Guide to the Barbara Mildram collection, 1930-1988


Special Collections, James P. Adams Library.
Rhode Island College
600 Mount Pleasant Ave
Providence, RI, 02908
Tel: 401-456-8380
email:digitalcommons@ric.edu

Published in 2024

Collection Overview

Title: Barbara Mildram collection
Date range: 1930-1988
Creator: Mildram, Barbara
Extent: 0.5 cubic feet
Abstract: This collection includes personal and academic materials regarding early childhood education.
Language of materials: English; French
Repository: Special Collections, James P. Adams Library.
Collection number: MSS-0029

Scope & content

The collection contains numerous materials related to early childhood education, behaviors, and development. Included are pamphlets, newspaper articles, publications, magazines, textbooks, personal academic journals and papers, international textbooks and journals, and OMEP (World Organization for Early Childhood Education) publications.

Access Points

Subject Names Subject Topics Document Types

Arrangement

Arranged in no discernible order.

Biographical/Historical Note

Barbara Mildram was an early childhood education professional. She attended Vassar College, earning her Bachelor’s degree in child study in 1938, and received her advanced certificate in child development at the University of London Institute of Education. In 1957, Mildram received her Master’s degree from the Bank Street College of Education, where she was one of the school’s first degree recipients. Mildram taught in progressive schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Washington, D.C., the Ann L. Page Memorial School at Wellesley College, and in the Laboratory School of the State University of New York at New Paltz. Additionally, she worked at the Bank Street School in New York City and was Director of the Summer School at Bank Street College for two years. She then worked at the Bureau of Child Development and Parent Education of the New York State Education Department where she was engaged in nursery school parent education and the early stage of the Head Start Programs. In 1968, Mildram became a professor at Rhode Island College, where she taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the Department of Elementary Education. She worked at Rhode Island College until her retirement in 1977.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: The collection is open for research.
Use of the materials: Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Alternate form: Collection materials have not been digitized and are not available online.
Preferred citation: Barbara Mildram collection, MSS-0029, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
Contact information: Special Collections, James P. Adams Library.
Rhode Island College
600 Mount Pleasant Ave
Providence, RI, 02908
Tel: 401-456-8380
email:digitalcommons@ric.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: After the Curriculum Resource Center was moved to Adams Library in 1995, the collection was transferred to Special Collections.
Custodial history: The collection was donated to Rhode Island College and the Curriculum Resource Center (CRC) by Mildram, a Rhode Island College professor, between 1968 and 1977. Additional materials were periodically added through 1988 by either Mildram or the CRC. The collection was held by the Curriculum Resource Center until 1995.
Processing information: The collection was initially arranged and described in 1988 by the Rhode Island College Curriculum Resource Center with a collection description written by David C. Woolman. The collection was partially described and some publications added to the Barbara Mildram early childhood materials book collection, which is part of the Special Collections Rare Books Collections, by Marlene Lopes, Special Collections Librarian, sometime after 1995 when the collection was transferred to Special Collections. In 2024, the collection was described by Special Collections intern Hailey-Rose Coulter Brown under the supervision of, and additional edits done by, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Veronica L. Denison. At this time a majority of the publications were removed from the collection, some of which were added to the Barbara Mildram early childhood materials book collection.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Hailey-Rose Coulter Brown and Veronica L. Denison.
Encoding: This finding aid was encoded by Veronica L. Denison, 2024.
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material: Select publications were removed from the collection and some added to the Barbara Mildram early childhood materials book collection, which is part of the Special Collections Rare Books Collections. Please contact Special Collections for further information.
Separated material: Special Collections also has a Barbara Mildram early childhood materials book collection as part of the Special Collections Rare Books Collections. These items were donated to Rhode Island College by Mildram.
Location/Existence of copies: Collection materials have not been digitized and are not available online.

