Collection of Rochester and Regional School Records

Rochester, New York, and its vicinity have been home to numerous schools, public and private, since the area was first settled. This collection consists of records from schools, both public and private, that operated in the region between 1819 and 1970. The public school records include materials from rural school districts, along with two of the City of Rochester's early secondary schools (Washington Junior High School and the City Normal School). As the urban and cultural center of the Genesee Valley, Rochester was a center for private education from an early date. The private schools represented in this collection include the Cruttenden School, the DeGraaf Collegiate/Military Institute, and King Seminary (also known as teh Briggs Place School).

The Crittenden School, run by Miss Martha Crittenden, was originally established in New York City in 1873, moving to Rochester in 1878. At first, the school operated on St. Pauls Street, later moving to 7 Gibbs Street. Miss Cruttenden turned the school over to Dr. Charles Kingsley in 1885, due to poor health; she returned to the school when he moved to Milwaukee in 1888. Having run thus far as a boarding school, the school converted at this time to day school operations. Miss Cruttenden retired again in 1894, turning the school over to Miss L. H. Hakes, who moved it to the corner of East Avenue and Scio Street in April 1896. The school continued operating under the Cruttenden name until 1901. L. H. Hakes then operated under her name until 1909.

Esmond V. DeGraff established DeGraff's Collegiate Institute (sometimes called Degraff's Military Institute) in 1868. A noted educator who had been involved in teacher training for New York State thruogh the Teachers' Institute, DeGraff established his school at the corner of Court and Stone Streets. The school was organized on military lines, and the pupils wore the same uniform as pupils in the U. S. military academy. For this reason, the student body were known as the DeGraff Cadets. The school had a short and somewhat tumultuous existence, suffering a near mutiny of the student body in February 1870 over the firing of a teacher and a serious fire in November of 1870. While the details are unclear, it appears the school never fully recovered from the fire, and was gone by 1871, with DeGraff listed as a salesman in the 1872 City Directory and later returning to the Teachers' Institute. Despite its short existence, the school had a remarkable afterlife, as the uniforms and smart drill work of the students attracted public attention and the student body included a number of boys who went on to civic prominence as adults. They formed an alumni organization that met regularly in the late 1880s and early 1890s and helped to preserve the DeGraff Collegiate Institute's reputation.

The King Seminary was founded as the Briggs Place School, a school for "young ladies and children" by Ella G. and Ada M. King in 1888. The school offered primary, grammar and academic (college preparatory) education from its home at 8 Briggs Place in Rochester. The school changed its name to the King Seminary about 1893, and moved to 8 Ardmore Street in 1898 or early 1899. However, the school only survived another year, and was gone by 1900. The King sisters continued to live at 8 Ardmore for the rest of their lives, and were involved in private tutoring long after the closure of the school (hence the roll book that continues until 1922).