Iron County Historical Society

School Records Project

Welcome to what will become the home page for the Iron County Historical Society's School Records Project.  Continue returning to this page for future updates. Thank you for your patience!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Collection
While far from complete, the Iron County Historical Society is fortunate to have the largest known collection of historical school records for Iron County Schools.  Before the completion of reorganization and consolidation efforts in the late 1950s, Iron County had up to 50 school districts any given year.  The records we possess fall into three general categories:
 
1. District Records - These were records maintained by the individual schools.  The earliest district records in our possession date back to the 1870s, but most are from the first third of the 20th century. While the information in the various district records varied over time, most contained enumerations of students and information on those students; school board members, school board meeting minutes; a warrant register keeping track of school expenses; and other information on the school and the teacher(s). 
 
2. Superintendent Records (Semester Reports) -  These were compiled by the individual schools and were submitted to and maintained by the County Superintendent of Schools.  While we don't have records for every school in the county, this collection of records is the most complete set of records that we do have.  The collection covers the years 1939 to 1954 and are broken out by school district.
The records contain information detailing the condition of the school; enrollment by grade; a survey of conditions; school support (PTA, 4H, etc.,); as well as an enumeration of students containing their names, sex, parents’ names, post office address, date of birth, and whether or not the student had a birth certificate.  These were the records chosen for the first phase of the scanning and transcription project described below.
 
3. Other Records - Among the other miscellaneous school related records are County Superintendent Visiting Records for 1909 - 1910 which contains information on the school buildings, teachers, school equipment, school meetings, etc.;  Certificate Records (of teachers) beginning in 1914 and going through the 1940s.  Maintained by the County Superintendent of Schools,  the years of these records vary by teacher and contain the certification records of teachers teaching in Iron County schools School District Account Book for 1925 which was maintained by the Iron County Treasurer and details payments made on behalf of the schools.
 
 
The School Records Project
 
Recognizing the irreplaceable nature of these records, historical society board of directors member Judie Huff, took on the task of organizing what has become known as our School Records Project.  After scanning and knitting together some 5,000 scans,  the preservation of the Superintendent Records described above was completed earlier this year.  Historical society member, Mark Horstman, assisted Judie in determining the best format for the scans as well as in their organization for the transcription process to follow.
 
Copies of the original scans will soon be made available for viewing in the School Record Images tab in the Members Only area of the website.  A full index of students and teachers, by school, will be available to members and non-members alike in the Temporary School Records Index.  A fully searchable, permanent index of students and teachers with links to the images themselves will be created when the transcription process is complete.  The transcription process is ongoing and we need volunteers to assist in the effort.  That process is described next.
 
 
The Transcription Process (Your Help Needed)
 
The transcription process is broken out by school.  The schools involved are shown in the color coded table below.  
 
Schools showing up in green are available for transcribing.
Schools showing up in orange are already assigned
Schools showing up in red have been completed.
Schools showing up in black are being made ready for transcribing.
 
 
BANNER aka BRULE,
PEPPER STREET, or RUDDOCK
COVE IMBODEN REDMONDVILLE
BELL CRANE POND JENNINGS aka CUB CREEK ROBERTS
BELLEVIEW ELM GROVE KING REED CREEK aka HENPECK
BIG RIVER FLATWOODS LOWER CARVER CREEK aka BOLLINGER
SAWYER
BIXBY GLOVER MIDDLEBROOK THORN GROVE
BLUE GOODLAND NEALS CREEK UPPER CARVER CREEK
BUICK GOODWATER aka HICKORY GROVE PILOT KNOB VIBURNUM
CEDAR BLUFF GRANITEVILLE POINT PLEASANT aka UPPER INDIAN CREEK VULCAN
CEDAR GROVE HAWK LANE aka HAWK REAGAN WHITE
COLLINS HOGAN RED  
 
Anyone can volunteer to be a transcriber.  You don't have to be a historical society member nor do you have to live in the local area.  You can also request a specific school that you are interested in transcribing.
 
Those that volunteer will receive a packet of scans along with the spreadsheet where those records would be transcribed.  Also included would be instructions on how to do the transcribing.  You can also review the transcription instructions by clicking here. As each packet is done, you simply email it back.  
 
If you are interested in helping or if you have any questions, please contact the Project Coordinator, Judie Huff, at jphichs@gmail.com .