Department of Special Education records
07.SE

Summary Information

Repository
Eastern Michigan University Archives
Title
Department of Special Education records
ID
07.SE
Date [inclusive]
1919-2008
Extent
0.8 Linear feet 2 archive boxes
Language
English
Abstract
The Department of Special Education was founded at Michigan State Normal College in 1923, and today is the oldest and one of the largest special education programs in the United States. The department is now administered by the College of Education, and has expanded its curriculum to include Occupation Therapy. Records include national evaluations and accreditation materials, pamphlets, brochures, and other distributed publications, course approvals, faculty lists and publications, and newspaper clippings.

Preferred Citation note

Please cite materials from the University Archives in the following manner: Item. Collection Title. Eastern Michigan University Archives.

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Administrative History

"The first training course for teachers of handicapped children in Michigan was organized and conducted by Dr. Charles Scott Berry of the University of Michigan at the Michigan Home and Training School for the Feebleminded at Lapeer in the summer of 1914. The following summer this work was taken over by the State Board of Education, and was removed to the then Michigan State Normal College. Dr. Berry had charge of the work there during the summers of 1915 and 1916. In the summer of 1917, Professor Charles M. Elliott was placed in charge of the work. The first laboratory class was organized in 1918 with Miss Blanche Towne in charge as training teacher. All this work thus far had been in the training of teachers for mentally deficient children.

In 1920 arrangements were made by the Normal College and the Board of Education of the City of Detroit by which a center was established in Detroit at the Detroit Teachers College for the training of teachers for the various types of handicapped children. At this time Mr. Elliott was advanced to a full professorship and placed in charge of the Detroit center. Here he remained for four years directing the training of large numbers of teachers in the Detroit schools and teachers from other parts of the state...The Michigan State Legislature, in it session of 1923, passed bills providing state aid for school districts which should establish special schools and classes for children who were deaf or hard of hearing, who were crippled, or who had defective vision. The law required that the teachers of these children should be especially trained for their work. The State Board of Education, realizing that there was no source of supply of such teachers, decided to establish a department at the Michigan State Normal College for their training. Professor Elliott was recalled from Detroit and given the task of organizing the department...in 1937 [Professor Elliott] secured from the Horace H. and Mary A. Rackham Foundation a gift of two hundred eighty thousand dollars for the construction of a school building especially designed and equipped for the training of teachers for the various types of handicapped children, the first school of its kind to be erected in the United States." From the Eastern Michigan College Faculty Bulletin, Volume XII, No.4, in Box 1, Folder 1, Jan. 1959.

Today, the Department of Special Education is one of the most comprehensive in the country and includes the Occupational Therapy program. The department is within the College of Education.

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Scope and Contents

The Department of Special Education records include materials produced and retained by the Special Education program at Michigan State Normal College/Eastern Michigan University, founded in 1923 and today within the administration of the College of Education. Records include national evaluations and accreditation materials, pamphlets, brochures, and other distributed publications, course approvals, faculty lists and publications, and newspaper clippings.

The Department of Special Education records have been divided into two series:  Curriculum and programs, and  Publicity and Outreach. The Curriculum and programs series includes materials relevant to the administration of the department and its relevant coursework. The Publicity and Outreach series includes materials published and distributed by or about the Department, especially clippings and news releases.

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Arrangement of Materials

The Department of Special Education records have been divided into two series:  Curriculum and programs, and  Publicity and Outreach.

The Curriculum and programs series includes materials relevant to the administration of the department and its relevant coursework. The Publicity and Outreach series includes materials published and distributed by or about the Department, especially clippings and news releases.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Eastern Michigan University Archives 2012 May 30

Halle Library, Room 310
Ypsilanti, Michigan, 48197
734-487-0020

Conditions Governing Access note

Researchers are asked to request materials 24 hours prior to visiting the the University Archives.

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Controlled Access Headings

Personal Name(s)

  • Elliott, Charles M.

Subject(s)

  • Eastern Michigan University
  • Eastern Michigan University. College of Education
  • Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund
  • Michigan State Normal College
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Special education

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Collection Inventory

Curriculum and programs 1919-2000 

Department history 1937-1959 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 1

Michigan State Department of Public Instruction bulletin 1936 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 2

Correspondence 1937-1999 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 3

"History of Rackham" Undated 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 4

Masters Thesis, by Francis A. Ballantine 1939 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 5

Conference papers 1935 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 6

Summer sessions 1919-1959 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995179)   1 7

The Development of the Special Education Program at Michigan State Normal College" 1953 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 8

"Graduate Programs in Special Education" 1966 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 9

Faculty list 1973-1974 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 10

Grant Applications 1967 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 11

Specialist in Arts Degree Program 1969 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 12

Course approvals 1985-1990 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995161)   2 1
    Box Folder
Text (32307023995179)   1 13

Speech Language Pathology Program 2010 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995161)   2 2

Teacher Preparation Program for Autism 1985 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995161)   2 3

Evaluation Document 1999 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995161)   2 4

Assistive Technology and Curriculum Conference 1999 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995161)   2 5

NCA Self-Study 1999 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995161)   2 6

Input Document 2000 


    Box Folder
Text (32307023995161)   2 7

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Publicity and Outreach 1929-2008 

Clippings 1929-2008 

 1929-1939 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995161)   2 8

 1940-1959 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995161)   2 9

 1960-1979 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995161)   2 10

 1980-1999 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995161)   2 11

 2000-2008 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995161)   2 12

News releases 1975-2004 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995161)   2 13

Pamphlets, flyers, brochures 


    Box Folder
Mixed materials (32307023995161)   2 14-15

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