Plymouth State University History

Slide 1: A Brief History of Plymouth State University

Slide 2: Quick overview of Institutional Changes • Holmes Plymouth Academy 1808 - 1871 (with a few possible breaks). A private academy. • The New Hampshire or Plymouth Normal School: 1871- 1939 • Plymouth Teachers College: 1939 - 1963 • Plymouth State College: 1963 - 2003 • Plymouth State University: 2003 - present

Slide 3: Plymouth has long been an educational center Holmes Plymouth Academy was established in 1808 and named in honor of Colonel Samuel Holmes of Campton, NH, a Revolutionary War soldier who donated $50 toward the Academy’s foundation. In January 1837, Samuel Read Hall became the principal of the Academy and created what may have been the first teacher training school in New Hampshire. Enrollment reached 248 in 1838. After Hall left in 1840, the school did not prosper but managed to survive. Samuel Read Hall

Slide 4: New Hampshire or Plymouth Normal School: 1871-1939 In 1870, the state legislature passed an “Act for the establishment and management of a state normal school for the better training of teachers.” It was given a trial period of five years. While the state appropriated $5000 to renovate the old Holmes Academy buildings, it refused to pay more than $300 toward operations (the $300 was supposed to cover trustee costs). Tuition was to cover the costs. The town bought and donated the Academy buildings to the state and the New Hampshire or Plymouth Normal School opened on March 15, 1871 with eighty students. In 1874, the Normal School took over teaching in the local schools, dividing them into elementary and high school grades at least 20 years before any other normal school in the country. Town students were taught by instructors and upper-class students. In 1875, the legislature passed a bill making tuition free to all who would teach in the state for as long as they had attended the normal school (although it became truly free only after 1886).

Slide 5: Silas H. Pearl, First Principal 1871-1873 First term for the normal school began on March 15,1871. Silas H. Pearl laid the foundation for a teacher-training program. It is said that he died as the result of overwork. Perhaps that is borne out by his motto: "Better to wear out than to rust out.” The Trustees wrote: “The labor imposed upon Professor Pearl has been too severe; he cannot endure another term.” Pearl died in 1873. After Mr. Pearl died, Henry Pitt Warren carried out the mandates of the legislature to make a two-year institution into a true normal school. Quotes from Norton Bagley’s One Hundred years of Service: Plymouth State College, 1871-1971.

Slide 6: NH Normal School A parlour in Normal Hall, a building that stood near the current location of Mary Lyon Hall. The Normal School suffered severe financial problems from 1876-1883. The school all but closed in the late 1870s. In 1878, there were 251 students in the “Normal” department. But in 1879 only 30 students remained! In that same year, only one member of the faculty remained: Ellen Reed, the principal teacher in the training school. (In 1976, Ellen Reed Hall was named for her). By 1904, enrollments had increased to the point that they were restricted to 150. In 1909, the state created a second normal school in Keene. In 1919, both normal schools were placed under the supervision of the State Board of Education, where they remained until 1963. Student population figures found in Norton Bagley’s One Hundred Years of Service.

Slide 7: Rounds Hall In 1890-1891, Rounds Hall, named for Charles Rounds, the 6th principal of the Normal School, was built, replacing the old normal school building. There were classrooms on the top two floors and a combined assembly hall/study hall/classroom/partial library/theatre called Livermore Hall in the area with the large windows. The first floor housed the town’s schools. Livermore Hall, Rounds, 1899

Slide 8: Teachers or Students? c. 1900, outside of Rounds Hall Bird’s Eye View of Plymouth, c. 1900 Bell in Rounds Hall Tower Originally built by the town, "The Training School” is now Memorial Hall.

Slide 9: Expenses - 1890 Tuition • FREE to all those who taught in NH • $10.00 for all others Room & Board • $150. 00 1899 Operating Budget: $11,228.50 State appropriated $8,033.34 Ellen Knowles, graduate of the Normal School, c.1876. Taught for four years, then attended and graduated from Bates College. She eventually became a lawyer in Montana. Courtesy: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nhnhs/Notables.htm

