The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Chicago Manual Training School Records 1882-1913
© 2010 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Chicago Manual Training School. Records |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1882-1913 |
| Size: | 53.5 linear feet (32 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | The Chicago Manual Training School was established between 1882 and 1884 by the Chicago Commercial Club. It sought to provide both academic and vocational education for boys at the high school level. In 1903 it became part of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. The Chicago Manual Training School Records contain administrative and financial records, samples of student work, examinations, course catalogues, and publications relating to manual education. Material spans 1882-1913. |
This collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Chicago Manual Training School. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
The Chicago Manual Training School was conceived by members of the Chicago Commercial Club in 1882. It opened two years later at the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt Avenues.
The Chicago Manual Training School was the only independent institution of its kind when it opened. Along with Washington University’s Manual Training School in St. Louis, it was the most influential in the country. Influenced by educational movements in late 1870s and 1880s America, the school’s founders sought to provide a comprehensive three-year education that gave equal attention to "book work" and "shop work." Students were given a secondary education in mathematics, science, and literature, as well as training in drawing, carpentry, and mechanics. Founding director H.H. Belfield declared the industrial age an "age of brains" in which engineering advancement was equally the product of intellectual innovation and technical skill. Believing that "a republic should have no proletariat," Belfield and the other trustees rejected both traditional secondary school instruction and the apprenticeship model for trades.
Within ten years the Chicago Manual Training School had more than tripled its admissions, and added business and college preparatory courses to its program. Between 1896 and1897 the school’s strained finances led the Chicago Commercial Club to transfer its trusteeship to the University of Chicago, though there was little initial change in curriculum. South Side Academy, a college prep school founded in 1892, similarly came under University administration in 1901; in 1903 the two merged to become University High School. This new institution formed the secondary school for the University’s Laboratory Schools, then under the direction of John Dewey.
The Chicago Manual Training School Records span 1882-1913 and are divided into two series:
Series I: Administration and Curriculum, contains administrative accounts, correspondence, and meeting minutes. It includes course catalogues, as well as circular letters and program information distributed to parents and potential students. There are copies of the Chicago Manual Training School newsletter, "Hand and Brain." Materials span 1882-1911; those dating after 1903 are related to the University High School.
Series II: Students, contains applications, assignments, exam results, and grades. It includes examples of student work, programs for student exhibitions and graduations, and information about alumni. Dates for students’ grades refer to the "class of," not the year in which the grades were assigned. Material spans 1883-1913.
Belfield, Henry H. Papers and Belfield Family Papers
South Side Academy. Records
University of Chicago. College of Education. Records
University of Chicago. Laboratory School. Records
Series I: Administration and Curriculum |
This series contains administrative accounts, correspondence, and meeting minutes. It contains course catalogues, as well as circular letters and program information distributed to parents and potential students. Of note are copies of the Chicago Manual Training School newsletter, "Hand and Brain." Materials span 1882-1911; those dating after 1903 are related to the University High School.
| Box 1 Folder 1-3 | Accounts, cash and general, 1884-1887, 1890-1998 |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Accounts, Chemical Department, 1890-1900 |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Accounts, Foundry Department, 1890-1901 |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Accounts, Machine Shop, 1891-1895 |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Accounts, tuition payments, 1884-1889 |
| Box 1 Folder 8-9 | Circulars, 1888, 1907 |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Correspondence, H.H. Belfield, circa 1884 |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Correspondence, Buckley Malone Detective Agency, 1889 |
| Box 2 Folder 2-9 | Course catalogues, 1884-1896 |
| Box 2 Folder 10 | Course catalogues, 1900-1903 |
| Box 2 Folder 11 | Course catalogues, 1909-1911 |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | "Diary of the First Four Years," 1884-1888 |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | "Hand and Brain," 1885 |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | Handbooks, students and teachers, 1902, 1909-1910 |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | Legal arguments, 1909 |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | Minutes, faculty meetings, 1900-1903 |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Notices, Annual Meetings, Board of Trustees, 1890-1893 |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | Notice, move to the University of Chicago, 1901 |
| Box 3 Folder 8-10 | Program information, 1902-1911, undated |
| Box 3 Folder 11 | "Regulations Governing the Granting of Emblems at the University High School," undated |
| Box 3 Folder 12 | "Remarks to the Trustees," E.W. Blatchford, 1883 |
| Box 4 | Accounts, cash and general 1884-1891 |
| Box 4 | Accounts, cash and general, 1887-1890 |
| Box 4 | Accounts, cash and general, 1894-1898 |
| Box 5 | Accounts, cash and general,1895-1908 |
| Box 5 | Accounts, cash and general,1900-1901 |
| Box 6 | Accounts, tuition,1884-1904 |
| Box 7 | Minutes, Board of Trustees, 1882-1896 |
Series II: Students |
This series contains applications, exam results, and grades. It includes examples of student work, programs for student exhibitions and graduations, and information about alumni. Dates for students’ grades refer to the "class of," not the year in which the grades were assigned. Material spans 1883-1913.
