jersey. Sarah attended the New Jersey State Normal School where she became the valedictorian of her graduating class of February 1866. While she was still a student, she began teaching at the Model School where she continued her career for nearly 50 years, first as a mathematics teacher, then as supervisor of the Girls’ Department. After her retirement in 1913, she volunteered in the administration of the Trenton area Y.W.C.A. She died on June 4, 1937, in Trenton, and was buried in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Dickerson Harvey Farley was born on September 10, 1846, to Dorcas B. Piper and Stephen Alonzo Farley, in Weston, Vermont. According to the Normal and Model School Faculty Book, he attended Lansley’s Commercial College and the State Normal School in Rutland, Vermont. He then taught at Lansley’s Commercial College for three years and at Bryant Stratton and Whitney Business College in Newark, New Jersey for three years. In 1873, he married Freberne Lucia Blossom (1848-1925) in Vermont, and they had four children: Richard Blossom (1875-1954), Model School student and artist with paintings at the New Jersey State Normal School; Herbert L. (1881-1881); Marcus Martin (1883-1941); and LeRoy Webster (1887-1957), also a Model School graduate. In 1873, Dickerson came to the New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools as an instructor in Penmanship and Bookkeeping. In addition to teaching, he was the joint author of The Normal Review System of Writing, along with many articles and handbooks on writing and penmanship. According to his obituary in the Trenton Times, January 14, 1926, page 22, he consulted on handwriting analysis in court cases. He retired from the Normal School in 1916. He died on January 13, 1926, in Trenton, and was buried in Vermont.

Richard Blossom Farley was born on October 24, 1875, to Freberne Blossom and Dickerson Harvey Farley, in Poultney, Vermont. He attended the New Jersey State Model School in Trenton and entered the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1893, after which he studied with artists in Europe. In 1914, he married Abigail Rosenthal, and they had two children: Richard Jr. and Caroline F. Farley. Richard was a working artist, and some of his works included a mural in the old New Jersey State Normal School building that was transferred to the Roscoe West Library on the current campus of the college, a portrait of Sarah Ely presented to the college in 1912, and seascapes of the Jersey Shore in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He died on September 10, 1954, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Mary Clarissa Field was born on November 25, 1848, to Ann Reynolds and Michael Field, in Racine Wisconsin. She received private art instruction in Minnesota for four years, then attended a course at The Cooper Union from 1885 to 1886. She taught art in Long Branch, New Jersey schools from 1886 to 1890. In the autumn of 1890, she came to the New Jersey State Normal School to teach art and head the Drawing Department. From 1890 to 1893, she taught at the Model School, as well. Her sister, Phebe Field lived with her in Trenton, where they were joined later by another sister, Fanny Nason, after she was widowed in 1908. Mary retired in 1914, and the sisters moved to Point Pleasant, New Jersey. She died on June 17, 1926, in a private tuberculosis sanitarium in Trenton, and was buried in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.

James Monroe Green was born to Alice Hopkons and William H. Green on August 29, 1851, in Succasunna, Morris County, New Jersey. He entered the Model School in Trenton in 1867, then the New Jersey State Normal School from which he graduated in 1870. After teaching and working as principal for a few years in Morris County and Long Branch, New Jersey, he completed coursework at Dickenson College. Afterward, he became the Principal at Long Branch High School. On October 8, 1878, he married Caroline Estelle Morris (1859-1913) and they had three children: Lucile Green (1879-1960), Roy Lieb (1881-1881), and Bayard Monroe (1884-1958). In 1889, he became the Principal of New Jersey State Normal School. During his tenure, the school expanded in enrollment, buildings, and educational offerings - including a four-year college degree program for teachers. He held positions and memberships in state and national educational associations, including as President of National Education Association in 1901. He also received honorary degrees and earned a doctorate by taking an examination. During the 1916-1917 academic year, he was on medical leave. Wandell B. Secor served in his place during that time. After the school year ended in 1917, he officially resigned as principal. Shortly thereafter he moved, along with his daughter Lucile Green (Model School class of 1898 and New Jersey State Normal School Registrar 1904-1920), to his son Bayard’s home in Passaic, New Jersey, where he died on October 31, 1920.

