Allison "Eli" Marsh (AC 1913) Papers, 1915-1979
3 records storage boxes, 1 archives box, and 1 flat storage box (4 linear ft.)
Terms of Access and Use:
There is no restriction on access to the collection for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Requests for permission to publish material from the Eli Marsh Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Allison W. "Eli" Marsh, professor of Physical Education at Amherst College from 1917 to 1958, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts on July 28, 1892. At Amherst he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a Master's degree at Harvard University. After teaching at Ohio Wesleyan University and Ohio State University, he joined the Amherst faculty in 1917. During that time he was chairman of Department of Physical Education and Intercollegiate Athletics from 1950 to 1958 and was one of two men to serve twice as president of the College Physical Education Association. In 1924 he married Margaret Alexander.
Known to his students as "Eli," Professor Marsh was one of the chief architects of the physical education program at Amherst. He was consistently opposed to professionalism in college athletics and became a respected spokesman on the subject nationally.
Professor Marsh introduced soccer to Amherst College in 1920 and was its head coach until his retirement, compiling a 38-year record of 147 won, 62 lost, and 15 Little Three championships.
In retirement, Professor Marsh devoted much of his time to painting and held many one-man exhibitions in Amherst and Wellfleet, his summer home on Cape Cod. On his retirement, Amherst conferred on him the honorary L.H.D. degree in 1963, as did Washington and Jefferson College in 1971.
Allison "Eli" Marsh died April 3, 1976 in Northampton.
Publications, photographs, clippings, letters, memorabilia, academic regalia and other materials documenting "Eli" Marsh's career as a coach and professor of Physical Education, chiefly at Amherst College, 1917-1958, but also at Ohio State University from 1915-1917. The collection includes many letters received from his former soccer players at Amherst as well as materials collected by Marsh relating to Robert Frost, President Alexander Meiklejohn, and the transition of the Amherst presidency of the administration of John William Ward to Julian Gibbs, 1979. Many of Marsh's notes on physical education, games, and fitness are included in the collection, along with yearbooks from Marsh's brief professional appointments at Ohio Wesleyan University (1915) and Ohio State University (1917). Academic gowns and other memorabilia documenting his honorary degrees from Washington and Jefferson College and Amherst College are also a part of the collection.
This collection is organized into five series:
There is no restriction on access to the collection for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Requests for permission to publish material from the Eli Marsh Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
[Identification of item], in Allison W. "Eli" Marsh Papers [Box #, folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library.
Gift of Ellen Marsh Schleicher, 1996.
Transfer from the Smith College Archives from the papers of Margaret Marsh, 2003.
The Papers were acquired in two parts: first in 1996 and in 2003. As related materials were found in separate acquisitions, such items were grouped together, thus losing any original order that might have existed. However, much of the collection was in no discernible order upon acquisition. The 1996 acquisition was a gift of Eli Marsh's daughter, Ellen Marsh Schleicher. The 2003 acquisition came to the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections by way of the Smith College Archives, where a box of Eli Marsh's papers were found among those of Margaret Marsh, his wife and an alumna of Smith College.
| Contact Information |
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Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Robert Frost Library
PO Box 5000 Amherst, MA 01002-5000 Phone: (413) 542-2299 Fax: (413) 542-2692 Email Reference Form: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/askus URL: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives |
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Series 1: PERSONAL AFFAIRS,
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1915-1971
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| Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject. Series 1, PERSONAL AFFAIRS, 1915-1971, contains personal correspondence and materials documenting professional appointments, honorary degrees, insurance and taxes. |
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Fort Devens
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1918
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Box 1: folder 1
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Funeral reading
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1976, Apr 8
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Box 1: folder 2
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Insurance policies and tax information
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1933-42
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Box 1: folder 3
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Ohio State University (1 of 2)
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1916-49
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Box 1: folder 4
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Ohio State University (2 of 2)
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1916-49
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Box 1: folder 5
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Ohio Wesleyan University Yearbook - Le Bijou
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1915
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Box 4: folder 1
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Ohio State University Yearbook - Makio
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1917
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Box 4: folder 2
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Ohio Wesleyan University Yearbook - Makio
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1917
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Box 1: folder 5a
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Personal Correspondence [includes the will of Alexander Marsh and the C.V. of Eli Marsh]
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1927
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Box 1: folder 6
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Washington and Jefferson College (1 of 2)
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1970-74
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Box 1: folder 7
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Washington and Jefferson College (2 of 2)
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1970-74
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Box 1: folder 8
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Washington and Jefferson College - honorary degree
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1971
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Box 1: folder 9
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Washington and Jefferson College - honorary degree - academic regalia
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ca. 1958-71
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Box 3
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Washington and Jefferson College - honorary degree - photograph cube
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ca. 1958-71
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Box 3
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Series 2: PHYSICAL EDUCATION/FITNESS,
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1904-1958
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| Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject. Series 2, PHYSICAL EDUCATION/FITNESS, 1904-1958, includes many of Eli Marsh's notes on games, physical education, exercise, lesson plans, and articles he wrote on athletics, such as an article on tumbling and another on posture. |
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Athletic Control
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1904-1932
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Box 1: folder 10
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"The Educational Value of College Physical Education..." by A. W. Marsh
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1952
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Box 1: folder 11
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Fitness
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1942-43, n.d.
