Guide
Digitized Kindergarten correspondence collection
Guide to digitized letters from the AG58 Kindergarten Correspondence Collection spanning 1887-1918. The collection includes content related to student enrollment, letters from parents, students who are deaflblind, open teaching positions and fundraising activities.
Accessibility
Our goal is provide resources that are accessible to all
23 bound volumes from the “Perkins Kindergarten Correspondence Collection” have been digitized and made available on the Internet Archive website, which utilizes optical character recognition (OCR) and downloadable file formats, including Daisy, to provide access to users who are blind and visually impaired. We acknowledge that OCR is prone to errors, and cannot recognize graphics or handwritten text, thus creating barriers to these materials. It is our intention that by providing the materials as is, the resource is findable online to all. If any of Perkins Archives resources accessed online aren’t accessible in part or in whole, to a user because of a disability, we will create an accessible version upon request.
Collection access
The digitized correspondence volumes and boxes are divided into incoming and supplementary correspondence. The links are arranged by volume and years, earliest to latest, spanning 1890-1906. Links to transcribed indices, when available, are followed by links to digitized copies on the Internet Archive. Not all resources in this collection have been digitized. More information as well as the full list of correspondence is available on the collection finding aid.
Incoming correspondence, 1890-1921
Correspondence is addressed to the director of Perkins School for the Blind. The bulk of the correspondence prior to 1900 is from Isabel Greeley, principal matron of the Kindergarten from May 1887 to July 1900. From 1900-to 1921, Nettie B. Vose, matron of the boys’ school, Julia M. Hill, matron of the girls’ school, and Mary J. Jones, matron of the primary department, provide the majority of administrative correspondence.
Topics include: daily administration of the Kindergarten, including invoices and Ladies Visiting Committee reports; student enrollment and letters from parents; deafblind students, including Thomas Stringer and Willie Elizabeth Robin; updates from teachers regarding special students and open teaching positions; fundraising activities; admittance and discharge papers from Massachusetts General Hospital.
- Volume 1: 1890-1891 [Note: Letters are addressed to John A. Bennett, acting director of Perkins School for the Blind while Director Anagnos was traveling].
- Volume 2: 1892-1893
- Volume 3:1894
- Volume 4: 1895-1896
- Volume 5: 1897-1898
- Volume 6: 1899-1900
- Volume 7: 1901 [Note: Boston suffered a smallpox outbreak in 1901, with 1,596 reported cases and 270 deaths. This volume contains a number of donation letters in response to the epidemic.]
- Volume 8: 1902
- Volume 9: 1903 [Note: Includes a letter from Thomas Stringer.]
- Volume 10: 1904
- Volume 11: 1905-1906
- Volume 12 1907-1908 [Note: Early letters are addressed to Almorin O. Caswell, acting director after the death of Michael Anagnos in 1906. Correspondence addressed to Edward E. Allen, third director of Perkins School for the Blind, begins in September 1907.]
- Volume 13: 1909-1910
- Box 1: Volume 14, July 1911-June 1913, folders 1-3
- No index provided
- July 1911-June 1913 digitized copy
- Box 2: Volumes 14 -16: January 1911-September 1918, folders 4-10
- No index provided
- July 1913-December 1915 digitized copy
- Box 3: Volumes 16 -17: January 1916-June 1921, folders 11-16
- No index provided
- October 1916-September 1915 digitized copy
Supplementary Correspondence, 1887-1906
Correspondence from 1887-1899 is addressed to Isabel Greeley, principal matron of the Kindergarten. From October 1899-1906 correspondence is addressed to Nettie B. Vose, matron of the boys’ school and former assistant to Miss Greeley.
Main correspondents include Perkins director Michael Anagnos; interim director John Bennett; Miss Martha Sawyer, clerk to Anagnos; Dr. G. M. Rowe, superintendent of Boston City Hospital; Thomas Stringer; Effie Thayer, special teacher to Willie Elizabeth Robin; Emily W. Foster, friend, and member of the Perkins Corporation.
Topics include administrative duties, including teacher appointments and field trips; student enrollment and school schedules; updates on students’ health, including discharge papers and status reports from Boston City Hospital; and letters from parents.
- Volume 119: April 1892-April 1894
- No index
- April 1892-April 1894 digitized copy
- Volume 120: April 1894-April 1896
- No index
- April 1894-April 1896 digitized copy
- Volume 130: May 1911-May 1913
- No index
- May 1911-May 1913 digitized copy
- Volume 131: May 1913-December 1915
- Volume 132: December 1915-March 1918
- Volume 133: March 1918-April 1920
- No index
- March 1918-April 1920 digitized copy
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