- Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Administrative Information
- Access
- System of Arrangement
- Scope and Content Note
- Administrative History
- Publication Rights
- Container List
- Prospect School and Center
- The Prospect School
- The Prospect Center
- Prospect Archive of Children's Works
Prospect School and Center for Research and Education Archives
Collection Summary
- Repository
- University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special Collections
- Creator
- Prospect Archives and Center for Education and Research .
- Creator
- Prospect School (North Bennington, Vt.).
- Title
- Prospect School and Center for Research and Education Archives
- ID
- mss.001
- Date [bulk]
- Bulk, 1965-1991
- Date [inclusive]
- 1964-2011
- Extent
- 284.0 Linear feet
- Location
- Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library Library Research Annex
- Language
- Abstract
- The Prospect School and Center for Education and Research Archives contains the archives of the Prospect School (1965-1991) and the Prospect Archive and Center for Education and Research (1979-2010). The largest portion of the collection is comprised of the Prospect Archive of Children’s Work, which consists of visual and written work produced by more than sixty children who attended Prospect School. The collection also includes records and publications documenting Prospect’s administration, curriculum, adult educational programs, and consulting projects. The approximately 284 linear feet of materials in the collection encompasses manuscripts, artwork, photographs, and films dating between 1964 and 2011.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item] Prospect School and Center for Research and Education Archives, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special Collections February 2011
Access
The Prospect Collection is open for research with the exception of three containers comprising a time capsule to be unsealed in 2016. Due to the sensitive nature of the student records it contains, all users are required to review and sign a Confidentiality, Access, and Reproduction Agreement prior to viewing any materials. Copies of the agreement are located in the first folder of every box.
For privacy reasons, all student names appearing on folder titles, as well as many appearing within the materials themselves, have been replaced with pseudonyms. Some teacher names have also been replaced with pseudonyms. The convention of parentheses around a name appearing in the collection indicates a pseudonym.
Following is a list of child pseudonyms to assist researchers in determining if a name they encounter within the collection is an actual student name or a pseudonym:
Abby
Abe
Adam
Adele
Agnes
Al
Alec
Alex
Ali
Alice
Allison
Alma
Alva
Amber
Amity
Amy
Anders
Andrea
Andrew
Angela
Angie
Angus
Anita
Anna
Annette
Ansel
Anton
Antonia
April
Ara
Ardis
Arian
Arlo
Arno
Arthur
Ash
Astrid
Athena
Austin
Ava
Babs
Barry
Bart
Bea
Ben
Bernard
Bert
Beryl
Bess
Beth
Betsy
Bette
Bianca
Bill
Blair
Bliss
Brad
Brenda
Brent
Brett
Bruce
Buck
Buffy
Cal
Caleb
Candy
Cara
Carin
Carla
Carly
Carol
Carter
Cary
Casey
Cathy
Cecelia
Cedric
Ceil
Chad
Charlotte
Cheri
Christian
Cindy
Claire
Claude
Clay
Clint
Clive
Clodagh
Colleen
Cora
Corrine
Daisy
Dale
Damon
Dana
Daphne
Dara
Darla
Darlene
Davis
Deborah
Dee
Deirdre
Delia
Dennis
Derek
Diane
Dick
Dinah
Dodi
Dolly
Don
Donald
Donny
Dora
Drew
Dru
Duane
Dwight
Eban
Echo
Edwin
Edwin
Einar
Elaine
Eli
Elias
Elina
Elisa
Elizabeth
Ellis
Elouise
Elsa
Elsbeth
Elton
Emily
Emma
Emmy
Enid
Enrica
Eric
Esta
Estelle
Esther
Etta
Eustis
Eva
Evan
Eve
Evelyn
Everett
Ezra
Faith
Faryl
Fay
Felix
Fletcher
Flip
Flora
Forrest
Fran
Frances
Francesca
Frank
Frankie
Franz
Fred
Gabe
Gabrielle
Gaby
Galen
Garth
Gary
Gaston
Geoff
George
Gerald
