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Home > Collections > Board
of Education, 1842-2002 > James Marshall Papers, 1930-1986
James Marshall Papers, 1930-1986
Introduction
The James Marshall Papers, 1930-1986, document the educational work of
a prominent member and officer of the Board of Education. They comprise Series
354 of the Board of Education Records and are part of the subgroup of records
of members of the Board. They have been assigned accession number 04-075.
The papers were donated by the estate of James Marshall to the Board of Education
Archives (then in the custody of Teachers College) in 1986. They were transferred
to the New York City Municipal Archives in 2004.
The series consists of 12 cubic feet of records. They were organized and
inventoried by the Municipal Archives in 2005 with support from the New York
State Archives under its Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund.
Biographical Note
James Marshall was appointed to the Board of Education by Mayor Fiorello
LaGuardia in 1935 and became recognized as an articulate “reform” member
of the Board. He was elected vice president of the Board in 1936 and president
of the Board in 1938, serving as president through 1942. He remained a member
of the Board until 1952.
Born in New York in 1895, Marshall attended the Ethical Culture School, the
Columbia University School of Journalism and the Columbia Law School, from
which he graduated in 1920. After service in the army in World War I, he entered
his father’s law firm, Guggenheimer, Untermyer, and Marshall, before
founding his own firm of Marshall, Bratter, Greene, Allison, and Tucker. His
father, Louis Marshall, was a noted constitutional lawyer, conservationist,
and leader of Jewish organizations whose achievements included drafting the
provision in the state constitution guaranteeing the
wild status of the Adirondack Park and the founding of the Jewish Agency for
Palestine under the League of Nations mandate.
Marshall followed many of his father’s interests in the realm of public
service. He went to Palestine to report on Jewish settlements, served on the
board of governors of the American Jewish Committee, helped found the Natural
Resources Defense Council, and served on the boards of the Adirondack Council
and the Wilderness Society. In the closing years of World War II he was a leading
advocate of the creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Active in liberal Republican politics in New York, Marshall chaired the New
York County Republican Advisory Committee and helped manage LaGuardia’s
first mayoral campaign. Although he maintained good relations with Republican
politicians after LaGuardia appointed him to the Board of Education, Marshall
insisted that his work on the Board, including his role in appointments of
school officials, be entirely free of political interference.
During and after his service on the Board, Marshall maintained an active
schedule of speaking and writing on educational philosophy and policy. Throughout
his career he advocated a “progressive” approach to educational
curriculum and method. This included an emphasis on the diversity of pupils’ needs,
the individualization of instruction, and the provision of informal extra-curricular
activities.
James Marshall died in New York in 1985 at the age of 90.
Related Collection
The American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio, also received a collection
of James Marshall’s papers from his estate in 1986. That collection,
dealing with matters other than public education in New York City, should be
consulted for a more complete understanding of his life, work, and thought.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of records of Marshall’s work in the field of
education, broadly, including his work as a member of the Board of Education
and his activities as an advocate of progressive education, including his writings,
speeches, and public statements on matters of educational philosophy and policy.
Most of the records are from the period up to 1952, when Marshall served on
the Board, but some relate to his continued educational interests in later
years. This distinction is reflected in the subseries organization.
The materials are those which Marshall, himself, chose to retain and to contribute
to the Board of Education archives. As such, they emphasize the issues and
projects that he felt were most important. Some of these emphases are reflected
in the subject files, including files relating to the school building program,
anti-corruption efforts, racial issues, juvenile delinquency, and staff relations.
Other issues, such as Marshall’s insistence on excluding political influence
from appointments, are reflected in the correspondence files, including the
correspondence with Mayor LaGuardia.
The fullest explication of Marshall’s educational ideas and policy
concerns is presented in the speeches, articles, and other writings. The subseries
of speeches includes extensive files of the texts and drafts of speeches given
throughout his career. Some of his special concerns, often matters of controversy
over authority for finance and administration of the schools, are reflected
in the subseries of press releases and public statements.
A general review of Marshall’s work in public education, prepared at
the time of his retirement from the Board, is included in the biographical
subseries. An extensive list of his files, as they were stored in 1952, is
also in this subseries; unfortunately those files were not retained by the
Board of Education.
The period after Marshall’s retirement from the board is represented
by several subseries: subject files, correspondence, speeches, and writings.
While the quantity of such records is limited, they demonstrate Marshall’s
continued active advocacy of educational modernization.
Series Descriptions
Subseries I through Subseries IX contain materials primarily related to Marshall’s
educational work during the years of his service on the Board of Education,
up to 1952. Subseries X through XIII contain materials related to Marshall’s
activities in education after his retirement from the Board.
