Guide to the Exploratory Courses
RG 3.4.3
Summary Information
- Repository
- Sarah Lawrence College Archives
- Creator
- Sarah Lawrence College.
- Title
- Exploratory Courses
- ID
- RG 3.4.3
- Date [inclusive]
- 1935-1956
- Extent
- 1.5 linear feet 1 record carton, 1 document box
- Language
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Sarah Lawrence College Archives August 2004
Sarah Lawrence College Archives1 Mead Way
Bronxville, NY, 10708
914-395-2480
archives@sarahlawrence.edu
Revision Description
Finding Aid entered in Archivists' Toolkit by Elijah Black. July 2012
Terms of Use
The collection is open to researchers without restriction.
Processing Information note
Processed August 2004 by Abby Lester.
Historical note
In 1934, the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation awarded Sarah Lawrence College a grant for two years to set up exploratory courses designed to assist first-year students “find out more effectively what educational experiences the college has to offer them and to help [the College] evaluate more accurately what this educational experience is doing for them.” (from President’s Report to the Board of Trustees, May 1935, p. 6) Exploratory courses were “designed primarily to help the student orient herself to college and to explore possible fields of interest.” (President’s Report to the Board of Trustees, May 1939, pp. 5-6) Furthermore, the exploratory courses used various materials and techniques to develop the potentials of first-year students. Final reports were prepared by various faculty involved to be used as a basis for curricular revision. Beginning in 1935, every first-year student entering the College participated in one of the exploratory groups, forming a third of her year’s program. The grant tapered off in 1941, after which numerous reports were presented on the findings. The faculty agreed, according to President Warren’s Report to the Board of Trustees in May 1939, that the exploratory courses be retained since they met many objectives. The exploratory courses quickly became part of the freshman curriculum, at first being called Exploratory Courses for Freshmen (until 1961/1962), later Freshmen Studies and currently First-Year Studies.
Scope and Contents note
The records consist mostly of final reports on exploratory courses from 1935 to 1938. These reports, written by faculty teaching each course, contain student papers, detailed accounts of class meetings, evaluations of student performance, syllabi, and overall evaluations of the course. All students names are changed for privacy. The folder of general material on the exploratory courses contains basic information on the exploratory courses.
Related Materials
See also
Syllabi for exploratory courses in syllabi collection. Numerous publications resulted from the grant as well, some of which can be found in the Book Collection of the Sarah Lawrence College Archives. Minutes of two meetings of the Teachers of Exploratory Courses may be found in the Assorted Committee Records. Minutes of the Research Committee Meetings from 1934-1935 on exploratory courses. A five page report on exploratory courses from May 29, 1939 appears in the bound Faculty Meeting Minutes, Volume 11, 1938-1939, page 300.
More information on the establishment of the exploratory courses for freshman can be found in the Reports of the President to the Board of Trustees for 1934 to 1941.
