Prospect Archive of Children's Work
Collection Overview
The Prospect Center for Education and Research, located in North Bennington, VT, started in 1965 as a school for elementary, and later, middle school children. The School closed in 1991 and the Center in 2010. Featured here are substantial,...
Show moreThe Prospect Center for Education and Research, located in North Bennington, VT, started in 1965 as a school for elementary, and later, middle school children. The School closed in 1991 and the Center in 2010. Featured here are substantial, digitized selections of the work of nine students of the several hundred who attended the School. 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. Visual and written work left behind was gathered and saved and eventually became the Prospect Archive of Children's Work, which now also contains teacher records and some subsequently donated work. The Archive is a unique resource, offering a longitudinal perspective on children’s thinking and growth. It has been used for many years by teachers and other educators—employing methods for collaborative study developed at the Prospect Center—to further 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. It is Prospect’s hope that the children’s work and supporting material on this site and in the Special Collections Library at UVM will be used by educators to continue their study in service to the idea that each child offers something new to the world, a fresh perspective, a renewed meaning, and that it is the work of education to enable that emergence. This collection includes the work of nine individual children and The Introduction to the Reference Edition of the Prospect Archive (1985), which offers background and descriptions of the Prospect School, the Archive of Children’s Work, and the Reference Edition itself, from which all the children’s work and related material on this site have been drawn. The Reference Edition of the Prospect Archive is a slide, microfiche and manuscript compilation of the complete works of thirty-six children. Note: The convention of parentheses around the children’s names indicates a pseudonym. The Prospect Center for Education and Research, located in North Bennington, VT, started in 1965 as a school for elementary, and later, middle school children. Out of its own efforts to learn more about children and how best to provide for and encourage their learning, the Prospect School grew to encompass a variety of teacher education programs, research projects, and an archive of children’s work and transformed itself into the Prospect Center in 1979. The School closed in 1991. The Center continued some of its adult education and research activities, and undertook an ambitious publication program, until its closing in 2010.
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Title: (Alva)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Alva's) original collection in the Archive spans eight years, 1976-1985, ages 5 to 13. The full collection contains 952 items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. The collection stands out for (Alva's) attention to composition. She uses boundaries, framing,... more
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Title: (Emma)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Emma’s) original collection in the Archive spans nine years, 1976-1985, ages 5 to almost 14. The full collection contains 1588 items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. (Emma's) work is colorful; characteristically these colors are lush rather than primary and the... more
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Title: (Gus)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Gus’) original collection in the Archive spans 8 years, 1972-1980, ages 5 years and 4 months to 13 years and 4 months. The full collection contains 870 items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. Houses and dwellings are prominent in (Gus’) work, often elaborated with... more
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Title: (Iris)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Iris’) original collection in the Archive spans 8 years, 1978-1986, from ages 5 years to 12 years and 9 months. The full collection contains 1,544 items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. (Iris’) work is full of people. Both the visual work and writing reveal a deep... more
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Title: (Leo)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Leo’s) original collection in the Archive spans 10 years, 1975-1985, ages 4 years and 11 months to 14 years and 8 months. The full collection contains 1,907 items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. (Leo) primarily used markers to create narratives in line, with color... more
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Title: (Mick)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Mick’s) original collection in the Archive spans eight years, 1975-1983, ages five to thirteen. The full collection contains 2,511 items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. (Mick’s) persisting preferences include multiple fields of action covering vast expanses, sometimes... more
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Title: (Neil)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Neil’s) original collection in the Archive covers 9 years, 1970-1979, ages 5 years and 2 months to 13 years and 11 months. The full file of originals numbers 324 visual items and 186 written items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. (Neil’s) work is notable for these... more
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Title: (Sean)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Sean’s) collection spans nine years, 1971-1980, ages 4 years and 9 months to 13 years and 6 months. The collection contains 1,140 items, which are reproduced in full on microfiche in the Reference Edition. (Sean’s) work is marked by a spirit of experimentation, a sense of the artist himself as a... more
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Title: (Virginia)Date: 2008-09-11, 2008-09-11(Virginia’s) original collection in the Archive spans 10 years, 1974-1984, ages 4 years and 6 months to 14 years. The full collection contains 2,185 items, which are reproduced on microfiche in the Reference Edition. (Virginia’s) work is notable for its high-intensity, high-detail depictions of... more