Administrative and Financial Records Series I:
1861-1932
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series documents the administrative and financial aspects of the San Jose State Normal School. Included are accounting
books in English and Spanish, bills issued for building maintenance labor, correspondence regarding financial matters, payroll
records for special appropriations, and numerous ledgers and files documenting incidental funds transactions, invoices paid,
and maintenance completed. Also included are handwritten minutes of the Normal School Board of Trustees, records pertaining
to the daily operations of the school, trustee information, and statistical reports prepared for the Bureau of Education.
Of special interest in this series are documents, newspaper clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, and petitions filed by interested
parties from Chico, Colusa, Red Bluff, and Redding in an effort to convince the selection committee of the Board of Trustees
for the State Normal School that their city should be chosen as the place to establish the first branch of the State Normal
School on the West Coast.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 1
Accounting Ledgers
1867-1895
Box 2
Bills, Incidentals, Invoices Paid, Receipts, Vouchers
1861-1901
Box 3
Board of Trustees Minutes, Correspondence, Petitions
1863-1895
Box 4
Board of Trustees Reports, Surveyor General Reports
1884-1900
Box 5
Financial Records
1888-1932
Box 6
Payroll Records, Bills for Building Maintenance Provided
1906
Box 7
Legal Documents Series II:
1870-1936
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series is comprised of legal documents, including architectural contracts, insurance contracts, and land deeds. Also
included is a historically significant document written by the architects who surveyed and summed up the damages the San Jose
State Normal School building suffered during the 1906 earthquake.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Office of the Registrar Records Series III:
1860-1955
Series Scope and Content Summary
The materials in this series document the early curriculum, coursework, and student body demographic of the San Jose State
Normal School. Included are attendance and achievement records, commencement records, course catalogs, diplomas, enrollment
statistics, faculty meeting minutes, grade books, graduate lists, and official entrance exams for a variety of subjects, teacher
training manuals, and student placement records. Of special interest in this series are student contracts, which detail the
commitment to teach in the public school environment for a set amount of time after graduation from San Jose State Normal
School. These contracts allowed students to attend and graduate from San Jose Normal School without the payment of tuition
fees. Also included are two ledgers containing promises made by students to report in writing to the President of the State
Normal School twice a year for three years after graduation, and once a year thereafter while working in the teaching profession
to uphold the San Jose State Normal School's high standards and ensure the continuation of the graduate time line.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 8
Attendance, Grading, Graduation & Scholarship Records
1872-1934
Box 9
Course Catalogs and Diplomas
1872-1955
Box 10
Entrance Exams and Training Manuals
1877-1932
Box 11
Faculty Meeting Minutes
1881-1923
Box 12
Forms, Instructions, Exam Questions Scrapbook
circa 1860
Box 13
Student Enrollment Statistics in Ledger (Fragile)
1862-1867
Box 14
Student Enrollment Statistics in Ledgers
1899-1912
Box 15
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1863-1890
Box 16
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1891-1901
Box 17
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1902-1909
Box 18
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1910-1913
Box 19
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1915-1919
Box 20
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1920-1926
Box 21
Student Placement Records (Cards)
1927-1930
Box 22
Student Promises (Ledger)
1914-1918
Student, Faculty, and Alumni Records and Publications Series IV:
1863-1927
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series documents materials created by teachers, students, and alumni of the San Jose State Normal School. Included are
Alpha Phi Omega meeting minutes, photo albums, scrapbooks, sketches, teachers' daily class journals and class diaries, as well as the meeting
minutes, journals, and record books created by various student societies. Of special interest in this series are several volumes
of
Memory's Lane journals composed by students, which provide first-hand accounts of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and its impact on the
San Jose State Normal School campus. Also noteworthy is a student petition directed at the Board of Trustees circa 1890, requesting
them to rescind a policy that suspended Bible readings on campus. In addition, this series holds memorabilia from the 1926
Fiestas de las Rosas festival and the dance drama
Nightingale and the Rose performed in the same year. Also included are scrapbooks created by students, such as Mabel B. Dowser's herbarium, Sarah
Rich's extensive collection of geography clippings and class notes, as well as Hazel MacIntosh's
Ero Sophian Society book.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 23
Alpha Phi Omega Alumni Meeting Minutes
1898-1909
Box 24
Alumni Records (Handwritten Journals)
1863-1906
Box 25
Alumni Records (Handwritten Journals)
1906-1921
Box 26
Alumni Records (Handwritten Journals)
1921-1928
Box 27
Bible Reading Student Body Petition
circa 1890
Box 28
Class Journals
1874, 1927
Box 29
Copies of Guide Posts Publication
circa 1927
Box 30
Herbarium and Geography Scrapbook
1895
Box 31
Memory's Lane Journals
1925-1927
Box 32
Nightingale and the Rose,
Fiestas de las Rosas
1926
Box 33
Normal School Societies Minutes and Records
1873-1918
Box 34, Box data_value_missing_b5f3a45f58cad00f9154f8c153fd8ff5, Box data_value_missing_fc761bd41d87d4b75df981c13b74350f
Autograph Book and Photo Albums
1875-1887
Box 35
Scrapbook by Hazel MacIntosh
1914
Miscellanea Series V:
1871-1990, undated
Series Scope and Content Summary
The items in this series are a collection of miscellaneous materials related to the San Jose State Normal School, accumulated
over the years by various sources. Included are newspaper clippings, photographs, posters, and select items that were gathered
from the overall collection to become part of an exhibit commemorating the 150th anniversary of San Jose State University
in 2007. Of special interest in this series is a compilation of analytical data regarding the San Jose State Normal School.
Comprised of enrollment and graduation statistics and graphs; grade distribution figures; warning card counts; and withdrawal
rates, this large ledger provides at-a-glance information about some of the Normal School's vital statistics. Of interest
from the student perspective is the autograph book of Miss Ada Locke, the valedictorian of the class of 1876, featuring 46
inscriptions from fellow students as well as her teachers upon graduating. Also included are various publications by students,
staff, and alumni, such as re-union class of 1878 brochures, poems commemorating the class of 1884, the
Christmasse Booke of the 1913 class, the
Alumni Bulletin, and several issues each of
Teacher and Student,
Pacific Coach Teacher, and
La Torre publications.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically by date.
Box 36
Affidavits, Constitutions, Letters, News Clippings
1871-1925
Box 37
Commencement & Convocation Records
1877-1990, undated
Box 38
Normal School Analytical Data (Ledger)
undated
Box 39
Photos, Clippings, Historical Sketch Books
1889-1966
Box 40
Various Publications
1878-1937
Student Memorabilia
1875-1876
Item Range 32A
Framed Photo of Students in San Jose State Normal School
Item Range 32A
Framed San Jose State Normal School Class Photo
Item Range 32A
Framed San Jose State Normal School Student Event Photo
Textiles Series VI:
1881-1921
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series is comprised of a small number of realia, including the San Jose State Normal School banner, flags created by
individual classes, and a dress worn by a 1906 Normal School alumnus.
Box 41
Class of 1916 Alumnus Gown
1916
Box 42
Normal School Banners and Flags
1881-1921
