Administrative History
This collection was donated to the Bank Street College Archives by Edith Gordon in 2005. The collection was processed by Kate Kearns and Lindsey Wyckoff in 2006. Original order and series were retained in the processing of this collection.
Series G Interview Transcripts was de-accessioned by Teachers College Special Collections and transferred to Bank Street College Archives in 2008. It is unclear where or when these materials were collected, they were left in the order in which they arrived and a new series was created. It was added to the collection by Lindsey Wyckoff in 2008.
Biographical Note
Edith L. Gordon entered the graduate school of Bank Street College of Education in 1955 as part of an experimental program sponsored by the Ford Foundation in which students began teaching in inner city schools after only one semester of coursework and student teaching.
In 1974 on a professional visit to the Bank Street School for Children Gordon learned from President Francis Roberts that no history of Bank Street existed. Realizing the importance of beginning such a project while so many original Bank Streeters were still active, she began to interview many important figures to compile an oral history of Bank Street. With the help of President Roberts and the guidance of Barbara Biber, Charlotte Biber Winsor and Claudia Lewis, the oral history project officially began in 1975. As the interviews amassed Gordon came to realize that the in order to properly document, corroborate and analyze them she needed to improve her research and writing skills. She matriculated in the graduate history program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her work collecting oral histories continued, and became the basis for her doctoral dissertation. Her dissertation Educating the Whole Child: Progressive Education and Bank Street College of Education, 1916-1966 was accepted by the History Department of SUNY Stony Brook in 1988.
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of materials compiled by Edith Gordon in the course of collecting Bank Street oral histories and writing her dissertation, including research, correspondence, tapes, transcripts, photographs, drafts, and administrative records. Also included are files containing notes and clippings on numerous important figures in the history of the College. The collection is 6.25 linear feet. The collection consists of the following series:
A – Bank Street Publications
B – Historic Figures
C – Oral Histories
D – Administrative Records
E – Research Notes and Resources
F – Photographs
G – Interview Transcripts