Wayne County, Indiana School District No. 4 record book
Collection — Folder: S2195
Identifier: S2195
Scope and Contents
This collection includes a record book of District No. 4, Township 17, Range 13 of Wayne County, Indiana with entries ranging from 1834 to 1839 regarding the establishment of a public school and the building of a school house. Attached to the record book is a partial page from a February 1829 Wayne County newspaper.
Dates
- 1829-1839
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Biographical / Historical
In 1785, the Congress of the United States established a “congressional township system” for schools by requiring one square mile of land in every township laid off by the government’s surveys to be reserved for public schools. In 1824, a “common-school” law was enacted by the Indiana General Assembly to “incorporate congressional townships and provide for public schools therein” and required all able-bodied adult males in each school district to do a certain amount of labor to help build a schoolhouse. In 1831, a revision was made to the school laws that required trustees to be elected in each congressional township and sub-trustees for each district. The law required the sub-trustees to call meetings in their districts to determine if the citizens would or would not “support a public school for any number of months not less than three in each year” and to vote on whether to build a school house. This district system gave the responsibility of establishing and supporting a school to the citizens of each district. The voters could levy a tax to be paid in work or in money, or both, to provide a school and by a two-thirds vote, the voters could levy a tax for payment of a teacher for longer than three months a year. The adoption of the state’s Constitution in 1851 and the passage of a law in June 1852 ended the district school system in the state. The new law provided for the levying of a state tax, better management of school funds, and the abolishment of the congressional township system of education.
Source:
History of Wayne County, Indiana Vol. 1. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1884.
Source:
History of Wayne County, Indiana Vol. 1. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1884.
Extent
0.01 Cubic Feet (1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically.
Custodial History
This collection was received by Rare Books and Manuscripts as a donation from the Anderson (IN) Public Library on 2018/06/25.
Accruals
No further additions are expected.
Processing Information
Collection processing completed 2018/10/23 by Laura Eliason. EAD finding aid created 2018/10/23 by Laura Eliason.
- Title
- Wayne County, Indiana School District No. 4 record book
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository
Contact:
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671
