Main content
Plumstead Township School Board records
Notifications
Held at: Plumstead Historical Society [Contact Us]P.O. Box 1725, Plumsteadville, PA, 18949
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Plumstead Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Free School Act of 1834 established a system of public schools in Pennsylvania. A century later, Plumstead Township in Bucks County boasted a dozen different schools under the purview of the Plumstead Township School Board: River Hill, Southwestern, Valley Park, Rocky Ridge, Groveland, Plumsteadville, Tohickon Hill, Dyer's Hill, Prospect Corner, Gardenville, Western Brick, and Smith Corner. The schools were consolidated in 1959, when Plumstead joined nearby Buckingham and Doylestown townships to form the Central Bucks Joint Elementary School Board. Gayman Elementary School, finished in 1961, replaced eight remaining one- and two-room schoolhouses in Plumstead Township. George G. Gayman (1886-1972) was a former school teacher active on the school board.
Bibliography:
Plumstead Township Historic Advisory Committee. Images of America: Plumstead Township. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2005.
The bulk of this collection is school attendance registers for Plumstead Township; the collection also includes various supporting records relating to the Plumstead Township School Board and successor, Central Bucks Joint School Board.
The school attendance registers, which include teacher's monthly reports, date from 1861 to 1937 and are organized by school. They consist of the following: 1. Gardenville: 1861-1865, 1865-1871, 1871-1876, 1881-1887, 1887-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915, 1915-1921 2. Dyers Hill: 1861-1865, 1876-1881, 1881-1887, 1887-1864, 1897-1901, 1912-1915, 1915-1920, 1931-1932 3. Southwestern: 1871-1875 (then Curly Hill school), 1876-1880, 1880-1887, 1888-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915, 1915-1921 4. Valley Park: 1861-1865, 1870-1875, 1876-1880, 1881-1887, 1887-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915, 1915-1921, 1932-1933, 1933-1934, 1934-1935, 1935-1936 5. Plumsteadville: 1861-1865, 1865-1871, 1871-1875, 1876-1880, 1880-1887, 1887-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915 (primary), 1911-1918, 1932-1933, 1930-1931 (grades 1-4), 1933-1934 (grades 1-4), 1933-1934 (grades 5-8), 1934-1935 (grades 1-4), 1934-1935 (grades 5-8), 1935-1936 (grades 1-4) 6. Western Brick: 1865-1870, 1871-1875, 1876-1880, 1881-1887, 1887-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915, 1915-1920, 1933-1934, 1935-1936 7. Rocky Ridge: 1865-1871, 1896-1901, 1908-1915, 1915-1921 8. Prospect Corner: 1861-1865, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1915-1920, 1923-1924, 1926-1927, 1931-1932, 1933-1934, 1934-1935, 1935-1936, 1936-1937 9. River Hill: 1861-1865, 1871-1876, 1876-1877, 1876-1881, 1881-1882 (primary), 1881-1887, 1887-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915, 1928-1929, 1929-1930, 1930-1931, 1931-1932 (list of pupils), 1932-1933, 1933-1934, 1934-1935 10. Tohickon Hill: 1861-1865, 1865-1871, 1871-1876, 1876-1881, 1881-1887, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915, 1915-1921 11. Groveland (also Easter Brick): 1861-1865, 1865-1871, 1876-1881, 1881-1887, 1887-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1905, 1908-1915, 1930-1931, 1932-1933, 1934-1935, 1935-1936 12. Smith Corner: 1861-1865, 1865-1871, 1871-1876, 1876-1881, 1881-1887, 1887-1894, 1894-1901, 1901-1908, 1908-1915
Other records of the Plumstead Township School Board and its successor, the Central Bucks Joint School Board, include: financial documents such as treasurer's reports, salary proposals, bills, accounts, and budget reports; school tax materials; correspondence; board reports; meeting agendas (Central Bucks Joint School Board, 1961-1964); correspondence; and newspaper clippings. Of special interest is a minute book of the School Directors of the Township of Plumstead, 1836-1882.
There are also some printed materials (i.e. text books and blank attendance report volumes) and objects (e.g. desk bell, pencil sharpener, hat).
A small number of items with no apparent connection to the School Board are also part of the collection, such as a ledger from the Plumstead Township Road Supervisors (1906-1913), a liquor board pamphlet, several musical scores, and other materials.
A Gayman family photograph album featuring many class photos, circa 1940s, can also be found with this collection.
Gift of Edward and Linda Gayman, 2013.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Plumstead Historical Society directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Plumstead Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Sarah Leu through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
-
Contact Plumstead Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.