Showing 1051 results

Annual Reports Concerning the State Normal Schools to the New Jersey Legislature for the Year 1855 (publication date 1856).

Second Annual Report and Accompanying Documents of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey State Normal School, to the Legislature, for the Year Ending February Ninth, 1857.

A letter by William H. Phelps, first Normal School Principal, to the Judges of the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, inviting them to examine programs of the institution. Phelps includes a list of events to occur. The letterhead features a printed image of the Normal School main building. This letter was a gift of Charles S. Aitkins, 1935.

Transcription:
[letterhead with lithograph of the Normal School building in Trenton, captioned “New Jersey State Normal School”]
Trenton, June 18th, 1857
To the Honorable the Judges of the Court of Errors and Appeals:
I am directed by the Board of Trustees of the State Normal School to extend to your Honorable Body a cordial invitation to attend the Examination of the Institution now in progress and to conclude this day.
The order of the day is as follows:
Examination of classes from the Model School until 12 o’clock noon.
Review and rehearsal by the Divisions in Local Music
An address by Prof. J. C. Moffat of the College of New Jersey [Princeton University], and select performances of the Glee Class, including the grand chorus from Handel’s Messiah.
Hoping that the engagements of your Honorable Body will permit you to accept this invitation.
I remain [great] respect
Your obedient Sevt.
Wm. Phelps, Principal

Third Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey State normal School, with Accompanying Documents, to the Legislature, for the year ending February 9th, 1858

Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey State Normal School, with Accompanying Documents, to the Legislature, for the Year Ending February 9th, 1859

Fifth Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey State Normal School with Accompanying Documents, to the Legislature for the Year Ending February 9th, 1860.

Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey State Normal School with Accompanying Documents, to the Legislature for the Year Ending February 9th, 1861

Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey State Normal School and Accompanying Documents, to the Legislature for the Year Ending February 9th, 1862

This collection of four receipts for tuition, room, and board at the Model School gives insight into how much it cost to attend the de facto elite institution. The first two vouchers, made out to a John McCormick and from around 1862, show that the Normal School charged about $8.00 in tuition in its first decades. According to census statistics, an average New Jersey laborer spent about $2.50 per week on bread, so this was not an unsubstantial amount of money!

Forty years later, in 1902-1903, George Hildebrecht (owner of Trenton's Hotel Hildebrecht) paid $10.50 for per quarter for his son Albert. At this time, based on census statistics, this would have equaled about half a day's wages for the average Trenton industrial laborer.

No transcriptions, as the documents are largely typed.