William R. George family papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 800

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Collection contains extensive correspondence and other materials concerning William R. George and the founding of the George Junior Republic. The collection also contains material which documents the evolution of the Republic and its part in educational reform in the early twentieth century; the establishment of other Junior Republics in the United States; and George's ideas about the Child Labor Amendment, communism, socialism, pacifism, and the welfare state. Also included is extensive correspondence, 1807-1985 of George and the George family, including thousands of letters from former citizens, benefactors, and persons interested in social reform; George Junior Republic Association records, unpublished articles by George, minutes of councils, and annotated notes; manuscripts (ca. 1909-68) with book drafts, drafts for articles and speeches, and material about the Phalanx movement. Also, diaries (1881-1962), and other volumes, including memobooks, account books, steno notebooks, address books, guestbooks, and scrapbooks. Although a fire destroyed many of the Republic's work records, the collection still includes some record books (1895-1923).

Extensive published material which was printed at or concerns the George Junior Republic (1895-1985), and three books by William R. George, THE JUNIOR REPUBLIC, CITIZENS MADE AND REMADE (with Lyman Beecher Stowe), and THE ADULT MINOR are also included, as well as blueprints, plans, and certificates, museum items, photographs, albums, and sketches (1889-1955) depicting the early days of the Republic, family and friends of William R. George, citizens, ex-citizens, helpers, and officials of the Republic; genealogies of the Georges and related families; newspaper and magazine clippings (1809-1985); unidentified wax recordings; transcripts (1965) of five interviews done by Jack Holl and Frances Keefe; papers relating to Gerrit Smith Miller; and papers kept by Malcolm Freeborn (1930-85) concerning many committees and councils of the Junior Republic, and Freeborn's work with senior citizens and with the Tompkins County Youth Court.

Correspondents include Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Forbes, Willard E. Hotchkiss, Leonard S. Levin, Gerrit Smith Miller, Susan Dixwell Miller, William C. Orton, Theodore Roosevelt, Jacob Gould Schurman, Lyman Beecher Stowe, Sao-Ke Alfred Sze, Richard Welling, and many others.

Dates

1750-1989.

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

Biographical / Historical

William Reuben George founded the George Junior Republic in 1895 in Freeville, New York, the first of several residential treatment centers opened under his name intended to reform urban youth in a rural environment. The Junior Republic was founded upon the maxim "Nothing Without Labor." With assistance from his wife Esther Ide Brewster, George developed a community consisting of a farm, blacksmith and carpentry shops, laundry, bakery, general store, jail, and other elements of the larger society which were run by the Republic’s children (referred to as “citizens”) and intended to complement their academic endeavors. By 1898, the first of several institutions based on the Freeville Republic’s principles was founded in Redington, PA, and by 1908, the National Association of Junior Republics was formed with George as Executive National Director. George severed ties with the Freeville Republic in 1910 after being found guilty by a special committee of the State Board of Charities of New York of “treat[ing] and handl[ing] the grown women among the citizens [at the Republic] like children” and behaving "without regard to the rules and usages of common life and civilized society," and was accused in 1914 of sexual abuse by several girls housed at George Junior Republics. During the 1920s, George’s attention turned toward combating socialism, and he formed the Phalanx, or League for the Promotion of Civic and Economic Responsibility, an organization for young people opposed to the spread of socialist ideas. He also began lecturing against the proposed child labor amendment during this period, since it conflicted with his method of training children and youths through education and labor. Although William George died in 1936, the family maintained its involvement with the Republic through the activities of George’s daughters and their husbands, including Edith George Freeborn and Malcolm Freeborn, who served as Director of Education and Principal of the Republic high school from 1946-64.

Extent

83.1 cubic feet. (83.1 cubic feet.)

Additional Description

Abstract

Collection contains extensive correspondence and other materials concerning William R. George and the founding of the George Junior Republic, the evolution of the Republic and its part in educational reform in the early twentieth century; and the establishment of other Junior Republics in the United States