Gigi
Giles
Gina
Glen
Grace
Grant
Gregg
Greta
Gus
Guthrie
Guy
Hal
Hank
Harlan
Harlan
Harri
Hazel
Heidi
Helen
Hera
Hetty
Hilda
Holly
Hope
Humphrey
Ian
Ida
Ina
Iris
Irma
Irving
Isaac
Jack
Jackie
Jacob
Jan
Jane
Janet
Janis
Jean
Jed
Jeff
Jenny
Jeremy
Jill
Jim
Joanne
Joe
John
Jon
Jonah
Joni
Josh
Joshua
Jude
Judy
Jules
Julia
Julian
June
Karin/Karen
Karl
Katrina
Kay
Keenan
Keith
Kent
Kevin
Kip
Kit
Kris
Kurt
Lana
Lance
Lang
Larissa
Larry
Lars
Laura
Leah
Leda
Lee
Leo
Lev
Lewis
Libby
Lillian
Lincoln
Linden
Lisa
Lloyd
Loretta
Louise
Lucy
Luke
Lydia
Lyle
Lyman
Mac
Maggie
Malcolm
Mamie
Mara
Margie
Margot
Mark
Marnie
Marshall
Martha
Marty
Mary
Matt
Maude
Maurice
Mavis
Max
Maxine
May
Meg
Mel
Melinda
Merce
Mercia
Mia
Mick
Millicent
Mina
Mira
Miriam
Misha
Morris
Munro
Muriel
Myrna
Nan
Nathan
Ned
Neil
Nell
Nell
Nels
Nevis
Nina
Nixon
Noah
Nora
Norma
Norman
Norton
Oona
Opal
Orland
Orrin
Oscar
Otto
Owen
Paisley
Paloma
Pam
Patience
Patrick
Patti
Paul
Paula
Pearl
Peggy
Penny
Per
Percy
Philip
Phoebe
Piet
Polly
Priscilla
Quentin
Quint
Rachel
Rainer
Ralph
Randal
Randolph
Rashad
Ray
Rebecca
Reg
Reuben
Rhea
Rhonda
Rick
Rita
Rob
Rodney
Roger
Rolf
Ron
Rory
Rosa
Rosamonde
Ross
Roxann
Ruby
Rush
Ruth
Ryan
Sadie
Sally
Samantha
Sammy
Samson
Sandra
Sean
Serena
Serenity
Seth
Sherlock
Sid
Silas
Simon
Simson
Skip
Skyler
Sophie
Stan
Stella
Steven
Stewart
Sue
Suzanne
Sylvia
Tad
Teresa
Terrence
Terry
Tess
Thad
Thane
Tim
Tina
Toby
Todd
Tonya
Tonya
Topoz
Ursula
Val
Valerie
Van
Vera
Veronica
Vic
Vicki
Virginia
Wally
Wendy
Will
Will
Wilma
Winslow
Woody
Wyatt
Yana
York
Yves
Yvette
Yvonne
Zack
Zeke
Zelda
Zenith
Zoe
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.
Administrative History
The Prospect School, an independent school for elementary and middle school children, operated from 1965 to 1991. The School was founded with intent to join it with the Bennington public schools. The founders, Joan B. Blake, Louis Carini, Patricia Carini and Marion Stroud – all well-versed in the philosophy of John Dewey, received a small start-up grant from the Bennington Cooperative Project for Curriculum Development (CPCD). A subsequent and much larger grant under the newly enacted Elementary and Secondary Act (Title III) provided funding for a school comparable in population and cost to public schools in the Bennington area, for consultation to the schools brought together by CPCD, and for research to be conducted at Prospect and the CPCD schools.
The School, which received initial accreditation from the state of Vermont in 1968, grew from a single multi-age classroom for five- and six-year-olds, to encompass a full elementary and middle school for children ages four to thirteen. It provided individualized, independent learning for children using multi-age classroom grouping and personalized teaching. The School’s daily schedule included large blocks of time for its students to work with a broad range of materials individually and together, in self-directed ways.
The Prospect School staff evolved an innovative methodology sometimes referred to as Prospect’s Descriptive Processes. The idea was that a school committed to observational, descriptive inquiry could itself generate knowledge of children’s growth and learning, of curriculum, and of learning and teaching. The first of these processes, the Descriptive Review of the Child, served as paradigm for the others that followed. To make sense of their observations of children, staff met weekly for conversations structured to explore the interests and capacities of a particular child in an effort to make visible the child’s ways of engaging the world. The aim was to fold insights gained from the Descriptive Reviews directly into practice. Two monographs (1975 and 1979) articulated the philosophical, methodological frame for the processes.