Lucile Green was born on November 23, 1879, to Caroline Estelle Morris (1859-1913) and James Monroe Green (1851-1920), in Long Branch, New Jersey. In 1889, the family moved to Trenton when her father became Principal of the New Jersey State Normal School. She graduated from the Model School in 1898, and from Wellesley College in 1902. She was the Registrar of the New Jersey State Normal School from 1904 to 1920. She moved with her father to her brother Bayard’s home in Passaic in 1920. She worked for the Passaic YWCA and held memberships in the New Jersey Historical Society, National Society of Colonial America of the State of New Jersey, and a Committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution which, according to her obituary published in the Herald News, August 2, 1960, page 39, was organized to fight racial discrimination in Washington, DC. She continued to live in her brother’s home in Passaic until her death on August 1, 1960.

John Seely Hart was born on January 28, 1810, to Abigail Stone and Isaac Hart, in Old Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Shortly after, the family moved to Pennsylvania. He graduated from Princeton (then known as the College of New Jersey) in 1830, and from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1834. He taught at Princeton and in other New Jersey and Pennsylvania schools, and was the principal of Central High School in Philadelphia. In 1836, he married Amelia Caroline Morford (1814-1889), and had a son, James Morgan Hart (1839-1916). In 1848, he received a LLD degree from Miami University of Ohio. Along with teaching and school administration, he was the editor of the American Sunday-School Union, publisher of the Sunday School Times, and a prolific writer of school books and essays. In 1862, he moved to Trenton to become Head of the Model School, then Principal of New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton until 1871. He died on March 26, 1877, in Philadelphia.

Washington Hasbrouck was born on November 26, 1824, to Sally Auchmoody and Philip S. Hasbrouck, in New Paltz, New York. His early educational training is not known. He was the vice-principal of Kingston Academy and founded the Hasbrouck Institute, an all-boys private school in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1856. He married Sabra King (1829-1894) in about 1850 and had two children: Albert Crowell (1851-1900) and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Hasbrouck (1854-1908). He received several honorary degrees including a master's from Rutgers in 1857, a doctorate from New York University in 1869, and a doctorate from Princeton in 1876. A few years after the [financial] Panic of 1873 caused declining enrollment at Hasbrouck Institute, he left to become Principal of the New Jersey State Normal School on July 1,1876, where he remained until 1889. He died on February 24, 1895, in Newburg, New York.

Rachel Marion Jarrold was born on July 7, 1884, to Louisa Chapin Collins and Thomas Jarrold, in Westfield, Massachusetts. She attended Westfield High School, then graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1906. She earned a master's degree in history from University of Illinois in 1909 and attended additional graduate studies at Columbia University later. In 1909, she was appointed to the faculty to teach history at the State Normal School at Fredonia, New York, where she remained until 1919. She moved to Cleveland, Ohio to teach history in a high school for a brief period before traveling to Europe to join the YWCA War Work Council in reconstruction work from 1919 until 1921. After she returned to the states, she taught in Providence, Rhode Island and attended classes at Columbia. In 1924, she became Professor of History and chairman of the History Department at New Jersey State Normal School until she retired in 1947. After retirement, she was the chairman of YWCA Public Affairs Committee and conducted historical research, lectures, and writing. In 1955, she published Time the Great Teacher: A History of the New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton, 1855-1955. During her time in Trenton, Rachel lived with a fellow teacher Isabel Winslow Joy Riddell (1887-1970), who also was a member of the New Jersey State Normal School faculty, as well as a Lanning School demonstration teacher from 1924 until 1952. After Isabel retired to her family home in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Rachel moved there in 1965 and remained until Isabel’s death in 1970. She relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio where she died on April 25, 1971.

Edith Swan Cooper Horner Johnson was born on July 26, 1893, to Laura and Isaac Cooper, in Trenton, New Jersey. Her older brother Isaac Cooper, Jr., attended the Model School until his early death in 1892. Edith also attended the Model School from the age of 6 in 1899 until she graduated in 1910. She then took the Physical Training course at the New Jersey Normal School at Trenton. At the school, she was class president, a member of the Philomathean Literary Society, editor-in-chief of The Signal newspaper, and participated in basketball and track. Despite her many activities, she maintained good grades. Her final evaluation in Grade Books and Reports, volume 3, page 98, read: “Person and voice attractive to ch’n [children]. Teaching is clear and interesting. Discipline promising. A tendency to procrastinate is being overcome, I believe outlook upon teaching is good.” She graduated in January 1914, and began working for the Trenton Y.W.C.A. In 1921, she married Lafayette Horner, Jr., and had four sons: Edward (class of 1952), David, John, and Robert. Lafayette died in 1953, and she married Reverend Henry Johnson in 1957. Shortly after his death in 1966, she moved to the Baptist Home of Riverton, New Jersey, where she died on December 26, 1988.

