Marilyn Church Collection
Abstract
Marilyn Church was a professor in the Department of Early Childhood-Elementary Education and served as director of the Center for Young Children at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her papers relate to various aspects of early chilhood education and concern primarily the teaching career of Esther G. Cristy and the film collaboration projects of James L. Hymes.
Important Information for Users of the Collection
This collection is open for research.
Marilyn Church Collection, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.
Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials policy for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator.
This collection is PROCESSED.
Historical Note
Marilyn Church was born and raised in Iowa, and between 1945 and 1954, she taught at several kindergartens and public schools in Iowa and Nebraska. She then served as Head Teacher at a nursery in Mason City, Iowa, until she entered Indiana University in 1959. She received her B.S. in elementary education in 1962, and continued her studies, taking her M.S. the next year and becoming a member of the Pi Lambda Theta Honorary Society for women in education. In 1969, she received her Ed. D. in educational psychology, also from Indiana University. Throughout her graduate studies, she continued teaching, serving as an instructor at both Indiana University and Central Missouri State University. In 1969 she came to the University of Maryland and taught as an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Head Start Regional Office, the Department of Early Childhood-Elementary Education, and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She has also served as the Director of the Center for Young Children of the University of Maryland at College Park.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The items in the Marilyn Church Collection date from 1909 to approximately 1960. The collection consists of scrapbooks, notebooks, and a toy from Esther G. Cristy and a photograph of a kindergarten class. Also included are five 16mm educational films which were made with the collabortion of James L. Hymes, Jr., who was a professor of education at the University of Maryland.
Custodial History and Acquisition Information
The Marilyn Church Collection was donated to the University of Maryland College Park Libraries by Marilyn Church in 1988.
Processing Information
Processed by Glenn Gardner, August 1989.
The materials in the collection have been divided into two series. Metal paper clips have been removed. Acid-free paper has been placed between the leaves of the scrapbooks to prevent acid migration. The scrapbooks and notebooks have been placed in acid-free folders in an acid-free box. The photograph has been transferred to the Photograph Collection. Childrens' books and reference sources on early childhood education originally included in the collection have been transferred to the Rare Books and Literary Manuscripts Department as part of the Association for Childhood Education International book collection (ACEI book numbers 675-687); a listing of these materials is appended to this guide. All films have been transferred to the Film Collection.
EAD markup created using EAD database in Microsoft Access. Markup completed by Sarah Heim, May 2004.
Arrangement of Collection
The collection has been divided into two series.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Series 1: Esther Cristy, 1909 (0.50 linear feet)
This series consists of items given to Marilyn Church by Margaret Stant, College of Education, University of Maryland. All items were originally posessions of Esther G. Cristy, an early twentieth-century kindergarten teacher. Included are two of Cristy's notebooks. One is entitled Program Works-Kindergarten Department and contains a week-by-week manuscript plan of suggested games, instruction, and activities for a kindergarten. The other notebook is filled with detailed manuscript notes on Froebelian "gifts," an early method of teaching young children coordination. There were some loose manuscript notes on "gifts" contained in the "gifts" notebook, dated April 4, 1909, which have been placed adjacent to the notebook.
Three of Esther Cristy's scrapbooks are also in the collection. They consist of a "weaving" scrapbook, with examples of paper weaving, a "sewing" scrapbook with examples of sewing on paper, and a "folding" scrapbook, with samples of paperfolding and paper cutout figures. A photograph, dated May 6, 1909, depicts a kindergarten class which was most likely one of Cristy's; it has been removed and placed in the photographic collection. A toy consisting of three knit balls tied together with string, has also been removed and placed in the memorabilia collection (#830). This series has been arranged by material type.
| Description | Series | Box / Reel | Folder / Frame | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notebooks -- Program Works -- Kindergarden Department, 1909 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 1 | |
| Notebooks -- "Gifts", 1909 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 2 | |
| Scrapbooks -- Sewing, 1909 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 3 | |
| Scrapbooks -- Folding, 1909 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 4 | |
| Scrapbooks -- Weaving, 1909 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 5 | |
| Photograph, Kindergarden Class, 1909 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 6 | |
| Yarn Balls, Memorabilia #830, circa 1909 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 7 | |
Series 2: Films, 1960 (0.50 linear feet)
This series consists of five 16mm sound films, each approximately 11 minutes in length. All were produced by Coronet Films, with James L. Hymes, Jr., of the University of Maryland, listed as the educational collaborator. These were saved from disposal in the College of Education by Marilyn Church. They have been transferred to the film collection.
| Description | Series | Box / Reel | Folder / Frame | Item | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Films, circa 1960 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 1 | ||
| "Beginning Responsibility: Learning to Follow Instructions", ca. 1960 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 1 | item 1 | |
| "Beginning Responsibility: Rules at School", ca. 1960 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 1 | item 2 | |
| "Helpers at our School", ca. 1960 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 1 | item 3 | |
| "People are Different and Alike", ca. 1960 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 1 | item 4 | |
| "What To Do about Upset Feelings", ca. 1960 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 1 | item 5 | |
Related Material
Materials relating to early childhood education may also be found in the archives of the Association for Childhood Education International in the holdings of the Historical Manuscripts and Archives Department.
For other related archival and manuscript collections, please see the following subject guides.
Separated Material
-
Books Transferred from the Marilyn Church Collection to the ACEI Book Collection
- Dolch, Edward W., Marguerite P. Dolch, and Beulah F. Jackson. Famous Stories for Pleasure Reading. Champaign, IL: Garrard Press, 1955.
- Dressel, Herman, M. Madilene Verenka, and May Robbins. The Laidlaw Readers Primer. Chicago: Laidlaw Brothers, 1916.
- Eliot, Henrietta R. and Susan E. Blow. The Mottoes and Commentaries of Friedrich Froebel's Mother Play. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1899.
- Blow, Susan E., ed. The Songs and Music of Friedrich Froebel's Mother Play. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1901.
- Jarvis, Josephine, trans. Friedrich Froebel's Education by Development. New York: D. Appleton and Compnay, 1900.
- Jarvis, Josephine, trans. Friedrich Froebels' Pedagogies of the Kindergarten. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1900.
- Hale, Edward Everett. The Hale Literary Readers, Book One. Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York: World Book Company, 1925.
- International Kindergarten Union. The Kindergarten: Reports of the Committee of Nineteen on the Theory and Practice of the Kindergarten. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
- Mitchell, Lucy Sprague. Another Here and Now Story Book. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1937.
- Mitchell, Lucy Sprague. Here and Now Story Book: Two-through Seven-year olds. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1948.
- Rickoff, Rebecca D. Appletons' Chart-Primer. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885.
- Riley, James Whitcomb. Riley Child-Rhymes. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1905.
- Wiltse, Sara E. Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1890.
Selected Search Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the University of Maryland Libraries' Catalog. Researchers desiring related materials about these topics, names, or places may search the Catalog using these headings.
Subjects
- Early childhood education -- United States.