The Silver Spring Nursery School was a cooperative nursery school in Silver Spring, Maryland started in 1941 by a group of mothers active in the Montgomery County League of Women Voters who expanded their children's play group into a nursery school. Ruth Crawford-Seeger, notable both as a composer and collector of American folksong, became affiliated with the school in 1941 when her daughter was a student. As part of her parental cooperative duties for the school, she taught music for that academic year, but returned to the school periodically in the 1940s. The collection contains materials created between 1975 and 1976. The interviews conducted for the Project start with the era of Crawford-Seeger's ancestors in 1854 and continue into 1975 when the interviews were conducted. The interviews are with four of the mothers from the school, and notable folk musician Mike Seeger, Crawford-Seeger's son. The collection consists of oral history transcripts, audio recordings, and a subsequent draft of the graduate seminar paper composed by Betty Claire Scott based on the oral histories she collected.
The collection is open for research use.
There are no restricted files in this collection. Releases for the oral histories are available in control files of Special Collections in Performing Arts.
0.50 Linear Feet
English
The Silver Spring Cooperative Nursery School: Ruth Crawford-Seeger Remembered Project Collection contains materials created between 1975 and 1976. The interviews conducted for the Project start with the era of Crawford-Seegerand#39;s ancestors in 1854 and continue into 1975 when the interviews were conducted. The interviews are with four mothers from the school, and Crawford-Seegerand#39;s son, notable folk musician, Mike Seeger. The collection consists of oral history transcripts, audio recordings, and a subsequent draft of the graduate seminar paper composed by Betty Claire Scott based on the oral histories she collected.
The Silver Spring Nursery School was a cooperative nursery school in Silver Spring, Maryland started in 1941 by a group of mothers active in the Montgomery County League of Women Voters who expanded their childrenand#39;s play group into a nursery school. Ruth Crawford-Seeger, notable both as a composer and collector of American folksong, became affiliated with the school in 1941 when her daughter was a student. As part of her parental cooperative duties for the school, she taught music for that academic year, but returned to the school periodically in the 1940s. Crawford-Seeger died in 1953, and the school continued until closing in 1993.
This collection is organized into two series:
Gift of Betty Claire Scott in 1976 following the completion of her graduate studies at the University of Maryland.
Originally processed by Bonnie Jo Dopp in February 2003; re-processed by Vincent Novara in April 2015. Archival enclosures were introduced during the reprocessing and a finding aid was composed. The seminar paper was transferred from Ruth Crawford-Seegerand's biography file in the Lowens Room for Special Collections into the collection in April 2015.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library