CHAPTER XXXV.

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT ALBANY.

[Placed by law under the Regents of the University and the Superintendent of Public Instruction.]

2

The first attempts in the establishment of courses of normal instruction were made in the Academies as already noticed. The history, organization and results of special institutions for the preparation of Common School teachers, as they existed in Europe, were well known and often discussed in the country; but it was not until 1839 that the first American school of this kind under State patronage was established in Massachusetts, although in the city of New York one for local use had been in operation for some years before. The Academic departments were admitted to be useful, and in some cases eminently successful, while in other cases, more especially in those where their maintenance was made a condition to the distribution of the Literature Fund above $700, they were mere formalities, without existence except upon record; there being neither a want for their presence, nor special preparations for their operation.

Meanwhile various agencies were quietly at work, all tending to a better provision for the qualification of teacher of Common Schools. In 1830 a committee of citizens of Rochester asked for a State Teachers' Seminary. In 1833 Gov. Marcy suggested some plan as desirable. The provision for teachers' classes in Academies had begun to operate, showing success in some cases, and revealing the need of something better in others. A board of visitors of schools established through the efforts of John C. Spencer, as Secretary of State, and of which the Rev. Alonzo Potter of Union College, was Chairman, lent its influence in support of more effectual measures. The District School Journal begun at Geneva in 1840, by Francis Dwight, and afterward removed to Albany, supplied every school district in the State at public expense, with sound views upon the

1 Governor Seward, in his message of 1839, in alluding to this subject, remarked:

"We seem at last to have ascertained the only practicable manner of introducing Normal Schools into our country. It is by engrafting that system upon our Academies. I ardently hope you will adopt such further legislation as is required to make this effort successful"

Normal Schools were established at Framingham, Bridgewater and Westfield, Mass., in 1839.

subject, and in 1842, a convention of county superintendents at Utica, at which the Rev. Alonzo Potter, Horace Mann and George B. Emerson attended, gave the weight of its influence in favor of a Normal School. A like convention in 1843 renewed the recommendation as essential to the educational system of the State.

The Superintendent of Common Schools, in his report of 1843,' in referring to this subject, said:

"The great cause of the failure of these departments to effect much practical good seems to be that the bounty of the State is diffused over too great surface. Sixteen institutions now receive annually $300 each for this purpose, making in the whole $4,800. While the share of each is so inconsiderable, educational science will be regarded as wholly subordinate to Academic instruction."

The discussion finally led to the passage of an act for the establishment of a Normal School on the 7th of May, 1844,' under the joint direction of the Superintendents of Common Schools and the Regents of the University. It appropriated $9,600 for first expenses, and $10,000 a year for five years, for the maintenance, but made no provision for building. Its immediate management was intrusted to an executive committee of five, whereof the Superintendent of Common Schools was one, and ex officio the Chairman. The first members of this committee appointed were the Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., Gideon Hawley, Rev. William H. Campbell, D. D.,3 and Francis Dwight, and their first duties were the preparation of a set of rules and regulations for its government.

The corporation of the city of Albany on the first of August following, offered for its use, for a term of five years, free of rent, a building on the north side of State street, a little below the Capitol Park, which had previously been used as a passenger depot by the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad Company, and agreed to pay $500 toward fitting it up for use, making the total contribution of the city $5,750.

1 Common School Report, 1843, p. 18.

2 Chapter 311, p. 464, Laws of 1844. The Hon. Calvin F. Hulburt of St Lawrence, Chairman of Committee on Colleges, Academies and Common Schools, in Assembly, and the Hon. Michael Hoffman of Herkimer, were conspicuous in their advocacy of this bill.

3 Dr. Campbell was then pastor of the Third Reformed Church in Albany. He was afterward for three years Principal of the Albany Academy, then Professor in the Theological Seminary of his denomination, and for a long period President of Rutgers College at New Brunswick, N. J.

Delays occurred in procuring a title, and from other causes so that repairs could not be commenced before October 17, and the opening did not occur until the 18th of December. Twenty-nine pupils appeared at the beginning, and at the time of the first report (January 29, 1845), ninety-three were in attendance, of whom sixtyseven were State pupils, and the remainder volunteers. The first instructors were DAVID PERKINS PAGE,' Newburyport, Massachusetts, as Principal; GEORGE R. PERKINS, of Utica, Professor of Mathematics; FERDINAND G. ILSLEY, Teacher of Vocal Music; and G. B. HOWARD, Teacher of Drawing.

The Normal School thus established has since been continued without material change in organization or plan. In 1854, the Superintendent of Public Instruction took the place of the Superintendent of Common Schools [Secretary of State], and has regularly reported its condition to the Legislature. The Executive Committee has also made an annual report to the Board of Regents who have transmitted it to the Legislature.

It is deemed sufficient in this place to present a concise outline of present organization, and a summary of operations of this institution.

