Twentieth-Century Social Change in the Ohio River Valley: A Survey of Some Relevant Filson Collections

TwentiethCentury Social Change in the Ohio River Valley A Survey of Some Relevant Filson Collections ometimesitseemsaclichttothinkthatonepersoncanmakeadifference ,but a search through The Filson Historical Society's archival collections reveals local people and groups that sparked social change. Patty Smith Hill,Martin M. Perley,and Tom Wallace were three individuals who worked for change in three very different areas: education, civil rights,and conservation. The Beckham Bird Club was a small organization that also worked to bring about social change. Each individual and group was part of a larger movement during their lifetime and each made a difference in the lives of others. At the turn of the twentieth century,a teacher from Louisville,Kentucky,was inspired to improve the education of young children. Although she may be best known today for writing the tune that became " Happy Birthday," Patty Smith Hill was an important educator in her time. Hill graduated from the Louisville Kindergarten Training School in 1889, and for the next twenty years,she worked pY'» 0© in Louisville's school system. Following her menj »)*' 4*» 01* f' tor,Miss Anna Bryan,Hill became the Director of the Louisville Kindergarten Training School and Supervisor Patty Smith Hill, 1905, THEFILSON of Kindergartens. In 1905, she accepted a position as HISTORICALSOCIETY a lecturer at Columbia University,and in 1910, she was appointed director of the Department of Nursery School, Kindergarten, and First Grade Education at Columbia. Hill was one of the earliest educators to experiment with progressive educational reforms in the primary field. She wrote articles for leading educational magazines and daily papers and encouraged outstanding teachers to write books in their specializations. Hill was also one of the first educators to work extensively with parents,and encourage their involvement in their children' s educations. Upon retiring in 1935 after fortyeight years of service in the education field, Hill became engrossed with the Federal Emergency Nursery Schools,which was part of the New I) eal's Federal Emergency ReliefAdministration.1 72 0 14 10 VALLEY HISTORY Reenactment of a Patty Smith Hill Kindergarten Class atthe National Music Convention in Louisville,Kentucky,May 1939,THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY Over four cubic feet of Hill' s papers are housed at ' Ihe Filson Historical Society,including correspondence, speeches, lectures, and articles. lhey reveal I lill's dedication to the educ·ation of young people and to educational reforms that were well ahead of her time. Her correspondence concerning Federal Emergency Nursery Schools projects, for example, demonstrate that Hill recognized the significance of education reform for better race and religious relations in the schools,noting in December 1933, " We have succeeded in... train[ ing] a group of parents of different races, nationalities, and religious creeds to work together for a common good." 2 Hill and her teachers believed that transforming a community and its racial and religious environment required the participation ofall family members ,not just the parents and their youngest children. When Hill opened her Hilltop Nursery School in a povertystricken area near Columbia University in 1934,she and her teachers sent college students to survey the neighborhood and report on housing conditions and employment opportunities to determine what improvements were necessary ' Ihe students also interviewed older children and their p·arents to discover their needs and desires. Based on these findings, the teachers developed a new curriculum and allowed older children to attend the nursery school in the afternoon for classes in subjects such as art,music,drama,dancing,baseball,and foreign languages. ' Ihe schools also held classes and programs for parents in the evenings,some of FALL 2007 liu ' ty 73 TWENTIETH- CENTURY SOCIAL CHANGE F-i 44 v . 0' 4 4§12 Louisville Human Rights Commission with a map of thecity of Louisville,NOV 1964,THE FiLsoN HisroRicAL SOCIETY 1 I . 2 5 * 4 4* N 3 I 40$ 3 Learn More,Earn More Program of the Louisville Human Rights Commission, 1964 Men In rear,left to right William 0 Couger,Mayor of Louisville,Joseph Robinson, principal In charge of the program, and J MansirTydings,Executive Director of the Louisville Human Rights Commission,THE FILSON H , STORICAL SOCIETY 74 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY SUZANNE MAGGARD which allowed them to plan school activities that...