Inventory

Box 1, Folder 1 Bank Street News, Bank Street Reviews, annual report
 1984-1988
Box 1, Folder 2 Bank street publications
 circa 1938-1970
Box 1, Folder 3 “The Most Important Years”
 1947
Box 1, Folder 4 Bank Street volume 1
 1934
Box 1, Folder 5 “Premature structuring as a deterrent to creativity”
 1958
Box 1, Folder 6 “Maps annotated for classroom use”; “Materials for map-making for the amateur geographer”
 circa 1934
Box 1, Folder 7 “Lady Sprague Mitchell, an hour of remembrance” and “She wanted it all and got it” newspaper article by Ellen Chesler about Lucy Sprague Mitchell
 1967, 1987
Box 1, Folder 8 Research papers and typed speeches by Barbara Biber: “What constitutes a good program for young children in disadvantaged areas,” “What is a good prekindergarten program,” and “The educational needs of young deprived children”
 1965-1968
Box 1, Folder 9 Research papers: “Structure and program in the early years” by Dorothy Cohen; paper by Dorothy Cohen regarding time of change, fears, and children by Dorothy Cohen; “The place of a theory of development and existing models of preschool education in evaluating ‘new trends’” by Barbara Biber; “Changing family patterns and its implications for teachers” by Dorothy Cohen
 1968-1974
Box 1, Folder 10 “Play materials for the preschool child”; “Creative materials for the preschool child”
 1930-1931
Box 1, Folder 11 “Young deprived children and their educational needs”
 1966
Box 1, Folder 12 “Submitting a juvenile manuscript” by Irma Simonton Black and Betty Miles
 undated
Box 1, Folder 13 Publications regarding disadvantaged children: “The impact of deprivation on young children” by Barbara Biber; “A child development approach to language in the preschool disadvantage child” by Patricia Minuchin and Barbara Biber; “Educating for individuality: A re-examination” by Barbara Biber and Patricia Minuchin
 1965, 1967
Box 1, Folder 14 “What leading educators, authors, and psychologists say about Summerhill”
 undated
Box 1, Folder 15 “Play as learning” by Clara P. Baldwin and Helen T.M. Bayer
 1965
Box 1, Folder 16 “School age child care: A primer for building comprehensive child care services”
 1973
Box 1, Folder 17 “Froebel and English Education” reprinted from ‘The New Era’ by Evelyn Lawrence
 1952
Box 1, Folder 18 “Early Years” Vol 1 No 2
 1974
Box 1, Folder 19 “The educational value of the nursery school” and “The school Dartington Hall”
 1949-1964
Box 1, Folder 20 “Imagination and play in childhood” by Ruth Griffiths
 1953
Box 1, Folder 21 Australian children’s educational materials, includes pamphlet for The Lady Gowrie Children Centres, A History of the Cairns Community Kindergarten, Learning through play pamphlet, Sensory/motor programming for “at risk” children pamphlet, and history of North Carlton Primary School Lee Street
 1971-1973
Box 1, Folder 22 New Zealand children’s educational materials, includes “The development of pre-school education amongst the Maori people,” Newsletter on pre-school education, Playcentre Journal numbers 29 and 30, Waikato Playcentres Association training programs for assistant supervisors
 1974
Box 1, Folder 23 OMEP Newsletter
 1967
Box 1, Folder 24 “The role of the adult in the life of a child” Report of the XIth World Assembly, Paris 18th-23rd July, 1966
 1966
Box 1, Folder 25 “Play, language, and experience with young children” a report of a study in language enrichment for disadvantaged children in a nursery school. OMEP
 1974
Box 1, Folder 26 “Kindergarten” by Patty Smith Hill (1967 reprint of 1942 article)
 1942
Box 1, Folder 27 “Child development and cultural diversity” by Bettye M. Caldwell; “Preface to a consistent philosophy of education” by George Geiger, article in the Saturday Review; Articles commissioned by the Associations for Childhood Education International, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the US National Committee for Early Childhood Education (OMEP)
 1959, 1979, 1983