Harriet Oxman papers
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Abstract
Diaries, correspondence, clippings, publications, and ephemera relating to the career of New York City educator Harriet Oxman, fifth and only female principal of Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn (1972-1982). Includes Oxman's self-published The Rise and Fall, Erasmus Hall High School (2017).
Biographical/Historical Note
Harriet Morel Oxman (1927-2019) was a career educator who served the New York City school system from 1954 to 1982. A graduate of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and New York University's School of Education, Oxman was hired in 1957 to teach social studies at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where she would rise to grade advisor, guidance counselor, assistant principal in 1964, and principal in 1972, a position she held for a decade. Oxman was the fifth and only female principal in the long history of Erasmus.
Erasmus Hall High School (899-925 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York), descends from Erasmus Hall Academy, a private institution named for Dutch scholar and theologian Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536). Erasmus Hall was founded in 1786 to educate the sons of the Dutch-speaking settlers of Flatbush, then an independent town of Kings County. It was the first secondary school to be chartered by the New York Board of Regents. The Academy building, constructed in 1787 in the Georgian and Federal styles, still stands and is an official New York City landmark. Flatbush was annexed by the City of Brooklyn in 1894, and Erasmus Hall was absorbed by the Brooklyn Board of Education. When Brooklyn joined Greater New York City in 1898, control of Erasmus Hall next went to the New York City Board of Education, which, between 1905 and 1940, constructed the current Collegiate Gothic buildings around the 1787 structure.
Harriet Oxman's tenure as principal (1972–1982) coincided with a period of decline in New York City's schools. Erasmus Hall, in the heart of then crime-ridden Flatbush, saw frequent violence and generally poor academic performance. In 1994, Erasmus was split internally in three separate schools: Humanities, Science and Mathematics, and Business and Technology. 2004 and 2006 saw the additions of the High School for Service and Learning and the Academy for Hospitality and Tourism.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in four series:
Series I. Principal's diaries, 1972-1980
Series II. Correspondence, 1965-2017
Series III. Print matter and ephemera, 1949-2017
Series IV. Postcards and photographs, 1907-1912, 1975-1987
Material is sorted chronologically within each series.
Scope and Contents
At the heart of Harriet Oxman's papers are the nine notebooks she kept as principal of Erasmus Hall High School between 1972 and 1980, in which she recorded daily happenings—not all of them pleasant—of the school and its community. Correspondence from alumni (1986–2005) recalls happier experiences. These are reflected by the various publications in the collection: school guides, commencement programs, clippings from The Dutchman, the school's official newspaper, and Oxman's own The Rise and Fall, Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, New York (self-published, 2017). Early twentieth-century postcards issued for the school's 125th anniversary, and photographs of its participation in the U.S. Bicentennial (1975-1976) and its own bicentennial celebrations (1987), round out the collection.
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Access Restrictions
This collection is stored offsite. To arrange to consult it, please go to www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282. Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: www.nyhistory.org/rights-and-reproductions.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as the Harriet Oxman Papers, MS 2922, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection combines three accessions donated to the New-York Historical Society by Harriet Oxman in 2012 (MS.2012.02), 2017 (MS.2017.31), and 2019 (MS.2019.030).
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta first arranged and described the Harriet Oxman Papers, and published this finding aid, using Archivists' Toolkit in March 2018. He incorporated accruals to the collection and revised the finding aid using ArchivesSpace in June and October, 2019.
Repository
Series I. Principal's diaries, 1972-1980, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Repurposed red notebooks (labeled "Science-Biology") in which Oxman, as principal of Erasmus Hall, recorded staff names, addresses, telephone numbers; school activities and difficulties (e.g., bomb scares); calls from parents; community events; conversations; student demonstrations (e.g., anti-war), etc.
Principal's diary, 1972 February – 1972 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1972 September – 1973 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1973 September – 1974 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1974 September – 1975 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1975 September – 1976 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1976 September – 1977 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1977 September – 1978 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1978 September – 1979 June, inclusive
Principal's diary, 1979 September – 1980 June, inclusive
[notebook], undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A spiral-bound notebook with three pages of manuscript notes by Oxman. Undated, but Staples brand notebook is copyrighted 2011.
Series II. Correspondence, 1965-2017, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A letter from Oxman in 1976 to the principal of Erasmus Hall in 2076, with correspondence from alumni, and a 1981 thank-you note from President Ronald Reagan.
Miscellaneous letters, 1965, 1974-2017
Scope and Contents
Includes a printed note on White House stationery, signed by President Ronald Regan, thanking Harriet Oxman for her "get-well message." Postmarked 5 May 1981, just over a month after John Hinckley Jr.'s failed attempt to assassinate the president.
