Audio and Visual Recordings

Summary: Founded in 1973, the Friends of the Modern School is an organization that aims to protect the history and legacy of Francisco Ferrer and the Stelton Modern School. Founded by Sally Axelrod, Paul Avrich, Abe Bluestein, Harmony (Sernaker) and Tony Coppola, Rina (Winokour) Garst, Eva (Yanpolsky)Knezick, Jim, Nellie and Ann Dick, Valerio Isca, Bea Markowitz, Harold and Lola (Kenner) Pollack, Clara (Freedman) and Sydney Solomon, and Jo Ann Wheeler (Scott, Burbank), the Friends began as a way for those directly impacted by the Modern School to have a space to discuss their lives and the impact the Modern School has had on them. Harmony Coppola, an archivist at Rutgers, suggested that a collection of writings and other materials related to the Modern School be donated or acquired. Through reunions, lectures, publications, and community projects, the Friends grew to consider wider implications of anarchism and libertarian education while maintaining their own history. The majority of the series is correspondence, mostly between Jon Scott and other parties. Included in the series are documents detailing reunion activities and planning, publications produced by the Friends detailing the history and significance of the school, interviews and reminiscences with member of the colony, and miscellaneous projects.

General Correspondence contains materials by such writers as Jon Scott and Fernanda Perrone. Of special interest are email chains from the 2000s that contain informal reminiscences shared by former Modern School attendees, and/or their children.

Reunion Documents is comprised of announcements, attendance, newsletters, and financial statements.

Publications and Manuscripts includes the manuscript of A Modern School Reader by Paul Avrich; drafts and materials regarding Victor Sacharoff's Recollections of the Ferrer Modern School Colony of Stelton, NJ, and small miscellaneous publications not related to the Modern School, but published by a member of the Friends. Of special interest is the manuscript of Paul Avrich's last book, A Modern School Reader, which collected original writings by members of the Modern School and Francisco Ferrer in one book.

Projects and Proposals are proposals and exhibition documents that the Friends sponsored or actively pursued. Projects include the exhibtiion An Anarchist Experiment at Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives and the creation of a memorial plaque at the cite of the Modern School Building in Stelton, NJ. Of special note is the Goldman House Project, which aims to preserve the original Goldman family house in Piscataway, both as a work of art and as an historic landmark.

Interviews and Recollections consists of transcipts of interviews from members of the Ferrer Colony, and those who attended the Modern School.

Photographs includes images of Modern School Reunions, the Memorial Plaque dedication and images of the original colony houses.

Audio and Visual Recordings consists of recordings of lectures at Modern School Reunions and a film produced by Bob Rosen detailing the significance of the Modern School and the Goldman House Project.