Call Number:

RG5.228

Repository:

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Extent:

0.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)

Language:

English

Date:

1909-1973 (inclusive)

Creator:

Judson, Helen S. (Helen Sheldon), 1885-1973, Howland, Emily, 1827-1929, and Sherwood Select School (Sherwood, N.Y.)

Abstract:

Sherwood Select School was a Quaker high school in Sherwood, New York, established in 1871. In 1926, it became part of a consolidated public school system, renamed Sherwood Central School. Helen S. Judson (1885-1973) served as a teacher and then principal between 1909 and 1919. Emily Howland (1827-1929), Quaker educator and humanitarian, was a long time supporter of the School until her death in 1929. This collection contains the papers of Helen S. Judson, including correspondence while at the Sherwood Select School and with Emily Howland. It also contains typed transcripts of writings by Emily Howland, 1836-1929, and Sherwood Select School memorabilia including photographs of some of the teachers.

Helen Sheldon Judson was born November 22, 1885, in Vernon, New York, to Salmon Sheldon Judson and Helen Lydia Dean Judson. She had two younger brothers, James and Sheldon. Helen Judson graduated from Vernon High School in 1903 and spent the next school year studying in the home of her Aunt Cornelia Frances Dean Merritt and her husband Arthur H. Merritt, who was a professor at Trinity College in Durham, North Carolina. In 1904, she entered Wellesley College and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1908.

In 1909, she joined the staff of Sherwood Select School. Sherwood Select School was established in 1871 at the request of Elizabeth and Samuel Otis. Their children previously had been taught at home, but now they were ready for high school. The Otises provided a house to serve as the school and hired Hepsibeth Hussey as the first principal. Initially only the children of Wilburite Friends were to attend, but there weren’t enough in the area to form a class, so the children of other neighbors were invited. Fourteen pupils studied at Sherwood the first year, but by 1882, the population had grown so large that a new building was necessary. Emily Howland, (1827-1929) who had served as the school’s primary benefactor since its opening, provided the new building.. She was a Quaker humanitarian and educator particularly known for her work with formerly enslaved people in Virginia during and after the American Civil War. Starting around 1895, attendance dropped off because the school was not under the jurisdiction of the State Regents. In 1906, most of the school closed, although one class continued for an additional year.

The School was reorganized under the New York State Regents requirement and reopened in 1909 under Principal Louise Billyard. She hired Helen Judson as her assistant. During her time at Sherwood, Helen taught algebra, ancient history, geography, spelling, and biology. She also served as principal for two years. Around 1919, Helen Judson became a teacher at Syracuse Central High School, where she taught biology until her retirement in 1956. Helen S. Judson died August 5, 1973, at the age of 87 at the Presbyterian Nursing Home in New Hartford, NY.

Although Emily Howland paid Sherwood’s annual deficit for almost forty years, she became concerned about the future of the School as she became very elderly. In 1926, Sherwood combined with six other schools to form a consolidated public school which was named Sherwood Central School. Emily Howland served on the first board of education, and Miss Phebe King, who had been a student, teacher, and principal at Sherwood Select, became the first principal of the new school.

This collection contains the papers of Helen S. Judson, including correspondence while at the Sherwood Select School and from Emily Howland. It also contains typed transcripts of writings by Emily Howland, 1836-1929, and Sherwood Select School memorabilia.

Organized in 3 series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Typed transcripts of the writing of Emily Howland and memorabilia; 3. Sherwood School Memorabilia.