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.