| Box 3 Folder 13-14 | Admission exams, 1884-1893 |
| Box 3 Folder 15 | Admission exam results, 1890-1894 |
| Box 3 Folder 16-17 | Applications, 1884-1886 |
| Box 8 Folder 1-5 | Applications, 1887-1890, 1896 |
| Box 9 Folder 1-6 | Applications, 1897-1902 |
| Box 10 | Applications, 1891 |
| Box 11 | Applications, 1892-3 |
| Box 12 | Applications, 1894-5 |
| Box 13 | Admission exam results, 1884-1892 |
| Box 14 | Admission exam results, 1893-1896 |
| Box 15 | Grades, undated |
| Box 15 | Grades, 1884-1885 |
| Box 15 | Exam questions, 1885 |
| Box 16 | Grades, 1887 |
| Box 16 | Grades, 1888,1891 |
| Box 16 | Grades, 1892 |
| Box 17 | Grades, 1893-1895 |
| Box 18 | Grades, 1896-1898 |
| Box 19 | Grades, 1899-1901 |
| Box 20 | Grades, 1904-1906 |
| Box 21 | Junior class work, Caesar, 1895 |
| Box 21 | Junior class work, algebra, volume 1, 1895 |
| Box 22 | Junior class work, algebra, volume 2, 1895 |
| Box 23 | Junior class work, English, 1895 |
| Box 24 | Junior class work, technical drawings, 1890 |
| Box 24 | Junior class work, technical drawings, 1892 |
| Box 25 | Middle class work, essays, 1894 |
| Box 26 | Middle class work, geometry, 1894 |
| Box 26 | Middle class work, physics, 1894 |
| Box 27 | Middle class work, triangulation, 1893 |
| Box 27 | Senior class work, translation of "Colomba," 1893 |
| Box 28 | Senior class work, chemistry, 1893 |
| Box 28 | Senior and middle class work, Latin prose, 1893-1894 |
| Box 29 | Student register, 1884-1900 |
| Box 29 | Visitor’s book, 1884-1893 |
| Box 30 | Alumni, occupations, 1886-1898 |
| Box 30 | Manual Training, undated |
| Box 31 Folder 1 | List of applicants, students and teachers, 1883-1888 |
| Box 31 Folder 2 | Tuition and application forms, undated |
| Box 31 Folder 3 | Body measurements, class of 1889 |
| Box 31 Folder 4-5 | College degrees, alumni, 1886-1900 |
| Box 31 Folder 6 | Fundraising, alumni, 1913 |
| Box 31 Folder 7 | Grades, 1886-1887 |
| Box 31 Folder 8-9 | Illinois State Fair Exhibits, book-keeping, 1887-1888 |
| Box 31 Folder 10-12 | Illinois State Fair Exhibits, mathematics, 1886-1887 |
| Box 32 Folder 1 | Illinois State Fair Exhibits, physiology, 1888 |
| Box 32 Folder 2 | Illinois State Fair Exhibits, science, 1888 |
| Box 32 Folder 3 | "Inaugural Address to Students," 1884, 1886 |
| Box 32 Folder 4 | "Memories of the Class of 1900" |
| Box 32 Folder 5 | Notices, lectures in American history, 1886-1888 |
| Box 32 Folder 6 | Notices, lectures in science, 1885 |
| Box 32 Folder 7 | Parent-Teacher Association members, 1910 |
| Box 32 Folder 8 | Programs, anniversary services, 1887-1902 |
| Box 32 Folder 9 | Programs, graduation, 1886-1888 |
| Box 32 Folder 10 | Programs, student clubs, 1909 |
| Box 32 Folder 11 | Programs, student exhibitions, 1886-1910 |
| Box 32 Folder 12 | Records, student absences, 1891-1893 |
| Box 32 Folder 13 | Review questions, physical sciences, undated |
| Box 32 Folder 14 | School song lyrics, undated |
| Box 32 Folder 15-16 | Student work, technical drawings and illustrations, 1883-1899 |
| Box 32 Folder 17 | Student work, Tower Clock for the University of Chicago, 1903 |
| Box 32 Folder 18 | Transparencies, library, undated |
| Box 32 Folder 19 | Yearbook, 1902 |