Subseries I. Board of Education Minutes and Resolutions. 1934-1952. 0.25 cu.
ft.
The subseries contains typescript and mimeographed versions of minutes and
resolutions from selected Board meetings. Arranged by type of record and then
chronologically. These minutes were issued prior to the published version,
for immediate use by board members. The resolutions were ones introduced by
Marshall on topics of special concern, such as the “Use of Schools for
Controversial Purposes.”
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Subseries II. Subject Files. 1935-1952. 1.5 cu. ft.
The subject files include correspondence, memoranda, reports, and clippings,
arranged alphabetically. The topical subjects included are generally policy
and administrative issues with which Marshall was especially concerned, such
as the building program, and efforts to eliminate corruption in procurement.
Files on staff relations document Marshall’s effort in developing a program
for consultation and communication with staff organizations in the era before
collective bargaining.
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Subseries III. Correspondence. 1935-1952. 1.25 cu. ft.
The correspondence files are arranged in categories reflecting the way Marshall
maintained them. The subseries begins with files of fairly lively corresondence
with Mayor LaGuardia and Commissioner of Parks Robert Moses. Other notable
correspondence relates to Marshall’s books, articles, speeches, and radio
appearances. Several files contain letters of congratulation and commendation
regarding Marshall’s election as vice president and president of the
Board. Finally, the subseries includes an alphabetical sequence of general
correspondence, including correspondence with officials, colleagues, and members
of the public.
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Subseries IV. Speeches, Addresses, Broadcasts. 1930-1952. 1 cu. ft.
Drafts and texts of speeches, radio addresses, and a lantern slide presentation.
Arranged by format, then chronologically. The first set of files consists of
a “quasi-album” compilation, by Marshall, of many of his speeches
for the years 1936 to 1940. Duplicates or variants of some of these speeches
are included in the following sequence of speech files arranged chronologically
from 1930 to 1952. Texts of a number of radio addresses, primarily in the 1940s,
and a lantern side script on immigration, complete the subseries.
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Subseries V. Press Releases and Public Statements. 1935-1952. 0.25 cu. ft.
Texts of Marshall’s statements to the Board of education and press releases
and other statements designed for public distribution. Arranged by format and
then chronologically. These are generally mimeographed statements on matters
of policy or political controversy with which Marshall was especially concerned.
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Subseries VI. Writings. 1935-1952. 1.75 cu. ft.
Published reports and articles; drafts of books and articles; and source notes
for writings. Arranged by format, then chronologically. Included is a set of
reports of the Board’s Committee for the Study of the Care and Education
of Physically Handicapped Children, 1941, which Marshall chaired. Several files
contain drafts of books, “Administration and Human Behavior,” and “The
Business of Schools is Children”.
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Subseries VII. Biographical and Memorabilia. 1952, 1986. 0.5 cu. ft.
A small group of records created in 1952 at the time of Marshall’s retirement
from the Board, consisting of an essay on his role in education, a list of
his files, a biographical summary, and the record of a dinner in his honor.
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Subseries VIII. Photographs, 1938-1982. 0.5 cu. ft.
Photographs of Marshall, with related correspondence, arranged chronologically;
and an album of photographs of children in the schools prepared by the Film
Production Unit of the World’s Fair Exhibit Committee of the Board of
Education, 1939.
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Subseries IX. Scrapbooks, 1936-1958. 4 cu. ft.
Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. Arranged chronologically. The clippings
relate to activities, events, and policy controversies in the New York City
schools, and especially Marshall’s role in these matters. One scrapbooks
consists specially of clippings on the activities of the Coudert-Rapp Committee
of the New York State Legislature, which carried out controversial anti-communist
investigations.
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Subseries X. Subject Files (post-Board of Education). 1952-1968. 0.5 cu. ft.
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, and clippings. Arranged alphabetically
by topic.
Included are files on general educational topics of special interest to Marshall,
such as academic freedom and juvenile deliquency, and also a group of files
on the work of the Staff Relations Committee within the Board of Education,
which continued a project Marshall had developed.
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Subseries XI. Correspondence (post-Board of Education). 1952-1965. 0.25 cu.
ft.
General correspondence, arranged chronologically. Includes correspondence
with associates and members of the public.
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Subseries XII. Speeches and Addresses (Post-Board of Education). 1952-1972.
0.25 cu. ft
Texts and drafts of speeches, lectures and radio and television broadcasts.
Arranged by format, then chronologically. Includes speeches and broadcasts
on educational topics, and a series of lectures at Hebrew University, 1954.
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Subseries XIII. Writings (post-Board of Education). 1952-1985. 0.5 cu. ft.
Published books and articles and typed drafts. Includes copies of his published
works and also a draft of the book “Hostility and Education.”
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