"To the Principal of Erasmus Hall High School in 2076", 1976 December
Scope and Contents
Mulitple copies of a letter written by Harriet Oxman, principal of Erasmus Hall in 1976, to the person holding her position a century in the future. A copy was placed in a time capsule on the campus grounds. The letter is reproduced in Oxman's The Rise and Fall, Erasmus Hall High School (2017), pp. 61-66 (box 2, folders 27-29).
Letters from Erasmus Hall alumni, 1986-2005
Scope and Contents
Oxman apparently solicited alumni memories for inclusion in her 2017 work The Rise and Fall, Erasmus Hall High School (see folders 27-29).
Series III. Print matter and ephemera, 1949-2017, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Published material relating to Erasmus Hall High School, its Parent-Teacher Association, and its Alumni Association, as well as clippings from The Dutchman, the Erasmus newspaper.
Harriet Morel [Oxman]. "An Autobiography of a College Student", 1949 May 11, inclusive
Harriet Oxman. "Autobiographical Study of Harriet Oxman", circa 1957, inclusive
Erasmus Hall Guide, 1959, 1974
Scope and Contents
Four copies of 1974, plus two photocopies of the same.
Erasmus Hall miscellanea, 1960-1978, undated, inclusive
Erasmus Hall yearbook extracts, 1960-1981, inclusive
Erasmus Hall commencement programs, 1960, 1975, 1981, 1984
Scope and Contents
1984 includes typescript of Principal Oxman's speech
Dutchman clippings, 1962-1974, undated, inclusive
Erasmus Hall P.T.A., 1962-1974, inclusive
Erasmus Hall clippings, 1962-2004, inclusive
Testimonial programs, 1964-1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1964 | Testimonial Luncheon, Miss Grace Corey (May 9)
1965 | Testimonial Luncheon, John F. McNeill, Principal, Erasmus Hall H.S. (May 22)
1974 | Flatbush Business and Professional Women's Club, honoring Grace Flippinger and Harriet Oxman (March 7)
Roland H. Bainton. Erasmus of Christendom (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 1969, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Book discarded from the Briarcliff High School Library, Briarcliff Manor, New York.
Erasmian, 1973-1974, 1973-1974, inclusive
Harriet Oxman clippings, 1974-1975, inclusive
Board of Education of the City of New York. Directory of the Public High Schools, 1980-1981, inclusive
Harriet Oxman reminiscences, 1980, 1989, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Contains "Education and Discipline in the Schools" [subtitled "A day in the life of a Principal"] (1980), "The Case of the Dean and the Voodoo doll" (1980), "I'd like to get a refund or return the article" (1980), and "Erasmus Hall High School--Special Memories" (1989).
Erasmus Hall Bicentennial, 1987 September 26-27, inclusive
The Chronicles of Erasmus Hall High School, 1937–1987 (New York City Board of Education) [sampler] (2 copies), 1987, inclusive
The Chronicles of Erasmus Hall High School, 1937–1987 (New York City Board of Education) [full version] (2 copies), 1987, inclusive
Erasmus Hall Museum of Education Guide, 1987, inclusive
Erasmus Hall Alumni Association directories, 1996, 2003, inclusive
Erasmus Hall Fourth Century Reunion, 2001 March 3, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Program and souvenir photo of Oxman.
Sue Roberts. "A Tribute to Harriet, A Fiery Opal", 2012 May 17, inclusive
Harriet Morel Oxman. The Rise and Fall, Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, New York [3 copies], 2017 August 9, inclusive
Series IV. Postcards and photographs, 1907-1912, 1975-1987, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Postcards depicting Erasmus Hall and vicinity, with some photographs of the school's participation in the U.S. Bicentennial (1975-1976) and its own bicentennial celebrations (1787).
postcards | Erasmus Hall [21 cards], 1907-1908, undated, inclusive
postcards | Official Souvenirs for the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Erasmus Hall, October 10 and 11, 1912 [12 cards], 1912, inclusive
postcards | The Erasmus Pageant [11 cards], 1912, inclusive
postcards | Historic Flatbush [12 cards], [1975], inclusive
Scope and Contents
From an envelope stamped "A Complimentary Souvenir of the Second Annual Dinner of TOFCCA. The Montauk Club, June 7, 1975."
photographs | Erasmus Hall [16 photos], 1975-1976, 1979, 1987, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Images of [U.S.] Bicentennial Fair, May 1975 and June 1976; Commencement, June 1979; Erasmus Hall Bicentennial, 1987.