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TCNJ008 · Collection · 1855-2024

Content warning: Gasn’s diary refers to students in special education classes in derogatory terms.

These four diaries describe the lives and activities of women at the New Jersey State Normal School. They also document their first teaching experiences from the school’s earliest days in 1855 to 1920, when the enrollment and curriculum had significantly expanded and the school would soon become a college.

It is not known whether or not, or where, Ida Totten might have attended a Normal School or received teacher training, but in the fall term of 1883, she began a diary to record her first experience of teaching in Greenville (now called Greendell) School, in Sussex County. She described her frustrations with named children in her class and the challenges of disciplining them, as well as her activities at home on the weekends including attending temperance meetings and church. The final pages of the diary are from May 1884 and contain notes from Page’s Theory and Practice of Teaching, so perhaps she was continuing her teaching education, or had not yet graduated (if she did).

The format of Reba Gasn’s diary has two years on a single page: entries for 1919 are written on the top of the page, and 1920 is on the bottom; the two years are often also delineated by black and blue ink. She documented her day-to-day life in school, her hobbies, social life, meals enjoyed (and not), and activities with family and friends on breaks at home near the shore. She also writes of anti-semitism she experienced in Trenton, as well as her many illnesses.

The diary of Mary Jane Sergeant Larison has a typewritten transcription from 1955 (at the time of the school’s Centennial) and is currently being re-transcribed in digital format. The transcript of the diary of Rosena Craig Foster Whitlock was written and annotated by her granddaughter Susan Whitlock in 2008. Transcripts of the Totten and Gasn diaries will be available in the coming years.

Larison, Mary Jane Sergeant, 1837-1917
Thencanic letter from Washington Hasbrouck, 09 November 1882 · Item · 1882
Part of TFPL New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton and Successor Institutions Collection

In this brief letter, State Normal School Principal Washington Hasbrouck thanks the Thencanic Society for electing him an honorary member. As the Thencanic was founded in 1882, Hasbrouck must have been one of the first honorary members. Transcription included.

Hasbrouck, Washington, 1824-1895
Thencanic Society-NDS Debate Resolutions/Reports, February - December 1884 · Item · 1884
Part of TFPL New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton and Successor Institutions Collection

This series of three resolutions/letters documents two private debates and one public one between the Thencanic and the Normal Debating Society. The resolutions do not include the topics for debate, nor the names of the debaters. The identities of the Normal School students cannot be conclusively determined. Transcriptions included.

Whitehead, Harvey F., 1867-1947
Thencanic Society Treasurer's report, 01 March 1895 · Item · 1885
Part of TFPL New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton and Successor Institutions Collection

A record of the finances of the Thencanic Society, most likely from the start of Ryke Ely's term as treasurer (elected February 1895). Though not as complete as the financial records of 1900 (see related elements), it still provides some light into the goings-on of the Society. Transcription included.

Thencanic Society (Model School (Trenton, N.J.))
Thencanic resignation from Francis B. Lee, ca. 1886 · Item · ca. 1886
Part of TFPL New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton and Successor Institutions Collection

Through this scrap of paper, Thencanic Secretary Francis "Frank" B. Lee resigned from the position of Thencanic Secretary. According to the book of officers, Lee served as Secretary starting in February 1886. No transcription due to the item's brevity.

Lee, Francis B. (Francis Bazley), 1869-1914
Thencanic Society "affidavit" by Oliver Steves, 19 March 1886 · Item · 1886
Part of TFPL New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton and Successor Institutions Collection

Model School instructor Oliver Steves offers this sworn statement regarding the behavior of the Thencanic Society's Thomas D. Waldron. For unclear motives, The Signal "assailed" Waldron's character, and Steves came to his defense. Transcription included.

Steves, Oliver P., 1837-1902
Thencanic-NDS Entertainment invitation, 16 May 1887 · Item · 1887
Part of TFPL New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton and Successor Institutions Collection

This card was likely sent to the Thencanic Society from the Normal Debating Society (NDS). It invites the Model School students to "an entertainment" that the NDS was hosting in the "Model Chapel." No other information available. No transcript due to this item's brevity.

unknown
Thencanic Mock Congress Assembly Bill 14, February to March 1887 · Item · 1887
Part of TFPL New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton and Successor Institutions Collection

Before the Thencanic Society established a mock Congress of the United States, they seem to have used a mock New Jersey State Assembly. This bill, a slightly juvenile and tongue-in-cheek effort to prohibit boys at the Model School from trespassing in the girls' hall, on pain of eating cafeteria food, demonstrates this initiative. Transcription included.

Thencanic Society (Model School (Trenton, N.J.))