RULES OF ADMISSION. Applicants should apply to their School Commissioner, who will upon knowledge of qualifications send a certificate to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who will indorse it, and send to the President, in whose hands the applicant will find it. The allowance is two from each Assembly District; but since other Normal Schools have been opened it is practically open to all. If a county has more applicants than allowed, the vacant places of other counties are filled. Applicants must sign a declaration that their object in coming is to prepare themselves as teachers, and that they intend to devote themselves to the work of instruction in the public schools of the State. They must possess certain qualifications in Arithmetic, Geography, Grammar, Spelling and Reading, specified in the rules, and sufficient to enable them to enter the lower class to advantage. Those not having a Regents' Preliminary Certificate. must be examined. Females must be at least sixteen, and males eighteen years old, and for advanced class a proportionately greater age. Maturity of mind is deemed indispensable, and none without weighty reasons are admitted after the beginning of the term.

TERMS: COURSE OF STUDY There are two terms in a year; the Fall term beginning on the second Wednesday of September and the Spring term on the second Wednesday of February. Each

'Mr. Page was a cousin of Professor Perkins. He was the author of a system of Penmanship, and an eloquent lecturer upon education.

term continues twenty weeks, and those prepared are graduated at the end of each term.

The course extends through two years. The studies are as follows:

JUNIOR CLASS, 1st TERM. Arithmetic, English Grammar, Geogra phy, Map Drawing, Penmanship, Physiology, Algebra, Didactics.

2d TERM. Algebra continued, Higher Arithmetic, Elocution, Rhetoric, English Grammar, Botany, Natural Philosophy, History of the United States, Didactics.

SENIOR CLASS, 1st TERM. Geometry, Natural Philosophy, Ethics, Astronomy, History, Science of Government, Higher Algebra, Criticism, Free-hand and Industrial Drawing, Didactics.

2d TERM. English Literature, Mental Philosophy, Trigonometry and Surveying, Chemistry, Geology, Book-keeping, Political Economy, Evidences of Christianity, Natural History, Comparative Anatomy, Practical Use of the Microscope, Didactics, Teaching in Model School.

Composition, Elocution and Vocal Music receive prominent attention throughout the course.

DIPLOMAS. These entitle their holders to engage in teaching without further examination.

EXPENSES. Tuition and Text-books are free. The actual fare paid in coming is refunded to those present at the beginning of the term and remaining till its close. There are no dormitories. Board is furnished in families approved by the committee at from $3.50 to $4 per week exclusive of washing.

BUILDINGS. The rooms hired near the head of State street below the Capitol were vacated at the end of the lease, and a building was erected on the north-west corner of Lodge and Howard streets, and this is still in use as a residence of the President, and for all school purposes.

In 1883, the Legislature was asked for an appropriation for repairs, but an examination having proved the building unsafe, it was decided to build a new one. The sum of $125,000, and the proceeds from the sale of the old site and building were appropriated, and a site was chosen on Willett street fronting upon Washington park, where a new building of most approved plan has been built, and will be opened in 1885.1

1 The act for the erection of the Normal School building was passed May 29 1883. Senators Abraham Lausing, of Albany, and Addison P. Jones, of Catskill, were greatly interested in procuring this enactment. The materials of the old

The Normal School has no library worth noticing.

RESOURCES. The appropriation for maintenance has been $18,000 a year, and in no instance have the expenses been allowed to go beyond the means at command. Several special appropriations have been made, and there is an income from tuition in the model or experimental school that is applied toward the payment of expenses.

The receipts of the year ending September 30, 1883, were $23,323.70, including a balance of $684.85 on hand at the beginning of the year.

The attendance in the Model School during the term ending January, 1883, was 128, and in the term ending in June, 1883, 111. Different scholars during the year, 161.

FACULTY. This consists of a President and eleven professors and instructors, receiving in all the sum of $12,836 as salaries.

PRINCIPALS (since 1867 Presidents) OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT ALBANY.

David Perkins Page, A. M. December 18, 1844, till his death, January 1, 1848.

George R. Perkins, LL. D. January 1, 1848, till his resignation, July 8, 1852.

Samuel B. Woolworth, LL. D. September 20, 1852, till his resignation, February 1, 1856, upon appointment as Secretary of Regents.

David H. Cochran, A. M., Ph. D. February 1, 1856. Re

Capitol were purchased for the building, which was erected upon plans proposed by Messrs. Ogden and Wright, architects of Albany.

It is described as follows: Front on Willett street and the Park, 128 feet; depth 160 feet; court in the centre 50 x 90 feet. Designed to accommodate 400 Normal students, 200 pupils in the model department, fifty in the Kindergarten and twenty in the Object Class. North and south flanks three stories high, with central part front two stories. The central part stands back six feet from the front of the two flanks. The latter are 104 feet deep, and running transversely across the easterly end is a four-story building with a proportionally high roof. Style renaissance, with frieze-band and sill courses of terra cotta, and moulded brick liberally treated The ground story, elevated four feet above the grade, is faced with Nyack sandstone taken from the old Capitol, and laid in rock faced random ashlar. The exterior walls above this and the court are faced with Glens Falls pressed brick, with high windows and door dressings of brown stone. The lower ashlar is of upper aqueduct blue stone. The internal arrangements, ventilation, heating and drainage are planned with the utmost care. The building is practically fire proof. Each floor is filled with mineral wool, all partitions are of brick or hollow tile and all beams are of iron.