New York State Education Department Commissioner's Office Scrapbooks of Newspaper Clippings

Arranged into two subseries: 1. General scrapbooks of newspaper clippings; 2. Commissioner James E. Allen's scrapbooks of newspaper clippings

In the early morning of March 29, 1911, a fire broke out in the Assembly Library within the New York State Capitol building. The fire spread to the State Library, located inside the Capitol at the time, destroying approximately 450,000 volumes and 270,000 manuscripts. Many State Education Department staff members risked their lives to save irreplaceable manuscripts, and one watchman perished in the fire. By the time the fire was put out, most of the western end of the building had been damaged or destroyed, including much of the Assembly chamber and many Senate offices. The cause of the fire was found to be faulty electrical wiring, which revived charges of graft and corruption that had plagued the construction of the Capitol building.

Dr. James Edward Allen, Jr. was appointed New York State Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York in 1955. Allen presided over a vast expansion of the New York State Education Department, in terms of both bureaucratic size and authority. In elementary and secondary education, Allen oversaw the creation of the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, which allowed for smaller, rural school districts to partner for the provision of expanded educational programs, and fostered new programs in urban education and bilingual education.

Allen was also a strong proponent of the creation and use of data systems, research, and evaluation to improve the education process. In addition, Allen promoted the need for "de facto" school desegregation, working with the Board of Regents in 1960 on a policy statement affirming the need to desegregate schools. During his tenure, he ordered various school districts to desegregate, including the Malverne school district of Nassau County and Mt. Vernon school district.

This series consists of scrapbooks of clippings from New York State newspapers related to New York State Education Department activities and various educational concerns. A group of five scrapbooks contains clippings from 1911 to 1916. The clippings pertain to the following subjects: the Capitol fire of 1911, the construction and dedication of the State Education building in Albany, the selection of Commissioner of Education John H. Finley, and military instruction in public schools. A second group of eight binders contain clippings related to the activities of James E. Allen, Commissioner of Education for New York State, from 1955 to 1965. Topics documented by the clippings include school desegregation, school funding and state aid, the passage of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, New York City school governance, the expansion of the State University of New York, and school district centralization.

B0460Series B0460, Commissioner's history file, contains records selected by the office of Commissioner Allen as historically significant

B1506Series B1506, Architectural and mechanical drawings of the State Education Building, documents the process of constructing the State Education Building.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.