| Description | Selection made from original letter binder (see series level for appraisal criteria).
• James C. Barnett. Head Teacher, Middle Public School. 3 June 1890. Very eloquent letter to the School Board pleading for a rise in salary.
• James Campbell. Dr Bell’s School. Letter to the School Board regarding the non-issue of the Honours Certificate for Elizabeth Phillips.
• Christian Clark. Teacher. 19 June 1890. Letter to the School Board requesting a teaching position and including a personal testimonial from James Lawrie, School Manager of Coueysthorpe Mixed School, Morton.
• John Clarke. Head Teacher, Chanonry School, Old Aberdeen. 7 June 1890. Letter to the School Board regarding candidate examination results and his opinion on the standard of work. Mr Clarke also highlights some candidates who have done particularly well, Emma K McDonald, Agnes Ross, James Reid and Fred Elphinstone.
• John Clarke. Head Teacher, Chanonry School, Old Aberdeen. 7 July 1890. Writing to the School Board in his role of Examiner of Pupil Teachers in service of the Board. Mr Clark includes numbers of female and male candidates across the four year groups highlighting how many more candidates were women compared to men.
• C. S. Copeland. Chalmers Public School. 1 July 1890. Letter to the School Board to advised it had not been possible to give the painter access as “we were all ready to leave home,” and asking if the decorating could be deferred until August. Attached to the letter are two samples of the patterns chosen for the redecoration.
• Annie Duncan. 16 June 1890. Letter to the School Board regarding a Pupil Teachership position. The letter includes a personal testimonial from William Keys, Head Teacher, Kintore School.
• James Findlay. St Clement Street Public School. 3 June 1890. Writing to the School Board in his capacity of secretary of the Head Teachers’ Association. The Head Teachers wanted to the Board’s permission to change the reading books used in schools. The books recommended for the first three standards were Chambers’ Expressive Readers and for the second three standards Blackie’s Century Readers.
• James Findlay. St Clement Street Public School. 3 June 1890. Writing to the School Board in his capacity of secretary of the Head Teachers’ Association. Letter asking if, in response to teachers’ request, Vere Foster’s Bold Writing series be introduced to schools.
• Thomas C. Hynd. Head Teacher, King Street Public School. 20 June 1890. Letter to the School Board reporting on sewing. Mr Hynd was unhappy that a delay in the school inspection and new date had meant that the sewing samples had not been able to be completed to show the true standard of sewing in the school.
• Thomas C. Hynd. Head Teacher, King Street Public School. 28 August 1890. Letter to the School Board entitled Evening Classes for Higher Work with suggestions and a timetable to improve and promote evening classes.
• James R. Jones. Navigation Class Teacher, Grammar School. 31 May 1890. Report to the School Board on the progress of the Navigation Class since its establishment in April 1889. Mr Jones is very enthusiastic about the class and the pupils. He provides a range of information including the diverse demographic of the areas the boys came from and their current occupations.
• James R. Jones. Navigation Class Teacher, Grammar School. 28 August 1890. Letter to the School Board with attendance information for six individuals.
• William Litster. Music Teacher. 3 June 1890. Letter to the School Board giving his candid appraisement of the seven candidates who had applied for the post of Assistant Singing Master and stating his preferred candidate.
o James Milne, 3 King Street Place. 30 May 1890. Letter of application for the post of Singing Master. [Attached to Mr Litster’s letter]. Mr Litster does not hold Mr Milne in high regard and describes him as having “a somewhat florid manner and lacking in tact and perceptive of the fitness of things.”
• William Litster. Music Teacher. 14 August 1890. Lengthy report to the School Board on the progress of Music teaching across schools in Aberdeen and the improvement of general standards in the past five years.
• Josephine Moir. Teacher, St Clement Street School. 31 May 1890. Letter to the School Board requesting a transfer from St Clement Street School to the Infant Department of the Middle School where a vacancy for an Assistant Teacher had arisen. Ms Moir states that the request is due to the long distance from her home address of 38 Whitehall Road to St Clement Street School.
• James Moir. Schoolhouse, Savoch, Auchnagatt. 4 August 1890. Letter to the School Board on behalf of his niece, Bella Johnston, requesting a post as a pupil teacher. Mr Moir explains that Bella had attended the Girls’ High School for two years and had “done well,” but due to the death of her father she now required to find work.
• James Moir. Head Teacher, Grammar School. 12 August 1890. Letter to the School Board citing that Gordon’s College had twice the number of pupils as the Grammar School but the fewer passes in the School Leaving Certificate. He provides the statistics of Grammar School 221 passes and Gordon’s College 218 passes.
• Sam Pope. Drawing Master. 28 Victoria Street. 26 May 1890. Letter to the School Board expressing his concern that three of the Art Examinations had been on Friday, Saturday and Monday, the 2nd, 3rd and 5th May which had been a national holiday and consequently many of his country pupils could not attend. Mr Pope acknowledged that these were national examinations but felt that England and Wales must have faced the same problem and wanted the Board to express concerns ahead of next year’s examinations.
• Mrs I. s. Skea. Head Teacher, St Paul Street School. 11 June 1890. Letter to the School Board requesting mor compasses. Mrs Skea explained they were required because in the previous three years there had not been more than 60 pupils in Standard IV but now there were 230 pupils. |