Guide to the San Jose State Normal School Teaching Tools Collection
MSS.2009.02.06
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
© 2009
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
special.collections@sjsu.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: San Jose State Normal School Teaching Tools Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2009.02.06
Physical Description:
17.0 boxes
(18.54 linear feet)
Date (inclusive): 1896-1927
Abstract: The San Jose State Normal School Teaching Tools Collection (1896-1927), consists of various teaching materials used to educate
young children at the Normal Training School. The collection includes Friedrich Froebel's
Kindergarten Gifts and Occupations as well as sewing and reading cards and other manipulative objects manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company. The collection
is arranged into a single series: Series I. Educational Teaching Tools, 1896-1927.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright is assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections and Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Special Collections and Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply
to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
San Jose State Normal School Teaching Tools Collection, MSS-2009-02-06, San José State University Library Special Collections
and Archives.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Lynn Sheehy. Finding aid EAD encoded by Lynn Sheehy. Reviewed by Danelle Moon and Erin Louthen.
Project Information
This finding aid was created as part of the Survey and Cataloging Project, a two-year San José State University Library grant
project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project began in 2008. The Project Director
is Danelle Moon. The Project Archivist is Erin Louthen.
Organizational History
In 1857 the San Francisco Board of Education established Minns' Evening Normal School for current and prospective teachers
in the city. Named after its principal, George W. Minns, the institution was formally established as the first California
State Normal School by the State Legislature in 1862. A decade later, the Legislature voted to move the Normal School to San
Jose, and the school relocated to its new home on Washington Square prior to the fall term of 1872. After a fire destroyed
the Normal School building in 1880, the Legislature authorized $200,000 to construct a new building on the same site. Completed
in 1881, the building was commonly referred to as the Second State Normal School. After several name and curriculum changes,
Minns' Normal school now known as San José State University, offer more than 134 bachelor's and master's degrees with 110
concentrations, and is recognized as one of the top public universities granting such degrees in the West.
In 1898, the Normal School Board of Trustees established a kindergarten training department with a demonstration class. The
following year, the San Jose State Normal School kindergarten training school was established, and had a faculty of three,
a student body of ten, and a kindergarten group of some seventy children. The kindergarten training school was eventually
abandoned the following year due to a Board decision that the expense did not justify the numerical gain, but kindergarten
classes continued at the Normal School and enrollment increased throughout the early 1900s.
Most of the teaching tools in the collection were produced by the well-known Milton Bradley Company, maker of toys and games
for children since 1864. Bradley was a firm believer in German educator Friedrich Froebel's then-radical notion of kindergarten
as a cornerstone of childhood education, and pushed the idea in America with an almost evangelical zeal. Even though this
concept was not yet accepted as a part of the American school system, Bradley manufactured
Kindergarten Gifts and Occupations in 1877, using local timber and materials from his home in Springfield, Massachusetts. These
gifts (blocks and items to teach basic skills), were added to the company's product offerings even though sales were initially
almost non-existent. As kindergarten gained in popularity in the United States, Froebel's Gifts became an industry standard,
providing for child's play while at the same time training children in movement dexterity and the laws of nature. The bulk
of the San José State Normal School Teaching Tools Collection consists of such
Gifts and Occupations, including balls, blocks for building, colored tablets for design, and colored papers to cut and fold.
Related Material
Kate Douglas Wiggin Collection, MSS-2008-10-01
Scope and Content
The San Jose State Normal School Teaching Tools Collection (1896-1927), consists of a variety of teaching tools used to teach
children basic educational skills. The collection includes many examples of Friedrich Froebel's
Gifts and Occupations produced by the Milton Bradley Company in the late 1800s. Included in the collection are wooden blocks of various shapes,
sewing cards, reading cards, and manipulatives used to teach basic skills. The majority of the collection documents the use
of teaching tools at the Normal Training School which existed on the San Jose State campus from 1898 until 1934.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into a single series: Series I. Educational Teaching Tools, 1896-1927.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Education, Higher -- California -- San Jose
Teaching -- Aids and devices -- Specimens
San José State Normal School -- History
San José State Teachers College -- History
Educational Teaching Tools Series I:
1896-1927
Physical Description: 17.0 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series consists of early education teaching tools based on the educational philosophy of German educator Friedrich Froebel,
and manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company. The series consists of Froebel's
Gifts and Occupations in addition to sewing and reading cards and other manipulatives. Also included are tin containers of stories on microform
and music scores used to teach music to children.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by format.
Box 1
Froebel's Gifts, building blocks
1896-1927
Box 2
Seat work cards, basic skills, teaching tools
1896-1927
Box 3
Gift 3 blocks, shape puzzles, word cards.
1896-1927
Box 4
Gift 3 and 4 blocks, wire circles in various sizes, colored rings made of wood.
1896-1927
Box 5
Gift 6 wooden building blocks.
1896-1927
Box 6
Gift 6 building materials, colored spools.
1896-1927
Box 7
Gift 5, Dicky Dare story steps, math flash cards, parquetry tiles.
1896-1927
Box 8
Seat work cards, stories on microform, wooden tiles.
1896-1927
Box 9
Gift 5 building blocks, word cubes, fabric sample kit.
1896-1927
Box 10
Peg board, colored pegs, building blocks.
1896-1927
Box 11
Gift 5, story building blocks.
1896-1927
Box 12
1927 yearbook, sewing cards, musical scores, sewing samples.
1896-1927
Box 13
Gift 5 building blocks.
1896-1927
Box 14
Seat work cards, math booklets.
1896-1927
Box 15
Educational Tools made of wood.
1896-1927
Box 16
Gift 4, colored pegs, large colored blocks, weaving and seatwork cards.
1904-1926
Box 17
Reading cards, Ideal School Supply,word cards,letter and number cards.
1925-1927