Lewis Melvin Johnson was born on November 19, 1837, to Mary Chase and Joseph Johnson in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He attended Brown University from 1857 to 1858, and received a master's degree from Williams College in 1861. He was a teacher at Maplewood Institute at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Principal at Lake Forest Academy in Illinois, and Principal of Newark High School. In 1870, he accepted the position of Principal of the New Jersey State Normal School. On June 30, 1873, he married Anne Morris (1844-1921). He left the New Jersey State Normal School in 1876 to head the Young Ladies’ Seminary in Philadelphia. He died on November 19, 1904, in Philadelphia.

Ruth Avis (went by Avis) Black Koeppel was born in December 1893, to Ruth A. Wilson and Milton M. Black, in Lambertville, New Jersey. She attended the New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton, attending the High School Teachers Course. She was active in the Normal Dramatic Club and was the literary editor of both The Seal yearbook and The Signal newspaper. In the 1915 The Seal yearbook, page 14, her classmates remarked, “You think she is buried quite deep in her books, But ask and you’ll find she’s less meek than she looks.” And in the Grade Books and Reports, volume 3, page 148, her teaching evaluation is recorded as “Quiet, refined. Somewhat of a dreamer though not in the class room. Teach.[ing] tact and judgement - artifice leniency.” She graduated in June 1915. In 1919, she married George Koeppel Jr., and later had Maliss (Fowler), and George C. Koeppel III. According to her obituary, she taught in New Jersey schools in Hopewell Township and Borough, West Windsor Township, and Pennington. She died February 10, 1960, in Hopewell, New Jersey.

Mary E. Lawrence was born on August 22, 1890, to Mary A. James (New Jersey State Normal School class of June 1883) and Rev. Charles S. Lawrence, in Princeton, New Jersey, but lived in Camden and Burlington Counties as a child. Mary attended the Model School and graduated in June 1911, then entered the New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton that September. She was in the Arguromuthos Literary Society and remembered in the 1913 The Seal yearbook, page 86 as: “Mary is our studious girl. Why is Mary like the ocean? Because she has a fine wave in her hair.” She graduated from the New Jersey State Normal School in June 1913. Her final evaluation in Grade Books and Reports, volume 3, page 84, reads: “Quiet, needing more animation in face. Conscientious and intelligent. Has tact and judgement, Should do well.” And according to the Teaching Appointments Register, volume 1, page 60 (PDF version), she was placed in Lyndhurst Schools as a third grade teacher for her first teaching position. In the 1920 census, she was working as a teacher and living with her brother Edson James Lawrence (also a school teacher, and Model School class of 1904 graduate) and his family in Bloomfield, New Jersey. She taught in Bloomfield Schools for 35 years, then retired to Dennisville, Cape May County, New Jersey, where she died on July 18, 1980.

Anna Louisa Collins Leaming was born in 1877 to Hannah Gandy Collins (c.1841-1900), a schoolteacher, and George D. Collins, in Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey. She entered the New Jersey State Normal School in September 1894 at the age of 17, and graduated in January 1897. According to the Grade Books and Reports, volume 1, page 28, her final evaluation read: “Pleasant but lacks force. Has little teaching power. Superficial.” But she was also documented in an article in The Signal, from February 1897, page 62, that stated she gave the class history and was the soloist for Swedish folk song, “The Shepherd” during the graduation program. In 1900, she married Dr. Freeman C. Leaming, and they made their home on Pennington Road in Ewing, near the future Hillwood Lakes campus. Their daughter, Mary E. Leaming (1901-1981) also attended the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton in the class of 1921; their other children were George C. (1906-1955), Elizabeth “Betty” G. (1909-1990), and Thomas F. (1912-2007). Anna died on April 12, 1952, in Ewing, New Jersey.

Sara “Sallie” Elizabeth Nivision was born on February 17 1854, to Mary L. Herbert and Peter T. Nivison, in Manasquan, New Jersey. Her family moved to Eatontown, New Jersey while she was young, and she graduated from the Eatontown Public Schools. She attended the New Jersey State Normal School during the 1877-1878 school year, but it is unknown if she graduated or left after taking a teacher’s certification exam. By 1879, she was teaching in the Fair Haven public schools, where she continued her career for approximately 36 years, first as a teacher in the primary grades, then in intermediate classes. She continued to live in the family home or with family in Eatontown. In the late 1910s, her niece Sara Buchanan Nivison (1899-1988) lived with her and attended the New Jersey State Normal School, graduating in the class of 1920. After Sara retired, she continued to teach Sunday school in a Presbyterian church and was involved in community groups. She died on January 21, 1929, in Eatontown.

