Summary Information
- Repository
- Sarah Lawrence College Archives
- Creator
- Early Childhood Center (Bronxville, N.Y.).
- Title
- Early Childhood Center Records
- ID
- RG 3.6
- Date [bulk]
- Bulk, 1950-1972
- Date [inclusive]
- 1933-1997
- Extent
- 1.0 linear feet 1 record carton
- Language
Historical note
The Early Childhood Center was founded in 1937 as the Sarah Lawrence Nursery School. The Nursery School stemmed from a cooperative project, begun in 1933, with Bronxville Public Schools. Bronxville housed the nursery school while Sarah Lawrence staff directed the program. In 1937, Sarah Lawrence took full responsibility for the Nursery School, establishing it both as a school and research laboratory for the college’s students and faculty. The Sarah Lawrence Nursery School was located in Andrews House until the fall of 1963 when it was moved to Kober House.
The Nursery School was funded in part by a grant from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, which opened up the possibility for students and faculty to conduct research at the school. Specifically, faculty from the Psychology Department worked closely with Nursery School staff in a research program that focused on the methods of viewing, describing, and understanding childhood development. When the research program ended, the Center continued to provide a space for students to study childhood development and to train for careers in teaching and psychology.
Throughout its existence, the Early Childhood Center has participated in community education development. In 1957 the Center cooperated with Westchester County Schools in conducting certification and training classes for teachers. In the 1960s and 1970s the Center participated in the Project Headstart Program as well as planning and development of a pre-kindergarten with the Yonkers Board of Education. The Center has also conducted and sponsored various conferences on childhood education.
| Directors | |
|---|---|
| 1937-1945, 1957-1965 | Evelyn Beyer |
| 1945-1947 | Judith Schoellkopf |
| 1948-1950 | Elizabeth Doak |
| 1950-1955 | Terry Spitalny |
| 1955-1957 | Jane Stare |
| 1966-1972 | Sonya Bemporad |
| 1972-1974 | Jane Judge |
| 1974-1982 | Jeanette Stone |
| 1982-2003 | Sara R. Wilford |
| 2003-2013 | Lorayne Carbon |
Scope and Contents note
The collection contains correspondence, records, reports, and brochures dating from the early planning and development of the Early Childhood Center, formerly known as the Sarah Lawrence Nursery School. Most of the material in this collection represents the Center when it was known as the Nursery School. Also included is correspondence and reports from the Bronxville Nursery School, the precursor to Sarah Lawrence Nursery School, reports to the Board of Trustees, nursery school executive committee meeting minutes, budgets, correspondence, and reports from the director of the Nursery School during the first ten years of the program. Correspondence is ordered according to the tenure of each director. Other correspondence reflects subjects such as financial aid, and in the folder titled “expansion,” the possibility of adding kindergarten to the nursery school and the transfer of the Early Childhood Center to Kober House is discussed. The collection contains an unpublished manuscript, “Two Voices in Early Childhood Education,” that is based on interviews with Barbara Biber and Jeannette Stone. Also included in the collection are papers from the Conference on Children’s Play, an event planned by the Psychology Department in cooperation with the Early Childhood Center. The collection reflects the Early Childhood Center’s role in teacher training and certification. Of note are planning materials from various community education projects that the Early Childhood Center sponsored or directed.
Related Materials
See also
Faculty files for individual directors; Lois Barclay Murphy Papers; Lois Barclay Murphy photograph collection; Evelyn Beyer photograph collection.
Special Programs Collection for correspondence about the Early Childhood Center Summer Nursery School (1974-1975)
Controlled Access Headings
Genre(s)
- Annual reports
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Conferences
- Correspondence
Personal Name(s)
- Bemporad, Sonya
- Beyer, Evelyn, 1907-2011
- Carbon, Lorayne
- Doak, Elizabeth
- Judge, Jane
- Schoellkopf, Judith
- Spitalny, Terry
- Stare, Jane
- Stone, Jeannette Galambos
- Wilford, Sara
Subject(s)
- Early childhood education
- Nursery schools
Collection Inventory
| Title | Carton | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Brochures undated, 1959, 1983-1984, 1993-1994, 1999, 2007 | 1 | |||
Bronxville Nursery School 1933-1997 | 1 | |||
Budget 1970-1972 | 1 | |||
Clippings 1949, 1982, 1984, 1991, 1995 | 1 | |||
Cookbook 1997 | 1 | |||
Conference - "Implications of Separation - Individualism Theory for the Care and Education of the Very Young 1984 | 1 | |||
Conference - Nursery School Institution 1946 | 1 | |||
Conference on Children's Play 1972 | 1 | |||
Conference on Nursery Education 1959 | 1 | |||
Correspondence 1933-1950 | 1 | |||
Correspondence 1951-1956 | 1 | |||
Correspondence 1957-1963 | 1 | |||
Correspondence 1964-1969 | 1 | |||
Correspondence 1969-1971 | 1 | |||
Correspondence 1982, 1984 | 1 | |||
Correspondence - Financial Aid 1971-1982 | 1 | |||
Director's Report 1946 | 1 | |||
Events 1984, 1987, 1995, 2005 | 1 | |||
Expansion 1959-1962 | 1 | |||
50th Anniversary - Lois Barclay Murphy, PhD. Lecture 1987 | 1 | |||
Fundraising 2011 | 1 | |||
Fundraising - 75th Anniversary 2012 | 1 | |||
Newsletter 1986, 2003-2005 | 1 | |||
Parent Handbook 1993-1994 | 1 | |||
Planning - Budget 1939-1949 | 1 | |||
Planning - General 1938-1948 | 1 | |||
Planning - Nursery School Executive Committee Minutes 1937-1938 | 1 | |||
Planning - Reports to the Trustees 1938-1946 | 1 | |||
Press Releases 1954-1958, 1992 | 1 | |||
Project Head Start 1965-1966 | 1 | |||
Proposal - Art and the Daycare Experience 1970 | 1 | |||
Publications - "A Guide to Discipline" by Jeannette Galambos Stone 1983 | 1 | |||
Publicity 1936-1939, 1975 | 1 | |||
Reports from Director of the Nursery School 1947-1950 | 1 | |||
Reports to the Trustees 1950-1963 | 1 | |||
Student Assistants Handbook undated | 1 | |||
Student Assistants Handbook 1993-1994 | 1 | |||
Summer Program 1948-1961 | 1 | |||
Teacher Certification Program - Sarah Lawrence 1950-1966 | 1 | |||
Teacher Certification Program - Westchester County Teachers 1957 | 1 | |||
Two Voices in Early Childhood Education (Barbara Biber and Jeanette Stone) 1982 | 1 | |||
Working Group in Child Development and Education 1970 | 1 | |||
Yonkers Experimental Pre-Kindergarten 1967-1972 | 1 | |||