Marie Turner Harvey Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS H6

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Documents, correspondence and articles covering Marie Turner Harvey's work at Porter Rural School in Adair County, Missouri. Porter School was an internationally recognized "model" of the best in rural education. The collection also includes records from the Porter School.

Dates

Creation: 1912-1930

Creator

Harvey, Marie Turner, 1869-1952 (Person)

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Biographical Note

The childhood dream of Marie Louise Turner (1869-1952) to be a teacher became a reality at age 15 when she secured her first teaching position while visiting an aunt in Kansas. She taught at Pontiac, Kansas, for three years (1884-1887), and then attended the State Normal School at Emporia, Kansas, for a year. In 1889 she became primary teacher at Old Orchard, a St. Louis suburb, and in 1891 was named Principal of the elementary schools at Clayton, Missouri, also in St. Louis County. She remained at Clayton until her 1902 marriage to H. Clay Harvey, a math professor at the First District Normal School in Kirksville, Missouri.

Marie returned to teaching as Principal of the Normal School's Model Rural School in 1910, about the time her marriage fell apart. After years of discord, she and Clay separated and were divorced two years later in a bitter, "scandalous," and very public law suit. Under the circumstances, the Normal School Board felt that neither party should remain on the faculty and both were dismissed.

With the strong recommendation and support of Normal School President John R. Kirk, Marie was immediately hired as the teacher at Porter School, a one-room rural school near Kirksville. She took the job with the stipulation that she was to have a free hand, and over the next few years turned it into an internationally-recognized model of rural education where students received an equal, if not better, education than was offered by many city schools. She also developed the school as a center of community life with clubs and educational experiences available to adults as well as children. Educators from all over the world came to observe the work being done at Porter School. Mrs. Harvey often spoke on her techniques at educational and rural life conferences, and articles about her work at the school appeared in many professional journals. The school and its teacher were also the subject of "New Schools for Old", a book by Evelyn Dewey published in 1919. Learn more about Marie Turner Harvey and John Kirk's groundbreaking work in rural schools in our digital exhibition,Rural Education Innovations in Adair County, Missouri.

Extent

0.4 linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is organized into three series.

Marie Turner Harvey, 1908-1990
Work at Porter School, 1913-1936
Porter School Records, 1914-1986

Custodial History

The documents, letters and articles Marie Turner Harvey donated to Pickler Memorial Library have been supplemented with items collected after her death, most of which were provided by her biographers.