Jack Friel University History Collection

The collection spans from 1850-1978 with the bulk ranging from 1976-1977.

While this collection is relatively small, the materials within the collection detail a great amount of information about the history of the university. It chronicles the transition of the school from the establishment of the Danbury Normal School in 1903 all the way to its status as Western Connecticut State College in 1977.

The collection is comprised of Friel's notes, plans, outline, and rough draft. It also contains school catalogs and brochures, letters, memoirs, yearbook excerpts, program descriptions, Board of Education reports, lists of activities, audiotape interviews and newspaper clippings.

The heart of the collection is the oral history interviews. Several notable individuals were interviewed for this project including Ruth Haas, Truman Warner, Gertrude Braun, Burton Cook, and Charlotte Isham among others. Cassette tapes have an accepted shelf life of anywhere from 10-30 years before the content is lost. Jack Friel’s interview audiocassettes were recorded in the winter of 1976-77 and therefore were in jeopardy of being lost. In 2009, these recordings were digitized and links to those recordings are listed in the inventory. None of the tapes were edited or excluded from this process. These specific interviews mentioned below serve to highlight the larger purpose of digitizing all such material, so that they can be made readily available for all who wish to use them, and in a longer-lasting format. Generally, Friel was interested in how people remembered WCSU, the physical and academic development of WCSU, and WCSU’s relationship with Danbury and Connecticut. His interview style is conversational and sometimes a bit anecdotal. On a couple occasions, the recordings show signs of signal loss, speed variations, and noise. Generally, he conducted a formal interview but there are instances where the subject reads or records their own narrative. The tapes include interviews with former students: Mrs. Sheila Shearon(tape#34) , Dr. Kathleen McGrory(tapes #16,17) , and Mrs. Llewlyn Warner(tapes#21,22). These give unique insight into what it meant to attend WCSU, and what a degree from the institution afforded them. These interviews also contain rich descriptions of the daily routine of a WCSU student during the first half of the twentieth century. Interviews with Mr. Bill Ratchford (tape#07), Mr. Francis Collins (tape#04), and Mr. T. Clark Hull (tape#08), all of whom served in the state government, elucidate the struggle of obtaining funding for WCSU, specifically the development of the Westside campus that has as of January 2010 is still under construction. Aside from the numerous interviews in which Dr. Ruth A. Haas is discussed, there is also an interview with her (tape #01). One important thread running through the interviews is a discussion of Haas’ accomplishments, and her challenges as woman administrator. In many of the accounts, she is shown to be integral in the changing of WCSU from a predominately female teaching college to a full-fledged university with graduate programs.

Also of interest to researchers is a letter that was written to Friel by Margaret Perkins Camp, the daughter of the first principal of the Danbury Normal School, John Perkins. In it she recalls moving to Danbury from New Britain, growing up in the Danbury Normal School, and the teachers of the school including Dr. Lothrop Higgins.

The collection also contains information on the history of the Student Government Association and the Alumni Association. There is also information on other student and school activities. Friel also collected information on various different curriculum programs that were instituted at various points in the school's history. The collection contains information on both the "Nature of Man," and "Monuments of Culture," programs.

The collection also contains several copies of the school's catalogs that span several decades. It also contains copies of catalogs from the other three normal schools, which included New Britain, New Haven, and Willimantic.