Slide 10: New Hampshire Normal School in the 20th century 1904 – purchased Klock family house as the President’s house (now Frost House). 1905 – developed one year post-collegiate graduate program to teach (however, the program was soon deleted). 1910 – three year curriculum for supervisors of music, art, and home economics (or domestic arts) in elementary & secondary school began. The Model School (now Memorial Hall) was built. Emphasis was on practical experience. 1911 Ernest L. Silver began a 35-year administration. 1914 – training school for elementary students established. 1915 – high school graduation required for entrance. Model School / Memorial Hall 1916 – Three-year curriculum for junior high school teachers established. 1917 – Woodbury Langdon gave the first sections of Langdon Park to the Normal School. 1921 – Three-year curriculum preparing secondary teachers in history and other social sciences began. 1923 – first wing of Samuel Read Hall building built. 1925 – purchased Russell House to serve as dorm. 1928 – purchased Shepard House (current President’s house). 1932 – second wing of Samuel Read Hall Dorm finished and Lamson library opened in the lower section. 1933 – all secondary curricula lengthened to four years. Langdon Park, 1995 USGS map

Slide 11: Robert Frost Hired to teach psychology and education, the poet Robert Frost came to Plymouth in the fall of 1911. He and his family shared a house with President Silver (the current Frost House). His four children attended the Model School. Frost later inscribed a book to Silver thanking him for teaching Frost “how to teach.” He may have needed the lessons. “[Frost] was regarded as dreamy and soft- Above: Robert and Elinor Frost at spoken, ‘wont to gaze into space and Plymouth, 1911. Below: the Frost discourse more to himself than the class.’” children at Plymouth. Yet to students he “always seems to be much interested in each of us as an individual.” However, teaching proved a distraction to his poetry and he left Plymouth for England after only a year of teaching at Plymouth. Photos from Quotes from Lesley Lee Francis, Robert Frost: an Adventure http://www.frostfriends.org/chronology.html in Poetry, 1900-1918 (2004).

Slide 12: Plymouth, late 1920s-early 1930s

Slide 13: Normal School Student Population Year Total 1926-1927 361 1927-1928 335 1928-1929 322 1929-1930 294 1930-1931 299 1931-1932 268 1935-1936 211 1932-1933 244 1936-1937 211 1933-1934 217 1937-1938 195 1934-1935 203 1938-1939 193 Information from Office of Institutional Research, courtesy of Nick Mathis

Slide 14: Expenses - 1935 Tuition • Free to all those who taught in NH • $150.00 for all others Room & Board • $222. 00 Fees Belknap Hall, a men’s dorm, purchased 1926. • $6.00 Greenhouse added 1928. Torn down for Blair Hall construction.

Slide 15: Mary Lyon Hall Mary Lyon Hall was built between 1913 and 1916. The first floor contained the music room, library, dining room (a sit-down affair with tablecloths and servers), and serving rooms for the kitchen. The second floor had single and double rooms; the third floor was for storage. The basement included the kitchen, two laundries, a gym/theatre, showers, lockers and, by the 1920s, a bowling alley. It also included a tunnel to Rounds Hall. Students did not have to go outside to get to class. Instead, they followed the steam-line tunnels. A tunnel was later extended to Samuel Read Hall Dorm.

Slide 16: Plymouth Teachers College: 1939-1963 Bird’s eye view of the College in the 1940s.

Slide 17: An Interview with Norton Bagley • “Interestingly enough, there was a very distinct sex bias in those days [late 1930s- early 1940s]. The men could smoke; the men could go down street after seven o’clock at night. Generally the men had many fewer rules than the girls did, really. Parents of that age… expected that the College would treat the girls exactly as their parents would have treated them. That is they had to be in at a certain hour of night; they couldn’t go down street after seven o’clock; they couldn’t smoke. They used to say it was a convent, that’s what the girls called it.” • On dating Bagley comically said “Dating? What do you mean dating? They locked the girls up. How you gonna date?” Norton Bagley, senior photo, 1941

Slide 18: Plymouth Teachers College: Student Population Year Total Women Men 1939-1940 206 175 31 Year Total Women Men 1940-1941 210 190 20 1951-1952 271 163 108 1941-1942 183 160 23 1952-1953 252 165 87 1953-1954 275 190 85 1942-1943 161 145 16 1954-1955 315 207 108 1943-1944 136 133 3 1955-1956 351 227 124 1944-1945 Not available 1956-1957 407 248 159 1945-1946 Not available 1957-1958 454 277 177 1946-1947 244 113 131 1958-1959 504 275 229 1947-1948 260 116 144 1959-1960 564 322 242 1948-1949 267 142 125 1960-1961 674 387 287 1949-1950 288 145 143 1961-1962 770 429 341 1950-1951 290 163 127 1962-1963 860 487 373

