SCHOOL PUBLICATIONS,, 1912-1949

Summary: Publications produced by the Modern School or individuals associated with it and printed in Stelton, New Jersey.

Includes an incomplete run of the school's journal, The Modern School (1912-1922 and 1943) and two issues of Open Vistas (1925), a literary review published at Stelton by Hippolyte Havel and Joseph Ishill, which only lasted for six issues. This series also includes a set of programs for the Daybreak Costume Ball (1930-1949), which was held every year in New York City to raise money for the school.

In addition, this series contains a number of publications produced by the Modern School children, the most important of which is Voice of the Children (1922-1941). Voice of the Children was a magazine of stories, poems, and news, illustrated by wood and linoleum cuts, which was written, typeset and printed by the children of the Modern School. It was founded under printing teacher Paul Scott and later was supervised by printer Joseph Ishill. After lapsing in 1926, it was revived in 1929 when Jim and Nellie Dick returned to Stelton. Between 1916 and 1945 children at the Modern School produced several short-lived serial publications that contained fictional stories, news about events around the colony, opinion pieces, and woodcut or linoleum prints. Examples found in our collection include: The Gossiper (1920), The Stelton Appendix (1923),Bavardage (1931-1932), Neveready Gossiper (1932?), No Name (1934?), The Chanticleer (1936?), and new Moon (1945). Other short lived serials produced by the children and not found in our collection include: The Path of Joy (1916), Us Kids (1920), The Chatter-Box (1920), The Child Says (1938-1939), Little Pages (unknown dates), Our World (unknown dates), and The Folio (unknown dates). The Gossiper was self-described as the "Occasional Organ of Intelligentsia at the Ferrer Colony," and featured longer texts that were gramatically and thematically more advanced than Voices of the Children. The Chanticleer was produced by a group of all girls, resolved to improve the education and development of girls at Stelton. It featured both short and long editorials, though all were relatively analytical and well thought out. The Neveready Gossiper, whose tag line was "Comes out once a week, though never ready," featured creative writings, news from the colony and small woodblock or linoleum prints. It was all produced with a raw quality with a tongue in cheek attitude.Similar to Voice of the Children was Linoleum Cuts (1929), a booklet of linoleum cuts with names and ages of the children, of which there may have been only one issue.

This series also contains individual pamphlets relating to the Modern School which were published at Stelton. These include examples of Alexis and Elizabeth Ferm's educational writings, histories of the Modern School, an anti-war play which was performed at Stelton in 1916, and more general works about libertarian education. Finally this series contains miscellaneous Modern School publications such as The Stelton Outlook (1932-1933), a newsletter written by former students, and Action (1921), a newsletter of the Ferrer Colony, as well as programs from the annual convention of the Modern School Association of North America, theater programs, broadsides, tickets and stickers.