Marion Fairbairn Harriet M. Scott Memorial Window Papers

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Harriet Marie Scott was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1854. In 1873, Scott enrolled in the Indiana State Normal School (now Indiana State University). She joined the Indiana State Normal School faculty in 1880 after teaching in Terre Haute public schools. At the urging of Amanda Parker Funnelle, she joined the faculty of the Detroit Normal School in 1883 and became its second principal in 1886 after Funnelle’s resignation. Harriet M. Scott resigned her position in 1899 and moved to California where she died at the age of 52 in 1906.

In 1907 the Detroit Normal School Alumni Association planned a memorial for Scott. The memorial would be in the form of a stained glass window portraying the components of “teaching, knowledge, and education” and donations were raised starting in 1908. 283 individuals donated for a total of $863 including $200 from the Alumni Association. In 1910 it was decided the Church Glass and Decorating Company of New York would create the window, with a design from artist Charles Caryl Coleman. The design depicts Harriet M. Scott as Teta instructing Lioba at Winburnia, an 8th century school for women in England. The window was initially installed in the Martindale Normal Training School library, and then stored at Wayne State University after the Martindale building was razed. In 1981 the window was rediscovered, restored, and placed in the east foyer of the College of Education building.

Materials in this collection include a ledger kept by Marion Fairbairn listing all the donations made towards the stained glass window, correspondence largely relating to donations and the creation of the window, statements, receipts, and purchase orders, and a 1917 Harriet M. Scott memorial booklet. The collection also contains William P. Sosnowsky’s research into Scott and the window, and a copy of The Educator with Sosnowsky’s original article on Harriet M. Scott and the memorial stained glass window.

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