Call Number:

MSS 0587

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

59 audio cassette

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0587, Iron Hill Museum oral history recordings and transcripts, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

2003-2010 (inclusive)

Creator:

Delaware Academy of Science. Iron Hill Museum

Form:

Audio cassette and Transcripts

Abstract:

The Iron Hill Museum oral history collection consists of 37 interviews (recorded on 59 audio cassettes) documenting the history of the Iron Hill School #112C, which was one of the African American schools built in Delaware with funds provided by Pierre S. du Pont. Additional interviews in this collection document life in the Iron Hill community and nearby Pleasant Valley, as well as education provided in a few other Delaware schools in Hockessin, Milton, and Claymont.

In 2003, oral historian Roberta Perkins and Laura Lee, director of the Iron Hill Museum, near Newark, Delaware, initiated a project to document the history of the Iron Hill School #112C, a former African American one-room schoolhouse from the days of segregated edcuation in Delaware.

The schoolhouse, in operation from 1923 until 1964, later became the Iron Hill Museum, operated by the Delaware Academy of Science. The building is one of 89 rural schools constructed through the philanthropy of Pierre S. du Pont for the community, and one of only a few that are still architecturally intact. A 2007 survey of the buildings by the Delaware State Historic Preservation office determined that 44 of the 89 schools are still standing, though many are in a state of disrepair or have been radically altered as homes or churches.

The Iron Hill School and others like it were constructed in an era of educational reform. In the early 1900s a federal survey of all schools ranked Delaware very low, with only those in the deep South ranking lower. Delaware's response was to pass laws supporting improvements of the white schools, but the state reserved virtually no funds for the segregated black schools. Pierre S. du Pont, in a fashion similar to Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears who personally funded construction of 5,000 schools for Southern blacks, took it upon himself to improve the educational situation of African American students in Delaware. He embarked on a school funding project to either improve existing schools or construct new schools throughout the state. Du Pont also provided funding for white schools.

As director of the Iron Hill Museum, Laura Lee met many former alumni who would visit the museum and share their school memories. In order to preserve these stories, she enlisted the help of oral historian Roberta Perkins and transcriber Marcia Adams to establish an oral history project. (Marcia Adams conducted a few of the interviews, as well.) The oral history project received partial funding from the Delaware Academy of Science, Delaware Humanities Forum, and Delaware Heritage Commission. In addition, Rohm & Haas Community Partnership Initiative provided funding for a school outreach program featuring the oral history project.

The Iron Hill Museum oral history collection consists of 37 interviews (recorded on 59 audio cassettes) documenting the history of the Iron Hill School #112C, which was one of the African American schools built in Delaware with funds provided by Pierre S. du Pont. Additional interviews in this collection document life in the Iron Hill community and nearby Pleasant Valley, as well as education provided in a few other Delaware schools in Hockessin, Milton, and Claymont.

Between 2003 and 2010, Roberta Perkins, Laura Lee, and Marcia Adams interviewed Iron Hill School alumni, parents of former students, one teacher (Townsend, Delaware), and alumni of other du Pont schools in Hockessin and Milton. Perkins and Lee also interviewed alumni of the white Pleasant Valley School, which was located less than a mile from Iron Hill, and a Conowingo, Maryland, alumna. Other interviewees include long-time white residents of the Iron Hill area, one of whose father owned and operated Dayett Mill. The scope of the oral history project broadened to inlcude other small schools, mostly in New Castle County.

The interviews include but are not limited to discussions of community and school life, relationships between the schools, civil rights, transportation issues to and from school, employment, churches, and political vote-buying.

The content list in this finding aid provides limited descriptive information about the tapes, including name of interviewee, date of interview, number of tapes (60-minute tapes), name of the interviewer, and whether or not a transcript for the tapes exists. If not noted, transcripts are not yet available.

Digitization of audio cassettes and transcription is an ongoing project and links will be added to the collection as more material becomes available.

The finding aid is listed in alphabetical order by name of interviewee. Tapes and transcripts are housed in order as received.