Collection Guide
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Black (Samuel Thorburn) Memorial Collection
MS-0324
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & University Archives
Title: Samuel Thorburn Black Memorial Collection
Creator:
Black, Samuel Thorburn
Identifier/Call Number: MS-0324
Physical Description:
1.00 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1877-1922
Language of Material:
English
.
The
Samuel Thorburn Black Memorial Collection documents both Black and his presidency, and includes correspondence, financial records, annual reports, Pauline Black's
diaries, and a scrapbook of the trip Mr. Black and his daughter took around the world.
This collection is open for research.
Some of these materials are in the public domain. However, the nature of historical archival and manuscript collections means
that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained
in the collection or their heirs. Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections,
San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections
as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must
also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and
private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement
of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
San Diego State University Historical Collection
Walter R. Hepner Memorial Collection
Edward Lawyer Hardy Memorial Collection
Malcolm. A Love Papers
Brage Golding Collection
Identification of item, folder title, box number, Samuel Thorburn Black Memorial Collection, Special Collections and University
Archives, San Diego State University Library.
The first president of San Diego Normal School, Samuel T. Black was selected for the post by the Normal School's Board of
Trustees in October 1898. He served as president until 1910. Having previously been State Superintendent of Public Instruction,
and having had numerous other administrative and teaching appointments throughout California, he entered the position with
extensive experience. He brought professional activism and many solid connections in the educational world.
Black was born in 1846, in northern England, to Scottish parents. He came to the United States in search of an uncle the family
had lost touch with, and upon finding him in Wisconsin, decided to stay in the US. Though he spent his first year teaching
in the Midwest, he eventually traveled to California, arriving in San Francisco in 1868. Mr. Black had two children, the second
of whom, Pauline Black, followed him into the teaching profession, and taught at the Normal School for several years. In 1910
she and her father took a trip around the world.
On September 1, 1910, Mr. Black officially stepped down as San Diego Normal School's president. Enrollment had increased from
83 students the first year to nearly 400. The original seven members of the teaching faculty that Black had assembled remained
largely intact, and the addition of several new faculty members brought the total number of instructors to 19. From 1913-1916
Black served as a member of the Board of Education of the City of San Diego. He died in San Diego, March 23, 1917.
1982-011
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Personal Papers
Photographs
School administrators--California--San Diego--Biography--Sources
Black, Samuel Thorburn, 1846-1917--Archives
Black, Samuel Thorburn, 1846-1917--Travel
Black, Pauline T.--Diaries
Black, Pauline T.--Travel
San Diego Normal School--Administration--History--Sources