Storer College, Administrative and Operational Records
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 1322
Records of Storer College, West Virginia's first African American institution of higher learning, located in Harpers Ferry. This collection contains mainly administrative and operational records of the college. Types of records include annual reports, publications, memorabilia, artifacts, and other material. This collection includes material regarding John Brown's Fort.
The collection is organized into eighteen series, including:
Series 1. Correspondence; 1865-1953; boxes 1a-61 (73 containers)
Series 2. Miscellaneous Correspondence; 1892-1957, undated; boxes 62-72 (14 containers)
Series 3. Individual Correspondence; 1920s-1950s; boxes 73-85b (25 containers)
Series 4. President's Reports; 1907-1955; box 86a, folders 1a-4 (partial container)
Series 5. Board of Trustees; 1926-1960; box 86a, folder 5-box 87b, folder 2b (2 containers, 2 partial containers).
Series 6. Dean of Women Reports; 1939-1944; box 87b, folder 3 (partial container)
Series 7. Executive Committee; 1924-1957; box 88a - box 88b, folder 1 (1 container, 1 partial container)
Series 8. Woman's Commission; 1937-1948; box 88b, folder 2 (partial container)
Series 9. By-Laws; 1867-1953; box 88b, folders 3-4 (partial container)
Series 10. Faculty; 1940s-1950s; boxes 89-90 (2 containers)
Series 11. Printed Material; 1920s-1950s; boxes 91-92 (2 containers)
Series 12. Student Records; 1890s-1950s; boxes 93a-122, 137-138 (35 containers)
Series 13. Financial Records; 1867-1956, undated; boxes 123a-136, 139-159, 164-169 (45 containers)
Series 14. Miscellaneous; 1884-1950s, undated; boxes 159-162, 175 (4 containers, 1 partial container)
Series 15. Newspaper -- Storer Record; 1892-1943; box 163 and microfilm reel (2 containers)
Series 16. Scrapbooks; 1870-1941; boxes 170-172b (4 containers)
Series 17. Alumni flags; undated; box 173 (partial container)
Series 18. Oversize; 1916-1952; box 174 (1 container)
No special access restriction applies.
Researchers may access digitized materials by visiting the link attached to each item or by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Storer College of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, emerged from the aftermath of the Civil War with the purpose of educating former slaves who were now facing the world with few skills and no education. It began in 1865 as a school in the Lockwood House, a private residence, with the support of the Freewill Baptist Home Mission Society of New England under Reverend Nathan Cook Brackett; in 1867 it officially became Storer Normal School, with the mission of training teachers; and in 1938 Storer became a College. The College closed in 1955 due to declining enrollment, financial problems, and the advent of desegregation.
Although there were dedicated teachers in the beginning, by 1867 there were still only 16 instructors to educate 2,500 students. Reverend Brackett realized the only way to reach all of the students was to train African American teachers, thus necessitating the expansion of the school into a teacher college.
The philanthropist John Storer from Maine came forward and offered a $10,000 grant to the Freewill Baptists to create a teacher college under three conditions: first, the school must eventually become a degree-granting college; second, the school had to be open to all applicants, regardless of race or gender; and finally, the most difficult of the prerequisites, the Freewill Baptist Church had to match his $10,000 donation within a year. After a year-long effort the money was raised, and Storer Normal School opened its doors; and by March 1868 it received its state charter.
In the beginning local residents were resistant to a "colored school" and tried to shut it down through slander, vandalism, and local politics. One teacher wrote, "it is unusual for me to go to the Post Office without being hooted at, and twice I have been stoned on the streets at noonday." The attitudes of local residents eventually changed, however, so that later in his life Reverend Brackett became a respected citizen of Harpers Ferry.
Though Storer remained primarily a teacher college, in time it began adding courses in higher education to its curriculum so that students could graduate with a normal degree for teaching, or an academic degree for going on to college. In 1938, under the leadership of school president Henry T. McDonald, Storer became a college. Its enrollment peaked at around 400, and then dipped lower during World War II. The College survived until 1955 when declining enrollment, financial stress, and court-ordered desegregation combined to close it.
In addition to its progressive role in educating African Americans, the College became associated with other advocates of civil rights, such as Frederick Douglas, who visited Storer Normal School in 1881 to deliver a speech on John Brown, and the Niagra Movement led by William Du Bois, who held a conference at Storer in 1906. The NAACP was later to adopt many of the goals of the Niagra Movement.
[This historical note was sourced from the West Virginia Encyclopedia and Wikipedia.]
87.4 Linear Feet (Summary: 87 ft. 5 1/4 in. (160 document cases, 5 in. each); (28 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (7 record cartons, 15 in. each); (4 notecard boxes, 5 in. each); (2 notecard boxes, 4 1/2 in. each); (5 large flat storage boxes, 5 in. each); (4 large flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each); (1 1/2 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (1 small artifact box, 1 1/2 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.); 1 reel microfilm)
English
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository