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Schofield Normal and Industrial School (Aiken, S.C.) Records

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG4-060

Scope and Contents

The Schofield Normal and Industrial School was founded in 1868 by Martha Schofield (1839-1916), a Pennsylvania Quaker. Her intention initially was to provide education for formerly enslaved people. The School gradually evolved into a boarding school for training young Black people in industrial trades or to become teachers. It was absorbed into the public school system in 1952. The collection contains minutes of the board of trustees (1886-1942), legal documents, financial records, correspondence and other papers.

Dates

  • Creation: 1870-1957

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some of the items in this collection may be protected by copyright. The user is solely responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns to reuse, publish, or reproduce relevant items beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to the law. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/.

Biographical / Historical

Martha Fell Schofield was born Feb. 1, 1839, near Newtown, Bucks County, PA. She was the daughter of Oliver W. Schofield and Mary (Jackson) Schofield who were married at Darby Meeting in 1834. Both her parents were involved in a number of reform activities, including abolition, temperance, women's rights, and improved education. The family included twin older sisters, Sarah Jane and Lydia, born 1835, a brother, Benjamin, born 1837, and Eliza, a younger sister born in 1840. Of the four sisters, only Sarah Jane married, to Samuel Shinn Ash.

Martha was educated at the schools at Newtown and Byberry and the Sharon Female Seminary in Darby, Pa., which was operated by their mother's brother, John Jackson, and his wife, Rachel. Martha began her own career in teaching at age eighteen at Bayside, Long Island, N.Y., where her aunt, Eliza (Jackson) Bell, lived. She also taught in Harrison, Westchester Co., N.Y., in a school connected with Purchase Monthly Meeting.

In 1865 Martha Schofield went to the islands off the coast of South Carolina to help educate the newly freed African Americans. She found the malarial conditions devastating to her health and moved inland to Aiken, South Carolina, where she founded what became the Schofield Normal and Industrial School in 1868.

The School was partially supported by the Pennsylvania Friends Relief Association, headquartered in Germantown, Pa., and was headed by Sarah Fisher Corlies (sister of Deborah F. Wharton) and Elizabeth Dorsey. The School received some state aid for a number of years. By 1882 there were over 200 pupils, and in that year, the School was incorporated.

Need for financial aid were constant through the years, and a number of people from the Hicksite branch of Philadelphia and New York Yearly Meetings supported the school. By 1883 there were over 400 pupils who, in addition to their education, were taught a trade. In 1884 a boarding department was opened, as well as a student aid fund. In 1887 Edward Hicks Magill and Howard M. Jenkins of Swarthmore College were among those serving on the Board of Managers, and the school house was partitioned into a dormitory for boys. In 1890, the Deborah F. Wharton Industrial Hall, with half of the cost donated with by her sons, was completed.

By 1910 the school occupied two entire blocks of the town of Aiken, with three large brick buildings, two large frame buildings, and various other improvements. In addition, the school owned a 280 acre farm three miles outside of Aiken with its buildings. The running expenses were principally made up by annual gifts from voluntary subscribers. With the exception of the headmaster or headmistrees and Martha Schofield, who served as Business Manager, all departments heads and teachers were Black graduates of the School.

The night before the School was to celebrate the 77th birthday of its founder, Martha Schofield died in her sleep. She died in February 1, 1916 in Aiken, S. C., and is buried in the Darby Friends burial ground in Darby, Pa.. The Schofield School was absorbed into the public school system in 1952.

Extent

1 linear ft. (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Schofield Normal and Industrial School was founded in 1868 by Martha Schofield (1839-1916), a Pennsylvania Quaker. Her intention initially was to provide education for formerly enslaved people. The School gradually evolved into a boarding school for training young Black people in industrial trades or to become teachers. It was absorbed into the public school system in 1952. The collection contains minutes of the board of trustees (1886-1942), legal documents, financial records, correspondence and other papers.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into thirteen series:

  1. Charter and Constitution
  2. Minutes
  3. Financial papers
  4. Legal papers
  5. Reports
  6. Correspondence (1892-1957 and n.d.)
  7. Bulletins (1902-1931, with gaps)
  8. Programs, promotional material, etc.
  9. Floor plans and drawing of land plots
  10. Memorabilia
  11. Material concerning Martha Schofield
  12. Pictures
  13. Reference Material

Physical Location

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donor: Board of Trustees, Schofield Normal and Industrial School (Aiken, S.C.), 1952, 1959, 1964, 1971

Related Materials

See also:

  1. RG 4/048. Martha Schofield Scholarship Fund
  2. RG 5/134, Martha Schofield Papers
Title
An Inventory of the Schofield Normal and Industrial School (Aiken, S.C.) Records, 1870-1957
Author
FHL staff
Date
before 1967
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries

Revision Statements

  • 2020: Updated outdated, harmful terminology related to enslavement, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.
  • 2023: Changed capitalization of the term "Black people" to reflect modern usage.

Find It at the Library

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