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Content warning: The materials include inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of people indigenous to the area and references to minstrel show performances.

The Annual Report began as a report submitted to the New Jersey State Legislature in 1855, and later to the New Jersey State Board of Education. The earliest issues contain essays and remarks by the school’s principals; descriptions of the Normal School and Model School curricula and courses; information about admissions standards; college finances; rules about student life and behavior; and lists of students, faculty and staff.

From 1855 to 1907, the publication was named Annual Report. Then from 1908-1933, it was named Annual Report and Catalogue (or Catalog). In 1930, separate Bulletins were issued for extension courses.Then, beginning in 1933-1934, the name of the publication changed to Bulletin and no longer contained “Annual Report” in its title. This new State Teachers College Bulletin was serialized to four issues per academic year: the first issue contained the first semester extension courses, the second was the main course catalog, the third published the second semester extension courses, and the fourth contained the summer school courses. This format was fairly consistent into the 1950s until the school published graduate bulletins later in the decade. In the 1960s, separate bulletins were published for field services and guides for applicants. In the 1970s, another issue was added for continuing education courses.

Of special note, the parameters of the academic year changed many times before settling on the current format of the school year beginning in autumn and finishing in the summer of the following year. For many issues of the Annual Report, the year began in what we would now consider the second or Spring semester. Often, the Bulletin contained the summer session in the year previous or following. During both world wars, issues had combined years likely to save paper. In more recent years, the Graduate Bulletin was issued with a different volume numbering system than the others in the series.

The content of the Annual Reports during the Normal school years contained a good deal of information about faculty updates, student life and activities, as well as photographs of buildings, classrooms, and groups of students. The Bulletins were structured more like a typical course catalog, but all graduates’ names continued to be printed until 1956.

Contains annual class photographs of the New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton. In many instances, there are multiple class photographs because the school graduated students in February and June, as well as other months.

This series includes several publications that provide a good overview of the Normal and Model
Schools as well as for specific topics as listed below. Especially interesting are State Teachers College
and State Normal School, Trenton, NJ: Past, Present and Future, 1930 and Time the Great Teacher: A History
of One Hundred Years of the New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton, 1855-1955. The material is
arranged in chronological order.

This series features photographs of the Class of 1911's 46th and 49th reunions (1940 and 1943, respectively), as well as Gamma Sigma sorority group portraits from c. 1908-1911.

Annual Reports of the State Normal School Board of Trustees to the State Senate and General Assembly provide a yearly review of both the Normal School and Model School operations. The information provided varies from year to year but generally includes a Report of the Principal [a position that became President of the College], Treasurer’s Reports, a list of officers and instructors, descriptions of courses of instruction and names of graduates.

There are two scrapbooks in this series: The older scrapbook (c. 1873-1921) contains ephemera related to Commencement such as invitations, tickets, and programs for Senior class activities and the Commencement ceremony from the era of the Normal School.

In the 1908-1932 scrapbook, many of the Commencement programs only have the page with the events of the day and do not have the cover and/or a page listing the graduate’s names. Starting in 1918, some of them have the page with graduates’ names, but they were at one time pasted into a notebook that has since been disassembled but the back pages of the brochures may not be accessible and/or readable.

These are various blank forms for the observation of school children, likely from student teaching or Normal School class work.

This collection documents the ceremonies and related events of Commencement and/or graduation exercises at The College of New Jersey spanning 1858 to the present day.

The collection includes the following materials:

Commencement invitations - These are formal printed invitations that may include a student’s calling card or handwritten details during the Normal School years, as well as commercially printed invitations used to date, c. 1869-2005 (bulk c. 1869-1920, 1977-2005).

Class Day and/or week programs - These are often beautifully printed and bound with cord and tassels, which likely served as a keepsake for students of the Normal and Model Schools. They list the schedule of activities for a graduating class during a day or over the span of a week. In some cases, they also include the Commencement program (c. 1894-1924).

The Normal and Model Schools classes of 1917 did not have a Class Day, but instead participated in Red Cross activities supporting World War I. The Model School as a K-12 school ended after the class of 1917, when it became “The Training School” offering only the elementary grades. In the 1930s, official Class Day or Week activities were replaced by less formal “Senior Week” activities, which continued off and on over the decades. Search The Signal newspaper for more information https://dr.tcnj.edu/handle/2900/275

Commencement tickets - These are admission tickets to the Normal or Model School Commencement ceremonies, usually at Taylor Opera House, c.1873-1901.

Commencement programs - These are printed programs of the Commencement ceremony, often containing the names of all graduating students. During the Normal School years, some have various embossed and/or multicolor illustrations of the school, insignia, or decorative lettering. Later programs have fewer design elements. The collection is mostly complete after 1891 with the exception of 2000, c. 1883-2023.

Promotion Exercises programs - These were for the Grammar A Class of the Model School, which held a graduation-style ceremony, c. 1909-1917.

Class and school songs - These are separate printed pages of songs to be sung during Commencement and other graduation events, usually containing a unique song for the graduating class and other school anthems and/or alma mater, c. 1899-1901.

Baccalaureate programs - These were printed as separate programs c. 1934-1964, but during the Normal School years, information about the Baccalaureate service was listed in the Class Day/Week or Commencement programs.

Programs for departmental, diploma, or other special graduation ceremonies - These are programs for Commencement events held outside of the main ceremony, often for graduate students or special groups, c. 1967; c. 2016-2023.

Original speeches - There are two handwritten speeches: “I Have Wandered in my Dreams,” is a Commencement speech from 1870 whose author is unknown. The Annual Report for that year lists Mary F. Chadwick and Rosalie A. Collins as presenters of "honorary essays," and Katie L. Wilson was valedictorian. And "The Child's Ability to Reason" was a valedictory essay written by Ira Collins, but read by O. Watson Flavelle, due to Collins’ ill health at June 1899 Commencement.

Graduation or Commencement Bulletins - These are newsletters that contain information and schedule of events around the Commencement ceremony. c. 1969-1999

Graduation Convocation program - During some years, the college held an August graduation combined with the annual Convocation ceremony. These programs document those ceremonies, c. 1960-1967.