Marianna Grace Packer was born on February 20, 1883, to Mary Elizabeth Gause and Franklin Parker in Waynesville, Ohio. In the early 1900s, the family moved to Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She attended the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics from 1906 to 1908 (which was incorporated into Wellesley College in 1909). In 1908, she became the Supervisor of Physical Training and Hygiene for Montclair Schools in New Jersey until 1918 when she was named Assistant to the New Jersey State Physical Director Dr. Frederick W. Maroney. In 1923, she was hired at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton as head of the Health and Physical Education Department. From 1924 to 1930, she also served as Assistant Principal of the school. She retired in 1945. In addition to her teaching, she was the President of the New Jersey Health and Physical Education Association, served on the Health Committee of the YWCA, the board of the Girl Scouts, and on the board of the National Health and Physical Education Association. In the 1940 census, she was listed as living with Helen T. Harris Dutcher (1866-1952), and the two moved to Buck Hill Falls, Monroe County, Pennsylvania by 1950. In 1964, Trenton State dedicated a new gymnasium, Packer Hall, in her honor. She died on May 15, 1973, in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Elsie Storms Parsloe was born on September 14, 1895, to Catherine Hopper and John Albert Storms, in Crystal Lake, Bergen County, New Jersey. Her father died before her first birthday, subsequently, she was raised by her mother and grandfather, John H. Hopper, on his farm in Ramsey. She graduated from Ramsey High School in 1914, and enrolled in the Nature Study Course of the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton. Her final evaluation in Grade Books and Reports, volume 4, page 24, reads: “Has a keen interest in each individual in her class. Works well, but is not strong in general preparation. Appearance not bright, but neat and not unattractive.” And in the 1916 The Seal yearbook, page 50, her classmates wrote: “Can it possibly be that she’s too conscientious, And makes out of nothing a matter portentous? Perhaps - but, then, what if that should be true? She’s a very nice girl and a good student, too.” She graduated in June 1916, and according to the Teaching Appointments Register, volume 1, page 111 (pdf), she was appointed to teach the second grade at Garfield School #4 for a salary of $500 per year. In 1918, she married Frank Lindeman Parsloe (1894-1977). She continued to teach at Garfield Schools until about 1920 when she joined her husband in their mortgage business. The couple continued to make their home in Bergen County until her death on June 16, 1993, in Mahwah, New Jersey.

William Franklin Phelps was born on February 15, 1822, to Lucinda Hitchcock and Halsey Phelps, in Auburn, New York. He attended Auburn schools, then graduated from the State Normal School at Albany in 1846. He stayed at the Normal School to teach in their model school, while also earning a master's degree from Union College in 1852. That same year, he married Caroline Chapman Livingstone (1820-1903), who came with children from a previous marriage, and together, they had daughter Alice Livingstone Phelps (Smith, MacGregor) (1854-1936) who later attended the Model School at Trenton for a brief time. He was the first Principal of the New Jersey State Normal School from 1855 to 1864, and organized the Farnum Preparatory School in Beverly, New Jersey at the same time. He left for Minnesota to become the second principal of Winona Normal School from 1864 to 1876. He was president of the Whitewater Normal School from 1876 to 1878, City Superintendent of Schools in Winona from 1878 from 1881, and Resident Director and board member of the State Normal Schools of Minnesota at Duluth. In addition to his roles heading schools, he served as president of the National Education Association and president of the American Normal School Association, and was widely published in educational publications. He died on August 15, 1907, in Minnesota. He was posthumously honored at Trenton State College with the dedication of a new dining hall, Phelps Hall, in 1956. Phelps Hall was razed and rebuilt as a much larger dormitory and rededicated in 1990.
Edith Utke Ramsing Randall was born on January 7, 1910, to Godrun Utke and Verner U. Ramsing, in Plainfield, New Jersey. She graduated from Plainfield High School in 1928, and enrolled in the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton where she was president of Ionian Sigma Sorority, served on the staff of The Seal yearbook, and was chosen to present Principal Don C. Bliss’s portrait at the school’s 75th anniversary celebration. She graduated in June 1930, and went on to teach at Whittier School in Dunellen, New Jersey. In 1933, she married George L. Randall, and they had a daughter, Barbara Jane (Siegel). Edith died on October 5, 2005 in Virginia.

