Caliver, Ambrose, 1894-1962. Ambrose Caliver collection, 1912-1938.
Title:
Ambrose Caliver collection, 1912-1938.
The first three series contain administrative records relating to Fisk University, including communication records of student status with their parents, opportunities for students, institutional support, and transcripts. The Requests series contains records regarding locating Roland Hayes, pioneer African American composer and tenor who attended Fisk from 1905 to 1908, and the Jubilee Singers. Though dismissed after three years, Hayes accepted an invitation from president George A. Gates in 1911 to lead the Jubilee Singers on a tour of Boston, where he subsequently remained and launched his professional solo career. The records contained in the Caliver series contain examples and references from the Great Depression, Harlem Renaissance, New Deal, and the progressive era found throughout the twenty-four subseries. Correspondence, General holds letters that do not fall under any of the subsequent subseries. The Admissions subseries documents Caliver's interaction with accepted and potential students, and scholarship opportunities. The Alumni subseries contains records that document graduates in their professional and civic advances. Contained within the Committees subseries are documents of deliberations, lists, and proceedings ranging from admissions to social and recreation. The Employment Inquiries subseries holds letters of interests for custodian and teaching positions, whereas the Faculty & Staff subseries provides information about the development of the dean's office, and Alaine Locke's contributions to the instructional program at Fisk. Locke, an advocate of the "New Negro" philosophy, was a visiting professor in 1925. There is also information on Z. Alexander Looby, prominent Nashville and post-World War II civil rights attorney, who served as assistant professor of economics from 1926 to 1928; and Horace Mann Bond, educator, sociologist, scholar, and author, who served from 1928 to 1939 in various capacities, including research assistant to Charles S. Johnson, director of the men's dormitory, and chair of the department of education. The Graduate Work subseries and the Honorary Degrees subseries both hold limited correspondence pertaining to students enrolled and honorees. The Institutional Accreditation subseries contains documents of interaction with accrediting agencies of high schools where Fisk students attended, and organizations with interest in colleges and universities, such as the Association of American Universities. The Institutional Requests subseries holds correspondence documenting Caliver's invitation to participate in professional activities at institutions ranging from the Alexander Hamilton Institute to the West Virginia Department of Education. Correspondence between Caliver and Howard University, Meharry Medical College, and Northwestern University Medical School is contained within the Medical Colleges subseries. The Professional Associations subseries consists primarily of correspondence, but also includes announcements, bulletins, and programs of such organizations as the American Association of Adult Education, Association for the Study of Negro Life & History, East Tennessee Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, and the National Education Association. The Publicity Dept. subseries contains records of Fisk's publicity office and of Caliver's application of marketing and promotion tactics. A 1935 promotional announcement of Illinois Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell at the Ryman Auditorium links the collection to the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, as it is billed under the auspices of the New Deal Progressive League. The majority of the correspondence is with W. E. B. Du Bois, 1888 Fisk alumnus and editor of the Crisis, and Charles S. Johnson as the editor of the National Urban League's Opportunity, before he began his tenure at Fisk in 1928. There are also official records of Fisk's subscriptions to Crisis and Opportunity; documentation of Du Bois public forums and lectures at the Fisk Memorial Chapel in 1928; and correspondence with Countee Cullen, poet, novelist, anthologist, and playwright, and Johnson's assistant editor at the Opportunity. The Registrar's Office subseries holds records that range from attendance notices, course offerings, statistics, and transcript requests to lists of students who were World War I veterans. Limited within the Reports, University Related subseries are descriptive analyses of those from housekeepers to the registrar. The Student Life subseries holds documents pertaining to extra-curricular activities including athletic team lists and schedules, class officers, clubs, fraternities and sororities, and musical ensembles from the glee club to singing sextets. Student Council procedure forms and participation records from the Tennessee Colored State Fair also are contained. The Student Orientation subseries includes correspondence, guidelines, lectures, manuals, and questionnaires and also documents Caliver's consultation with educational professionals and leaders in the field, and his role as an emerging authority on education. There are substantial orders and requests for his Freshmen Orientation: An Outline and Syllabus for a Course in College Problems and Life Adjustments. The Students/Parents and Students/Parents, Prospective subseries both provide evidence of Caliver's work with student intervention and retention, and of parental involvement. Correspondence with parents provides information associated with a professional class and related social institutions. There are letters with C.J. Bass; W. E. A. Forde; J. M. Frazier; and Mary McLeod Bethune. The remaining subseries include Telegrams, including funding appeals to Harvard University, personal transcript concerns, and professional requests; Textbook Orders from Henry Holt & Company, the Ronald Press Company Publishers, and the University Society of Educational Publishers for faculty members; letters (1932, 1934, and 1937) when Caliver served as specialist on Negro education, United States Dept. of Interior, after his tenure at Fisk; a miscellaneous Collection, including bulletins, pamphlets, an undated photograph of Caliver, programs, and non-university-related reports; a second Miscellaneous collection, containing correspondence and application records from the State of Tennessee Dept. of Education; and an unidentified folder of records that do not fit within any of the previous series or subseries.
ArchivalResource:
4.5 linear ft. (9 boxes)
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/231347377 View
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