Slide 19: Mary Lyon Gymnasium – 1940s Note the attire. Pat Storer, Class of 1948, behind the President’s house “It was a certainly a period of change. The whole country was changing because some of the men who had been away for four or even five years… were coming back. And some of the women students had been in war industries, and now were going to start [their] education….. And there was a feeling… in the student body that there were some changes that needed to be made at Plymouth. And gradually they began to be made. “ -Pat Storer, later Dean of Women and the Registrar

Slide 20: By September 1950, Plymouth offered a full-year graduate program during the regular school year. The program aimed to educate college graduates who wished to teach at the elementary level. Postcard of Rounds Hall, c. 1958

Slide 21: Growth of the Teachers College • 1939: Speare opened (as a school building for the town). It later served as classroom, gymnasium, and theatre space for the College. • 1952: The student newspaper, The Clock, was founded. However, it began as a mimeographed newssheet edited by Norton Bagley and Henry Vittum around 1939. • 1956: Begun in 1955, Silver Hall was Speare opened as an auditorium/gymnasium. The grand opening was in December but the graduating class of 1956 turned their tassels in the unfinished building in May. It was renamed ‘Silver’ Hall in 1959 in honor of former President Ernest L. Silver. • 1958: Rounds Hall was renovated: Old Livermore Hall was divided between two floors. All three top floors were used as classrooms and offices. • 1960: Blair Dorm opened.

Slide 22: Expenses - 1955 Tuition • $150.00 in-state • $250.00 non-resident Room & Board A room in Mary Lyon • $500. 00 Fees 174 Main Street: Kappa Delta • $20.00 Phi Men’s Fraternity

Slide 23: Ernest L. Silver Auditorium-Gymnasium – now Silver Cultural Arts Center Abolitionist Nathaniel Rogers lived where Silver Center now stands. The corner stone of his house was incorporated into the 1956 Silver Hall. Additions were made to the building in 1969 after the Physical Education Department moved to the Field House and again in 1976. The last addition was in 1992. From http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/legport3/rogers.html

Slide 24: Plymouth State College: 1963 - 2003 “On July 1, 1963, New Hampshire lost two teachers colleges and gained a ‘multiversity.’ The law made two major changes in the state’s system of tax-supported higher education. The first change was to turn Keene and Plymouth Teachers Colleges into multi-purpose liberal arts institutions. The second was to make them divisions of the University of New Hampshire under an enlarged Board of Trustees.” New Hampshire Sunday News, March 18, 1964, p.13. PSC and KSC were actually not part of UNH (that was a reporter error) but the three institutions were combined under the University System of NH. The first liberal arts degrees offered at PSC were history, English, music, biological science, and math.

Slide 25: Plymouth State College, 1963-1979: Student Population Year Total Women Men 1963-1964 913 532 381 1964-1965 1087 622 465 1965-1966 1304 747 557 1966-1967 1380 829 551 Moving into Mary Lyon Hall in 1968 1967-1968 1486 828 658 Year Total Women Men 1968-1969 1631 926 705 1974-1975 2451 1255 1196 1969-1970 1907 1111 796 1975-1976 2568 1271 1253 1970-1971 2030 1117 913 1976-1977 2564 1249 1315 1971-1972 2194 1239 955 1977-1978 2591 1270 1321 1972-1973 2393 1287 1106 1978-1979 2587 1255 1332 1973-1974 2419 1288 1131 Information from Office of Institutional Research courtesy of Nick Mathis

Slide 26: Plymouth Model School, c.1960: Plymouth students were taught by professors and upper-class undergraduates. Professor Madie Barrett using a new technology for the classroom, TV, to teach French. Prof. Barrett was later Dean and Interim President of the College

Slide 27: Looking west from the Common up Highland Street, c.1970

Slide 28: Development of the Arts Although art and music had always been offered, during the 1950s and 1960s, none of the arts were yet distinct majors. When physical education moved out of Silver Hall, the arts, especially music, grew rapidly, albeit not without a few growing pains. As Prof. Carleen Theatre Prof. Roi White Graff recalls, the auditorium “was used for everything: rock bands, air bands, magicians, hypnotists, dances, dinners, plays, department concerts, performing arts series, and hospital fairs.” Theater had been part of the English department. Prof. Roi White mounted numerous plays during the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s, the Theatre Department was established and a B.A. in theatre offered for the first time. Dance, which began as part of physical education, moved to Silver and developed as a minor in the early 1990s.