Jerohn Joseph Savitz was born on January 1,1866, to Elizabeth Bellesfield and Joseph Franklin Savitz, in Bushkill Park (Easton), Pennsylvania. At the age of 16, he earned a teacher certification and taught in rural schools. He attended Kutztown Normal School, graduated from Lafayette College in 1892, then received a Doctor of Pedagogy from New York University in 1903. In 1887, he married Stella Kiefer (1868-1952), and had three children: Linda B. (Thomson) (1888-1975), Helen Elizabeth (Conlin) (1889-1938), and Russell J. Savitz (1894-1957). He was the principal at Slatington High School in Pennsylvania from 1889-1896, then moved to New Jersey where he was the principal of Boonton Schools from 1896 to 1901. Later in 1901, he became the principal of Westfield Schools until 1917, with the exception of 1914-1915, when he was the Assistant Commissioner of Education for the State of New Jersey. He was the Principal of New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton from 1917 to 1923, then Principal and President of the Glassboro State Normal School from 1923 to 1937. He also held leadership positions in state organizations such as president of New Jersey State Teachers Association, president of New Jersey state Council of Education, and member of State Board of Teacher examiners, as well as a number of leadership roles and memberships in local civic and social organizations. He died on December 5, 1951, in Westfield, New Jersey, and was buried in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Levi Seeley was born on November 21, 1847, to Hannah Thorpe and Levi Seeley, in North Harpersfield, Delaware County, New York. He attended the New York State Normal School in Albany in 1871, and received an honorary master's degree from Williams College in 1883. He studied in other schools in the United States and Europe, notably Germany, and published the book: The German Common School System. In 1886, he married Marie Hesse in Germany. He taught and/or served as principal at schools in New York, as well as at Ferry Hall Seminary in Lake Forest, Illinois from 1887 to 1894. He moved to New Jersey to become the head of the Department of Pedagogy at the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton in 1895 until he retired in 1917. In addition to teaching he wrote several other textbooks and articles on education. He moved to Amherst, Massachusetts in 1921, where he died on December 23, 1928.

Lillian R. Brandriff Silvius was born c.1881 to Rebecca Stone and Chester G. Brandriff in Millville, New Jersey. She graduated with honors from Millville High School in 1898, and enrolled in the New Jersey State Normal school that fall. Her final evaluation in Grade Books and Reports, volume 1, page 100, reads: “Manner pleasing but not strong. Has a fair amount of teaching power, but has developed some. Will not fail.” She graduated in June 1900 with a certificate to teach primary grades. She taught third grade in Millville until she left in 1910 to marry Ellis Campbell Silvius. The couple lived for a time in Pennsylvania where they had their children Charles L., and Lorelle S. Brandriff (Francis), but they returned to New Jersey by 1920. She died on March 18, 1958, in Pitman, New Jersey.

Lillie Arndt Williams was born on September 22, 1853, to Rebecca Lombaert and Griffith Williams, in Lambertville, New Jersey. She attended Lambertville Schools, then enrolled in the New Jersey State Normal School at the age of 16 in 1869. She graduated in 1871, but continued her education through the years with coursework and summer sessions at several schools including Yale, White Mountain Summer School, Clark University, and Chautauqua Institute. She began teaching at the Model School immediately after graduation in 1871 until 1887, when she began teaching at the New Jersey State Normal School, first as a teacher of History and English, then in 1891, she became a teacher of Psychology. She retired on June 30, 1916. Throughout her career and after, she was invited to present papers and lectures at a wide variety of events and education conferences, including at the International Congress of Education at the World’s Fair in Chicago, and she frequently published on topics of education and psychology. She held positions in various organizations such as: Vice President of the Society for Study of Children, President of the Trenton Child Study Association, Director of the New Jersey Council of Mothers, and Director of New Jersey Council of Charities and Corrections. She continued to live in the family home in Lambertville which also was shared with the family of her sister Isadora Williams Scobey (1857-1945), who graduated from the New Jersey State Normal School in the class of January 1877, and was a Model School teacher before having children; and her brother-in-law and fellow Normal School teacher Frank H. Scobey (1858-1940) who graduated from the New Jersey State Normal School in the class of 1881. Lillie and the Scobeys moved to Montclair, New Jersey in early 1923. She died soon after, on July 13, 1923, at her summer home in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.

K. Shellenbarger, Project Archivist, April 2026.