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The majority of the materials are related to Haskell’s education from primary through graduate school, with additional items from her early career and retirement. The Correspondence Series contains her first teaching recommendation letter in 1915, a teaching appointment notice, and a few personal letters ending in 1954. The Grade Cards and Transcripts Series span her eighth grade year in 1909 through a master’s degree program in 1938. The Ephemera Series comprises dinner and event programs she attended in her early career from 1923-1939. The Clippings Series (1937-1955) cover a variety of topics, as well as coverage of the 1955 Trenton State College centennial. The Prints Series includes four etchings or reproductions of St. Petersburg Florida churches inscribed: “for Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Wilhelm” by Will Kay Hagerman (Kent Hagerman). The Certificates and Diplomas Series span from her primary school years in 1904 through 1946. They include, among other items, her Normal School diploma and bachelor’s degree, as well as membership certificates to honorary sororities, Red Cross volunteer service, and her marriage certificate to Josiah Haskell.

This booklet from the 1881 Normal School commencement at Taylor Opera House includes lists of graduating students (both the February and June classes), including their home towns. It also contains the list of commencement exercises. No transcription.

These two photographs, both from the same donor, depict groups of members of the Arguromuthos Sigma ("Argo") sorority in around 1941; only one photo is dated. The first shows the sisters at an outdoor picnic, while the second depicts the sorority in the drawing room of Allen Hall (the center portion of "ABE"). The two photos also include a largely incomplete list of names in each image, provided by the donor. No transcription.

This lantern slide, one of many created by Normal and Model Schools business administrator John S. Neary, Sr., depicts a cohort of Normal School students marching down an unknown street (perhaps State). The caption, typed directly onto the frame surrounding the image, identifies the photographer and the context. This parade likely commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War One.

This single page leaflet marks the transition between the Normal and Model Schools in Trenton and the modern institution known as The College of New Jersey in Ewing. Aside from celebrating "Alumni Week-End" (the equivalent to today's homecoming, though held in the Spring), the celebrations marked the schools' 76th anniversary and the cornerstone-laying for the first building at Hillwood Lakes, Green Hall. No transcription.

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.

Scrapbooks - 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.

Rebecca S. Smith’s collection (1863-1864) contains a graduation certificate letter signed by Principal William F. Phelps in 1863. This document was likely provided to potential employers as proof of graduation. Also included are a few items of correspondence in the same time period, including a letter by Vice-Principal Silas Betts presumably in response to Smith's request for a reference; and two letters regarding a job application and rejection for an Assistant Librarian position at the Mercantile Library in Philadelphia. (The Mercantile LIbrary was later absorbed by the Free Library of Philadelphia.)

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ayars Fisher Davis’ collection (1895) consists of programs from musical events and Commencement that she shared with her husband Luther Davis and the Normal School class of 1895. Of special note is a Glee Club program which Lizzie annotated under the listing of a performance by Davis: "called out the 3rd time, sang both encores, brought down the house.”

Nellie Hoffman Ward’s collection (1890-1897) consists of her teacher’s certification results for Locktown, New Jersey schools; correspondence regarding her third grade teaching certification; and an absence excuse letter from her father, Cyrus Hoffman, while she attended the New Jersey State Normal School in 1897. The letter from Cyrus Hoffman does not include the referenced medical certificate.

Blanche Smith Woodford’s collection (1841-1892) consists of her 1892 merit certificate from Phillipsburg School with “Sadie Smith” written on the back. Sadie was her younger sister. Also included is an 1841 grade card for Amos Smith from Lambertville School, addressed to J.B. Smith, Esq. J.B. Smith was the father of Amos and William Smith, and Blanche’s great-grandfather.

Annie Lake Lore’s collection (1898-1903) consists of four New Jersey State Normal School Commencement invitation cards sent to her from students who graduated from 1898 to 1903. The students were all from Lake’s hometown of Port Norris. In an article in The News of Cumberland County newspaper from April 15, 1897, she is listed as an officer of the Young People’s Library Association at the M. E. parsonage along with Lucy Hand (sister of Mary Hand – both of their invitation cards are in this collection).