Slide 29: The Pumpkins In 1975, the “Great Pumpkin Society” began the tradition of mounting pumpkins on the spires of Rounds Hall. The first year there was only one pumpkin but the second year and, every year since, the “accomplished climbers of the Great Pumpkin Society” have used at least two. In 2001, 1975: a lopsided arrangement rectified the next year. there were four!

Slide 30: Expenses - 1975 Tuition • $617.00 in-state • $1550.00 non-resident Room & Board • $1050. 00 Fees • $61.00 Rounds Hall and power plant, c. 1975.

Slide 31: Football arrived – D&M Park John Foley was a driving force behind the men’s athletic program at Plymouth. He led the move to establish the Physical Education major. Interestingly, the Physical Education major began as part of the Social Science Department! Leading athletes may now receive the John C. Foley leadership award to honor outstanding leadership in athletics. October 3, 1970 with Plymouth State versus Nichols. Plymouth State became the first Division III New England football team to be selected as one of eight squads to play in the national playoffs in 1984.

Slide 32: Continued and Accelerated Growth • 1964: Lamson Library (enlarged in 1997) • 1965: Pemi Hall • 1967: Grafton Hall • 1968: Geneva Smith Hall • 1968: Boyd Hall • 1968: Prospect Dining Hall • 1968: Married Student Housing • 1969: Belknap Hall • 1969: PE Center Construction of the PE Center • 1972: College Union Building • 1972: Winterim began • 1976: Hyde Hall

Slide 33: The tragedy at Kent State awakened students. In May 1970, over 750 students gathered at the PE Center and voted (410-353) to postpone classes and normal activities for two days and a weekend. Picture of a fist 1970s: symbolized the student strike against the war and escalating Winterim started in 1972 in violence. reaction to the energy crisis. Yet, life went on, with games and academic pursuits…. ----------------------- Model U.N.: Plymouth State reached out to the high school students across the state with the Model U.N. Begun in the early 1950s, it continued Basketball game, PSC, in through the 1980s. Silver Hall gym

Slide 34: Tubing Regatta First “Snow Day” in 20 years 3.14.84 Social Life at Plymouth State: 1980s The Pemigewassett River was inviting during the spring when the water ran high. The abundance of snow supported annual winter carnivals. Unlike more recent times, classes were rarely cancelled due to snow conditions. March 14, 1984 was the first time in 20 years that classes were cancelled. Winter Carnival 1981

Slide 35: PSU’s Holderness campus has had its share of floods. Top left: students rowing on North River Street in 1981; the other two snapshots are the 1986 flood that caused substantial flooding to the PE Center complex. A present-day gasoline station in Holderness still displays the flood markings on a portion of the building that was retained during major renovations.

Slide 36: Draper & Maynard 1997 Plymouth State purchased the D&M Building in 1993. After reconstruction, the Art and HHP Departments moved to D&M in 1997. The Karl Drerup Gallery on the first floor presents professional exhibitions, lectures, films and other regular events. D&M before renovations

Slide 37: DRAPER & MAYNARD BUILDING Built in 1911, the D&M Sporting Factory is credited with designing the first padded baseball glove in the US. From http://www.nhhistory.org/baseballquiz/baseball4.html

Slide 38: Student population: 1987-2002 Year Total Women Men 1987 3048 1487 1561 Year Total Women Men 1988 3061 1515 1546 1995 3601 1737 1864 1989 3275 1610 1665 1996 3494 1682 1812 1990 3427 1649 1778 1997 3412 1634 1778 1991 3458 1666 1792 1998 3232 1542 1690 1992 3566 1750 1816 1999 3128 1504 1624 2000 3199 1603 1596 1993 3544 1680 1864 2001 3319 1704 1615 1994 3546 1681 1865 2002 3514 1784 1730 2007 4190

Slide 39: Expenses - 1995 Tuition • $2,590.00 in-state • $7,870.00 non-resident Room & Board • $4024. 00 Fees • $792.00 Hartman Union Building: The old CUB renovated and expanded, 1995-1996

Slide 40: Plymouth State University 2004-Present

Slide 41: PSU Mission Statement “As a public regional university, Plymouth State University serves the state of New Hampshire and New England by providing well-educated graduates; by offering ongoing opportunities for graduate education and professional development; and by extending to communities partnership opportunities for cultural enrichment and economic development. In each of these roles, Plymouth State University has a special commitment of service to the North Country and Lakes Region of New Hampshire. As a Carnegie Masters I University, Plymouth State confers a comprehensive range of bachelor’s degrees as well as Master’s degrees and Certificates of Advanced Graduate Studies in selected areas.”

