San Jose State Normal School Diploma and Certificate Collection
Content Description
This collection consists of diplomas and certificates belonging to students who attended the San Jose State Normal School in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Materials include: Normal School, State of California Educational Department, Board of Education, and Department of Public Instruction certificates and diplomas awarded to Normal School alumni. Also included are: a Normal School Browning Literary Club certificate, a Louisiana Purchase Exposition silver medal award for a Normal School exhibition, an 1880s lithograph of the first Normal School building, and the Normal School 1885 graduating class’ roster photograph with graduation program pamphlet. Brief biographical information on Normal School graduates in this collection was gathered from the Alumni Records (Handwritten Journals) in the San Jose State Normal School Records, MSS-2010-04-01, San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Dates
- Creation: 1877-1904
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has not been assigned to San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Biographical / Historical
In 1857 the San Francisco Board of Education established Minns' Evening Normal School for current and prospective teachers in the city. Named after its principal, George W. Minns, the institution was formally established as the first California State Normal School by the State Legislature in 1862. A decade later, the Legislature voted to move the Normal School to San Jose, and the school relocated to its new home on Washington Square prior to the fall term of 1872. After a fire destroyed the Normal School building in 1880, the Legislature authorized $200,000 to construct a new building on the same site. Completed in 1881, the building was commonly referred to as the Second State Normal School. After several names and curriculum changes, Minns' Normal School is now San Jose State University, offering more than 134 bachelor's and master's degrees with 110 concentrations, and is recognized as one of the top public universities granting such degrees in the West.
Extent
1 flat file drawers
23 folders
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains diplomas and certificates belonging to graduates of the San Jose State Normal School spanning the late 1800s to the early 1900s; formats include paper as well as parchment. These materials were created by the Normal School, the State of California Educational Department, the Board of Education, and the Department of Public Instruction.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically.
Processing Information
Processed by Jacob Rabinowitz, Fall 2019
- Title
- Guide to the San Jose State Normal School Diploma and Certificate Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jacob Rabinowitz
- Date
- Fall 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the SJSU Special Collections & Archives Repository
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
(408) 808-2062
(408) 808-2063 (Fax)
special.collections@sjsu.edu