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. 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.
From the description of Edith Lisolette Gordon papers, 1917-1989, bulk 1975-1980 [manuscript]. (Bank Street College of Education Library). WorldCat record id: 476241611
