St. Louis Public Schools Records, 1766-2008

<P>The Missouri State Legislature passed an act on February 13, 1833, entitled, "An act to establish a corporation in the city of St. Louis for the purpose of public education." Among the stipulations, the act gave title, possession, and control of all lands designated for school purposes to the corporation. In 1836 the citizens of St. Louis voted to sell the Commons and to allocate ten per cent of the sale to the support of public schools. The school board managed the lands, leasing much of it to raise funds for building schools, renting school space, paying salaries, and for covering the general expenses of the public school system. On April 1, 1838, the St. Louis Public Schools opened its first school building at the southwest corner of 4th and Spruce known as South School and later as Laclede Primary School. Prior to this, the district rented spaces appropriate to house students. Erecting new school buildings continued as St. Louis grew and twenty new schools were built before 1860. Included in the tally was Central High School, the first high school building in the district. The district boasts several firsts in education. In 1873, under the direction of Susan Blow, the first public kindergarten in North America opened in St. Louis. Sumner High School opened in 1875, the first African-American high school west of the Mississippi. Then in 1905, the district purchased items that were displayed at the 1904 World's Fair as the basis of the Educational Museum. The department was unique in public education and grew into the nation's first audiovisual department. The district was responsive to the needs of its pupils. In 1868, it opened its first vocational school. As tuberculosis became a greater health concern, it offered open-air schools to at-risk children. Schools for the deaf and for children with disabilities opened in the early 20th century. More schools were built in the 1950s. In 1954, the St. Louis Public Schools began the process of desegregation. Charles Guggenheim directed a documentary short about desegregation in St. Louis in 1956, <I>A City Decides</I>. In 1972, five parents who had grown frustrated with the bussing solution to segregation filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court that the Board of Education and the State of Missouri followed policies and practices that encouraged segregation. This led to two decades of court involvement, to the creation of the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation, and an extensive capital improvement program. In the 21st century, the school district struggled with the results of urban flight. The St. Louis Public Schools hit its highest enrollment of over 115,000 students in 1967 and its lowest of just over 23,500 students in 2011. The district systematically closed schools and began selling many of the historic buildings in order to shrink its size to match the declining enrollment. It determines the buildings' fate with the assistance of a Building Revitalization Collaborative in order to redevelop the closed schools into projects that benefit the city's neighborhoods.</P>
<P>The collection contains property records relating to land owned by the St. Louis Public Schools, school subject files (containing brochures, commencement programs, newspaper clippings, class reunion notices/programs, PTA records, and school anniversary programs), scrapbooks, Audiovisual Services classroom guides, Office of Public Information records (including tax and bond issue campaign plans, advertisements, publicity photos, working files/notes, and media-related items), Board of Directors meeting minutes, specifications for school buildings, and more. Individual student records are not included in the collection and are maintained by the St. Louis Public Schools.</P>
<P>Finding aid is available.</P>
<P>117 boxes; 20 oversize boxes; 11 flat storage boxes; 15 oversize folders</P>
<P>Cite as: St. Louis Public Schools Records. Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.</P>

密苏里州立法机构于1833年2月13日颁布一项法案，名为《在圣路易斯市设立公司以促进公共教育的法案》。该法案规定，将所有指定用于学校用途的土地的所有权、占有权和控制权赋予该机构。1836年，圣路易斯市民投票决定出售公共土地，并将销售收入的百分之十用于支持公立学校。教育委员会负责管理这些土地，将大部分土地出租以筹集资金建设学校、租赁校舍、支付工资以及覆盖公立学校系统的日常开支。1838年4月1日，圣路易斯公立学校在第四街和雪松街西南角的第一所学校建筑落成，该建筑最初被称为南学校，后来更名为拉克莱德小学。在此之前，该地区曾租用适合容纳学生的空间。随着圣路易斯的不断发展，至1860年之前共建立了二十所新学校。其中，中央高中是该地区第一所高中建筑。该地区在教育领域拥有多项开创性的成就。1873年，在苏珊·布拉沃的指导下，北美第一个公立幼儿园在圣路易斯成立。萨姆纳高中于1875年开业，成为密西西比河以西的第一所黑人高中。1905年，该地区购买了1904年世界博览会上的展品，作为教育博物馆的基础。该部门在公立教育中独具特色，发展成为全国首个视听部门。该地区对学生的需求反应迅速。1868年，它开设了第一所职业教育学校。随着肺结核成为更大的健康问题，它为处于危险中的儿童提供了露天学校。在20世纪初，为聋人和残疾儿童开设了学校。20世纪50年代，又建立了更多学校。1954年，圣路易斯公立学校开始实施种族隔离的解禁。查尔斯·古根海姆于1956年执导了一部关于圣路易斯种族隔离解禁的纪录片短片《城市决定》。1972年，五名对种族隔离的校车解决方案感到沮丧的父母向美国地区法院提起诉讼，指控教育委员会和密苏里州实施了鼓励种族隔离的政策和做法。这导致了二十年的法院介入，创立了自愿跨区选择公司，并实施了一项广泛的资本改善计划。21世纪，该学区面临着城市人口外迁的结果。圣路易斯公立学校在1967年达到最高入学人数，超过11.5万名学生，在2011年降至仅超过2.35万名学生。该地区系统地关闭学校，并开始出售许多历史建筑，以缩小规模以适应不断下降的入学人数。它通过与建筑复兴合作组织合作，决定将这些关闭的学校改造成造福城市社区的工程。</P>
<P>该收藏包含了与圣路易斯公立学校拥有的土地相关的财产记录，学校科目文件（包含小册子、毕业典礼程序、报纸剪报、班级聚会通知/程序、PTA记录和学校周年庆典程序），剪贴簿，视听服务课堂指南，公共信息办公室记录（包括税收和债券发行竞选计划、广告、宣传照片、工作文件/笔记和与媒体相关的事项），董事局会议记录，学校建筑规范等。个人学生记录不包括在收藏中，由圣路易斯公立学校保管。</P>
<P>提供检索指南。</P>
<P>117个盒子；20个超尺寸盒子；11个平面存储盒子；15个超尺寸文件夹</P>
<P>引用格式：圣路易斯公立学校档案。密苏里历史博物馆档案馆，圣路易斯。</P>
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