Controlled Access Headings
Genre(s)
- Annual reports
Subject(s)
- College freshmen
Collection Inventory
| Title | Carton | Folder | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Index to Reports of Teachers of Freshman Exploratory Courses 1935-1936 | 1 | 1 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume I. Arts – Rene d’Harnoncourt 1936 | 1 | 2 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume I. Arts – Kurt Roesch and John Storck (Drawing and Painting) 1936 | 1 | 3 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume I. Arts – William Schuman (Arts for Freshmen) 1935-1936 | 1 | 4 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume II. Literature – Adele Brebner (Contemporary American Literature) 1936 | 1 | 5 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume II. Literature – Willis Fisher (Exploratory Readings in Literature) 1936 | 1 | 6 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume II. Literature – Maxwell Geismar (Literature and Environment) 1936 | 1 | 7 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume II. Literature – Anita Marburg (Modern Problems Through Literature) 1936 | 1 | 8 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume III. Literature – Esther Raushenbush (Introduction to Literature) 1936 | 1 | 9 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume III. Literature – Genevieve Taggard (Modern American Literature) 1936 | 1 | 10 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume IV. Natural Science – Cuthbert Daniel and Henry Miller (Physical Science) 1936 | 1 | 11 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume IV. Don Reports – Mary Dublin (Freshman Donnees) 1936 | 1 | 12 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume IV. Don Reports – Henry Ladd (Freshman Donnees) 1936 | 1 | 13 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume V. Social Sciences – Jacques Barzun (Modern European History), Elizabeth Brown (Opinions and Prejudices), and Wolfgang Lange (Cultural Pressure on Individual) 1936 | 1 | 14 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume V. Social Sciences – David Efron (Exploratory Psychology) 1936 | 1 | 15 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume V. Social Sciences – Mary S. Fisher (Intro to Psychology) and Ruth Monroe (Intro to Psychology) 1936 | 1 | 16 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume V. Social Sciences – Lois B. Murphy (Exploratory Social Sciences) 1936 | 1 | 17 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume I. Arts – William Schuman (Freshman Arts) and Kurt Roesch and John Storck (Drawing and Painting) 1936 | 1 | 18 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume I. Arts – William Schuman (Freshman Arts) and Kurt Roesch and John Storck (Drawing and Painting) 1936 | 1 | 19 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume II. Literature – Katherine Liddell (Writing) and Kathryn Mansell (Literature and Society) 1936-1937 | 1 | 21 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume III. Natural Science – Oliver S. Loud (Introduction to Natural Science) 1936-1937 | 1 | 22 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume IV. Social Science – Wolfgang Lange (Political and Social Questions) and Charles Trinkaus (Individual and Society) 1936-1937 | 1 | 23 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume IV. Social Science – Mary Alice Glavin (Development of a Contemporary Community) 1936-1937 | 1 | 24 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Mary Alice Glavin (Development of a Community) 1936-1937 | 1 | 25 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Roderick Menzies (Intro to Psychology) 1937-1938 | 1 | 26 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Bertha Jenkins (Homemaking) 1937-1938 | 1 | 27 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Oliver S. Loud (Intro to Natural Science) 1937-1938 | 1 | 28 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume I. Arts – Lucie Jowers and Helen Worth Scott (Intro to the Visual Arts) 1937-1938 | 1 | 29 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume I. Arts – John Storck (Exploratory Painting) 1937-1938 | 1 | 30 | ||
| Title | Box | Folder | ||
[Number not used] Controlled Access HeadingsCorporate Name(s)
Subject(s)
| 2 | 1 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume II. Social Science – Charles Trinkaus (Modern European History) 1937-1938 | 2 | 2 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Volume II. Social Science – Walter A. Rudlin (Intro to Social Science) 1937-1938 | 2 | 3 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Literature – Genevieve Foster (Contemporary Literature), Katherine Liddell (Writing), and Kathryn Mansell (Literature and Society) 1937-1938 | 2 | 4 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Literature – Anita Marburg (Modern Problems Through the Novel) 1937-1938 | 2 | 5 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Mary Alice Glavin (Living in the Community) 1937-1938 | 2 | 6 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – John Storck (Patterns of Living) 1937-1938 | 2 | 7 | ||
Freshman Exploratory Program Final Reports – Jean C. Trepp (Uses of Field Work in Teaching Economics) 1937-1938 | 2 | 8 | ||
General 1936-1940, 1956 | 2 | 9 | ||
Exploratory Readings in Literature by Willis Fisher 1935-1938 | 2 | 10 | ||
Memorandum on the Exploratory Course in Introductory Psychology of Personality by Eugene Lerner 1940 | 2 | 11 | ||
Memorandum on Exploratory Courses from Committee on Curricular Problems 1957 | 2 | 12 | ||
Report to the General Faculty from Teachers of Exploratory Courses and Dons to Freshmen 1936 | 2 | 13 | ||
"Tentative Summary and Analysis of Reports of Teachers of Freshman Courses" 1935-1936 | 2 | 14 | ||