The Prospect School’s methodology became widely known and studied by educators across the United States. By the late 1960s, School staff began to offer formal professional development programs for educators and consulting services for educational institutions through a wing of Prospect designated the Adjunct Services. In that same period, the School was named a Demonstration School for the State of Vermont and through federal funding from the Education Professions Development Act (EPDA) initiated a state-approved, post-B.A. Teacher Certification Program. In 1979, the organization was reorganized and renamed as the Prospect Archive and Center for Education and Research, an umbrella encompassing the Prospect School, external services for educators and institutions, research projects, and the Prospect Archive of Children’s Work. The Center’s professional development programs included conferences for educators; intensive seminars and workshops, some conducted as part of degree-granting programs for several graduate schools in New England; and programs for visiting scholars held at Prospect School. The Center’s consulting services included professional development programs for the staff of educational institutions and research and documentation of school programs conducted within primary and secondary school settings. Prospect Center staff members, particularly Patricia Carini, published and spoke widely about the Prospect School’s methodology and the Center’s programs and services.
The Prospect Archive of Children’s Work contains the visual and written work left behind by more than sixty Prospect School students, as well as teacher records and additional work completed by some students before and after their years at the School and subsequently donated to the Archive. The Archive offers a longitudinal perspective on children’s thinking and growth. It was and continues to be used by teachers and other educators—employing methods for collaborative study developed at the Prospect Center—to further their understanding of individual children, of children in school, of what in the educational setting supports their learning, and ultimately, of larger questions about human work, thought, and capacity.
In 1985, the Prospect Center published The Reference Edition of the Prospect Archive, a compilation of work by and about thirty-six children who attended the Prospect School. In preparation for the publication, participants in the Center’s Archive Scholars/Fellows project of 1983-1985 went through each item in the children’s collections, organized and numbered it chronologically, and, together with other participants, used Prospect’s Descriptive Processes to make additional collaborative inquiries into the work and the common and divergent threads between the children. The Reference Edition consists of the following components: (a) visual and written work by the children, reproduced in their entirety in black and white on microfiche and selectively in color slide format; (b) “catalogues” for each child, containing year-by-year summaries of the child’s original collection preceded by an overall summary, all prepared by Archive Scholars/Fellows working with the original material; and (c) “narrative records” for each child containing transcriptions of Prospect School teachers’ weekly notes and semi-annual reports to parents, plus, as available, notes of Descriptive Reviews about the child and his/her work. Archive Scholars/Fellows selected images to be reproduced as color slides in the Reference Edition to represent characteristic and exceptional themes, motifs, stylistic tendencies, and choices of media, through the duration of each child’s collection.
Scope and Content Note
The Prospect Collection consists of files generated and assembled by staff members at the Prospect School and the Prospect Center for Education and Research, and artwork and other school projects created by students who attended the Prospect School. The materials published as The Reference Edition of the Prospect Archive, including documents, slides, and microfiche, are drawn from a larger body of original student works, including artwork in various media, writing projects, math assignments, and three-dimensional pieces; along with notes on, evaluations, and descriptions of students and their work. The Prospect Collection also contains curriculum records; documentations of classrooms and the School as a whole; academic and staff calendars; lists of staff, students, and students’ parents; alumni surveys; board of trustees and committee meeting minutes; financial records; correspondence; memoranda; accreditation, planning, and consulting reports; documentations of Prospect’s summer institutes and syllabi for higher education programs; external and internal publications, including brochures, programs, press releases, newsletters, newspapers, articles, books, and transcripts of oral presentations; property deeds and plans; facilities maintenance records; grant proposals and reports; scrapbooks; video recordings; and photographs.
System of Arrangement
The collection is arranged in four series: Prospect School and Center, containing materials related to both organizations (1964-2011); Prospect School, containing materials related specifically to the School (1965-1991); Prospect Center, containing materials related specifically to the Center (1967-2010); and the Prospect Archive of Children’s Work (1965-2010).
Controlled Access Headings
Corporate Name(s)
- Prospect Archive of Children's Work (North Bennington, Vt.) .
- Prospect Archives and Center for Education and Research .
- Prospect School (North Bennington, Vt.).
Genre(s)
- Correspondence
- Financial records
- Minutes
- Photographs
- School records
- Scrapbooks
- Videotapes
Subject(s)
- Child development
- Children's art
- Education -- Philosophy
- Observation (Educational method)
- School children