Slide 42: Expenses – 2007-08 Tuition • $6,180.00 in-state • $13,730.00 non-resident Room & Board • $8,030. 00 Fees • $1,764.00 Lamson Library 2006-2007 Operating Budget: $53,688,686 State appropriations: $11, 640,144

Slide 43: Home of the Panthers Field Hockey, Basketball and Tennis were among the first sports played at Plymouth. Over the years intercollegiate and intramurals have flourished. More public school coaches working in New Hampshire today have graduated from Plymouth State than any other institution. Plymouth takes pride in their NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) philosophy where PSU athletes are students first. From Beatrice Hodgdon (PNS, 1916) to John Foley (1940s-1960s) to John P. Clark, Panther pride continues to thrive!

Slide 44: Panther Teams in Review: 1973-2007 Women’s Sports Men’s Sports 1973 7 teams 100 women 13 teams 320 men 1998 9 teams 9 teams 2007 11 teams 200 women 8 teams 250 men Numbers based on NCAA guidelines regarding students charged with a year of eligibility.

Slide 45: Langdon Woods PSU’s newest dorm opened in the fall of 2006. It is the state’s first residence hall—and one of the nation’s largest—to earn gold- level certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership- Energy-Environmental Design (LEED) program. (PSU, PR announcement)

Slide 46: PSU Climate Commitment Pledge The University recently became a member of the American College & University President’s Climate Commitment. Presidents signing the Commitment are pledging to eliminate their campuses’ greenhouse gas emissions. In signing the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, President Steen pledges to neutralize the campus’ greenhouse-gas emissions over time. This involves: • Developing a curriculum that incorporates these initiatives and culminates in a new degree program. • Integrating sustainability across the curriculum, making it part of every educational experience. • Within two years, setting a target date and interim milestones for becoming climate-neutral. • Becoming carbon neutral within seven years. • Taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. • Completing an emissions inventory. • Making the action plan, inventory and progress reports publicly available. May 2007, PR release from PSU

Slide 47: Plymouth State Quick Facts: Fall 2007 46 majors 191 full-time faculty [79 professors, 53 associate professors, 33 assistant professors, 20 contract faculty, 6 other] 181 adjuncts for the fall 1415 course sections available 4190 undergraduates 1575 graduate students Numbers courtesy of Office of Academic Affairs and PSU Institutional Research http://www.met.utah.edu/galleries/home_page_images/ fog_psc.JPG/photo_view

Slide 48: Principals/Presidents of Plymouth State Silas H. Pearl (1871-1873) P or NHNS Horatio O. Ladd (1873-1876) Ambrose P. Kelsey (1876-1879) Henry Pitt Warren (1879-1883) Charles Collins Rounds (1883-1896) Alfred Hills Campbell (1896-1900) James E. Klock (1900-1911) Ernest Leroy Silver (1911-1946) PTC Howard R. Jones (1946-1951) Harold Eldred Hyde (1951-1977) PSC Kasper C. Marking (1977-1983) Madie Barrett, Interim (1983-1984) William J. Farrell (1984-1992) Theodora J. Kalikow, Interim (1992-1993) Donald P. Wharton (1993-2007) PSU Sara Jayne Steen (2007-present)

Slide 49: Created by Marcia Schmidt Blaine and Louise Samaha McCormack with help from a great many people and offices, especially Alice Staples (PSU Archivist), John Clark (Director of Athletics), Norton Bagley (professor emeritus), the Office of Institutional Research, and the Office of Academic Affairs. Blaine and McCormack will be periodically updating the history. Please feel free to contact them with additional information at mblaine@plymouth.edu and All photos courtesy of PSU Archives and PSU louisem@plymouth.edu. websites unless otherwise noted.