St. George Parent Teacher Organization records

Collection

Identifier: WASH-024

Scope and Contents

The St. George Parent Teacher Organization records consist of one notebook recording the meeting minutes for organization in St. George, Utah from spring 1925 to spring 1934. Sporadic monthly meetings were held from 1925 through 1927, followed by one-page entries for the “seasons” 1930-31 through 1933-34. Entries contain information about events, remembrances, school year plans, and civic projects, such as beautification. Each page of minutes contains the names of leaders of the organization, which changed almost yearly, and those to whom assignments were given. Occasionally, performances were also included and the names of the performers were added to the pages. Among the names were Cannon, Romney, Dalton, Snow, Paxman, Miles, McArthur, Atkin, Bradshaw, Bleak, Fordham, Prince, Pickett, and Stucki.

Dates

Creation: 1925 - 1934

Creator

Paxman, Linna Snow (Secretary, Person)
Cannon, Walter, 1888-1957. (Other, Person)
Romney, Roxey S. (Roxey Maria Stowell) (Other, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open and freely available to researchers during Special Collections hours or by appointment. Researchers must complete an Application for Use and show a photo ID prior to accessing materials.

Conditions Governing Use

Biographical/Historical note

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In 1914, the first permanent, central parent teacher organization was created in Utah and was known as the Home and School League of Salt Lake City. By 1951, Utah declared that every school in the state should have a Parent Teacher Association (PTA). A small group in Washington County (President: Walter Cannon, Vice President: Roxey S. Romney, and Secretary/Treasurer: Linna Snow) began keeping a record of the meetings. Due to the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many such groups presided over larger areas such as stakes, districts, or regions. Meetings were held in church facilities and opened and closed with prayer. At one such PTA gathering, although held in the “Dixie College Auditorium” on January 30th of 1927, the entire meeting was turned over to LDS Church apostle, John A. Widstoe. The Parent Teacher Organization for St. George in the 1920s and '30s seems to have included parents and teachers for all schools within the city. From 1934 forward, it appears the record of PTA activities was then contained in the Woodward School scrapbook.