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Box 1: folder 12
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"Law and Decrees Relative to Physical Education"
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1927
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Box 1: folder 13
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National Physical Education Service of the National Recreation Association - News Letter No. 72
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1934 Sep
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Box 1: folder 14
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Pageants and Exhibitions
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1916-1917
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Box 1: folder 15
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Physical Education
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1927-1935
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Box 1: folder 16
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Physical Education - administration
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n.d.
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Box 1: folder 17
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Physical Efficiency
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n.d., 1920
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Box 1: folder 18
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Play and Recreation - notes (1 of 2)
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1915-18, n.d.
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Box 1: folder 19
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Play and Recreation - notes (2 of 2)
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1915-18, n.d.
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Box 1: folder 20
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Play and Recreation - pamphlets
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1923-24
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Box 1: folder 21
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Posture article
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1963
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Box 1: folder 22
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Recreation course
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1939
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Box 1: folder 23
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Soccer
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n.d., 1936
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Box 1: folder 24
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Soccer poem
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n.d.
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Box 1: folder 25
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Springfield College soccer test
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1941
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Box 1: folder 26
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Soccer letters
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1919-58
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Box 1
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Tumbling (and articles published on the subject)
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1915-23
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Box 2: folder 1
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Series 3: AMHERST COLLEGE,
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1923-1979
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| Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject. Series 3, AMHERST COLLEGE, 1923-1979, contains material related to Eli Marsh's honorary degree from Amherst in 1963, clippings and articles about events at the college, notes related to Physical Education at Amherst and his department. Also included are Amherst publications, students' poetry, and information about President Alexander Meiklejohn (including an article by Marsh about Meiklejohn) and the inauguration of President Gibbs in 1979. |
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Amherst Alumni News, 1923, 1931, 1949, 1957
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1923-1957
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Box 2: folder 2
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Amherst Alumni News, 1958, 1966-1968, 1970
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1958-1970
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Box 2: folder 3
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Amherst Bicentennial souvenir edition
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1959
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Box 2: folder 4
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Amherst College - Honorary Degree - corrrespondence
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1963
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Box 2: folder 5
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Amherst College - Honorary Degree - academic regalia
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1963
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Box 3
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Amherst College - Correspondence and Notes
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1932, n.d.
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Box 2: folder 6
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Classroom notes (Garman Philosophy class)
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ca. 1909-13
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Box 2: folder 7
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Kennedy Convocation Clippings and Memorabilia
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1963
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Box 2: folder 8
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Meiklejohn article [by A. W. Marsh] and information
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1961-73
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Box 2: folder 9
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Meiklejohn's speeches and assignments
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 10
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Amherst College - Miscellaneous
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1923-1966
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Box 2: folder 11
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Amherst College - Miscellaneous publications
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 12
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Physical Education at Amherst College
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1935, n.d.
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Box 2: folder 13
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Amherst College Physical Education Department (includes many undated lesson plans)
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 14
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Amherst College: "Report of the Faculty Committee on Long Range Policy" and Related Correspondence
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1945, 1951
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Box 2: folder 15
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Ward Out/Gibbs In Memorabilia (Collected by Margaret Marsh)
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1979
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Box 2: folder 16
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Series 4: PRINTED MATTER,
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1857-1944
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| Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject. Series 4, PRINTED MATTER, 1857-1944, includes miscellaneous printed material. One item of interest is an 1857 edition of Edward Hitchcock's (AC 1849) "History of a Zoological Temperance Convention." |
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"An Educational Program for St. Stephen's College"
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1934 Mar 1
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Box 2: folder 17
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Army Specialized Training Bulletin
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1944 Dec 29
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Box 2: folder 18
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"Current Developments in American College Sport" The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Bulletin #26
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1931
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Box 2: folder 19
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"History of a Zoological Temperance Convention" by Edward Hitchcock
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1857
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Box 2: folder 20
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Liberal Education and the Fine Arts
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 21
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U.S. Civil Service Commission Correspondence re: Correlations Study (and Related Materials)
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1924
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Box 2: folder 22
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Series 5: MISCELLANEOUS,
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1926-1951
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| Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject. Series 5, MISCELLANEOUS, 1926-1951, includes photographs, clippings about Robert Frost, plans for educational modeling at Reed and Bard Colleges, some of Marsh's speeches, and Eli Marsh's summary of a study he prepared on the correlation between mental tests and academic achievement among members of the Amherst College Class of 1926. |
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Class of 1926 Study Summary
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1926
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Box 2: folder 23
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Clipping and Miscellaneous
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 24
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Photographic Frames
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n.d.
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Box 5
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Photographs
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 25
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Plans for Bard College
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1934-5
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Box 2: folder 26
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Reed College
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1935
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Box 2: folder 27
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Frost Papers
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 28
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Schalk, Marshall - Two articles re: geology
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1938, 1946
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Box 2: folder 29
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Song Lyrics
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1936, n.d.
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Box 2: folder 30
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Speeches
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n.d.
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Box 2: folder 31
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