Eleanor Jane Rittenhouse’s collection (1899-1932) from her mother, Florence Spragg Rittenhouse, contains annotated photographs and ephemera from the New Jersey State Normal School, “daisy class” of 1899, and from alumni gatherings over 30 years later. Included from 1899 is a Commencement invitation and tickets sent to Florence’s future husband, T. Earl Rittenhouse, who was too ill to attend the ceremony. There also are three small portrait photographs of Sara Croasdale, Martha "Mattie" Sherman, and Sarah Conover Klein. The photographs were taken by Petite Photo Co. of Trenton. Croasdale, along with Rittenhouse and an unknown alum are pictured in another photograph from 1931. Additionally, there is a program from a North Jersey Normal School alumni event in 1932.

Anna May Brasch’s collection (1906-1908) consists of materials from her New Jersey State Normal School years (1906-1908), including: matriculation cards, a Commencement week invitation, an issue of the Signal, and a souvenir ribbon from St. Joseph’s picnic.

Elizabeth Simmermon Dilks’s collection (1916) contains programs from 1916 Commencement activities as well as a yearbook with yellow silk ribbon from the same year.

Content warning: the illustration and description of the mural in the postcards include inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of people indigenous to the area.
M. Isabelle Vanderhoff Tallman’s collection (c.1910-1930) contains materials from her years as a student at the New Jersey State Normal School including postcards from the school and the city of Trenton from c.1910-1920 and a 1920 student directory. The collection also includes the 1930 book State Teachers College and State Normal School, Trenton, N.J. Past, Present, and Future by Principal Don C. Bliss, written about the school’s transition to a college and relocation to Hillwood Lakes. Additional publications from her collection, namely Alumni Association newsletters and minutes, were transferred to the Alumni Association collection TCNJ010.

Helyn Anthony Meyer’s collection (1923-1974) consists of a play program from her time in the Arguromuthos Club at the New Jersey State Normal School in 1923, her Commencement program from 1925, and an alumni list from a reunion in Florida in 1974. She signed her name on each of these items.

This is the June 1911 Commencement program for the New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton. It contains the names of the graduates, as well as any presenters, including musical performances. The Commencement Exercises took place at 8 pm on June 21, 1911.

This brochure offers insight into the Normal and Model Schools' course offerings, their tuition and expenses rates, and some of the principles underlying the school's education. The gender division of the Model School (but not the Normal School) is of particular note, as is the significantly higher annual tuition for the Model School. No transcription.

Content warning: The items in this collection may contain racist and harmful depictions of marginalized groups and sexist or misogynistic language.

This collection includes two series containing yearbooks and ephemera from the Jersey City State Normal School.

Series 1 - The Tower Yearbooks, 1933-1935
In 1932, the graduating class published the first volume of The Tower. This series contains The Tower published in 1933, 1934, and 1935. The forward of the 1933 addition states, “We accept with gratitude the heritage of ‘The Tower’ bequeathed to us by the proceeding class. We desire to increase this legacy by adding our contribution of school anecdotes, trusting that each succeeding year will add materially to its value as an heirloom.”

All of the yearbooks feature a forward, dedication, listing of yearbook staff; faculty; management; their school and class history; school organizations and student clubs with photos and descriptions; underclassmen class photos; and the senior class featured with portrait photographs of each student, a quote, and description of the student.

The Jersey City Free Public library’s collections contain the second edition of The Tower, published in 1933 (and digitized in this series), and subsequent years through 2006.

Series 2 - Ephemera, Jersey City State College, Pre-1980
This series contains ephemera of the Jersey City State Normal School spanning from 1914-1934. There are two commencement pamphlets, one from 1934 in a time after the opening of the Jersey City State Normal School in 1929, and the other from a precursor to the normal school called the Teachers’ Training School in 1914. Additional ephemera includes a 1934 song book, as well as a reprinted 1932 article by Peter J. Ganon in the school newspaper The Golden Gothic on the gothic architectural style of the campus’ buildings. The song book index indicates that it contains songs from the school and other colleges, songs about the United States and New Jersey, hymns, rounds and songs of greeting, children’s rote songs, and miscellaneous songs.