Use Restrictions

Copyright for materials authored or otherwise produced as official business of James Madison University is retained by James Madison University. Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information, contact the Special Collections Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Staff have taken special care to identify and remove sensitive materials, particularly those relating to students' academic records, found within this collection. However, in rare instances, privacy protected information may be revealed during use of this collection. Researchers agree to make no notes or other recordation of privacy protected information if found within this collection, and further agree not to publish or disclose such information for any purpose. Researchers agree to alert Special Collections staff if potentially privacy protected information is found within this collection. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Provenance

Parent Teacher Association minutes and a set of scrapbooks kept by two teachers at Anthony-Seeger, housed in the Special Collections cage since 1982, were officially acquired and combined with aforementioned materials from the College of Education in March 1993 (AS 93-0303).

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Anthony-Seeger Campus School Records, 1956-1982, UA 0049, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Kelly French, Dean's Office, College of Education, transferred three boxes of material related to the Anthony-Seeger Campus School (including handbooks, historical information, and administrative files) to Special Collections in October 1991 (AS 91-1016).

Processing Information

In addition to discarding non-archival material, in 1992-1993 staff organized the remainder of the collection intellectually as well as physically, grouping administrative materials and PTA minutes in one box and the scrapbooks and oversized paperwork in two others. Staff further divided the administrative materials into folders by type and the scrapbooks into folders labeled chronologically; they also added page numbers to the scrapbooks dated after 1971. A review of the collection in September 2019 revealed minor errors regarding date ranges on some of the folders; staff corrected these errors, along with moving the scrapbooks to flat boxes (to preserve their original organization) and reassigning numbers to the scrapbooks folders (for clarity of citation). The September 2019 review also resulted in the collection being assigned a new catalog number. The collection was previously cataloged as AS 91-1016 and AS 93-0303.

Appraisal Information

Upon receiving three boxes from the College of Education in 1991, library staff obtained permission to dispose of material as deemed proper. Per a note written by former librarian Chris Bolgiano and filed in the collection control file, staff reviewed the boxes in September 1992 and discarded various materials deemed non-archival, including invoices and receipts for daily supplies, monthly attendance records, preliminary inventory lists, faculty travel vouchers, blank forms of various kinds, menus, cafeteria purchase receipts, tally sheets for lunches served, and work-study pay period printouts.

Administrative History

The Anthony-Seeger Campus School was a combination nursery/K-6 elementary school (K-7 1965-1968) that operated on the JMU campus from 1958-1982. Named after two former directors of the Madison College teacher training program, Katherine M. Anthony (1885-1975) and Mary L. Seeger (1882-1975), and spearheaded by Harrisonburg Public Schools superintendent M. H. Bell and JMU's third president Dr. G. Tyler Miller (1902-1988), Anthony-Seeger acted as a lab for student teachers to learn the art of teaching, as well as a model school designed to offer a top-level educational experience for enrolled students. Attendance at the school was by application only, and enrollment vacillated between 200-400 students during the school's 24-year history. A significant portion of Anthony-Seeger students (e.g., 43.5% of K-6 students during the 1979-80 school year) were the children of university employees. Attendance for these students was free; all other students paid an annual tuition fee.

Starting in 1971, amid concerns over funding and the closure of other lab schools across the state, JMU's fourth president, Dr. Ronald E. Carrier (1932-2017), commissioned three studies to determine the efficacy of the Anthony-Seeger School and the practicability of its continued operation. The first study, commissioned in 1972, recommended the expansion of the school to include a learning diagnostic center for students with mental and physical disabilities. A subsequent study in 1979 raised the possibility of transferring operation of the school to Harrisonburg City Public Schools, or closing; neither option was pursued. A follow-up study in 1980 again considered closure, and again opted for continued operation, but in 1981, the school lost its bid for continued state funding and officially closed on June 4, 1982. In the years since, the Anthony-Seeger building has housed the local public radio station, WMRA; JMU's student-run radio station, WXJM; and JMU's newspaper, The Breeze (all now located off-campus). The building currently provides offices for the JMU police and the Center for Assessment and Research Studies.

Scope and Content

The Anthony-Seeger Campus School Records, 1956-1982, consist of administrative, historical, and personal materials related to the Anthony-Seeger Campus School. Materials include a variety of administrative files and items related to school history; graduation programs; Parent Teacher Association minutes; and two scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series. Each series is arranged chronologically. Exceptions to the chronological arrangement were made in order to pay respect to the original order, and to group like materials together.

Related Material

Anthony-Seeger Campus School Photographs, James Madison University Historic Photographs, 1919-ca. 2000, UA 0051, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Administrative records
• Early childhood education
• Education, Elementary
• Elementary schools -- Virginia -- Harrisonburg -- 20th century
• Financial Records
• Harrisonburg (Va.) -- Education
• James Madison University
• Madison College
• Minutes (administrative records)
• Photographs
• Scrapbooks
• Small schools -- Virginia -- Harrisonburg -- 20th century