Samuel Thorburn Black Memorial Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS-0324

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Samuel Thorburn Black Memorial Collection documents both Black and his presidency, and includes correspondence, financial records, annual reports, Pauline Black's diaries, and a scrapbook of the trip Mr. Black and his daughter took around the world.

Dates

Creation: 1877-1922

Creator

Black, Samuel Thorburn (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The copyright interests in some or all of these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with the creator(s) of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of archival collections is such that multiple creators are often applicable and copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. In any case, the user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, obtaining publication rights and copyright infringement. When requesting images from Special Collections & University Archives for publication, we require a signed agreement waiving San Diego State University of any liability in the event of a copyright violation.

Biographical Note

The first president of San Diego Normal School, Samuel T. Black was selected for the post by the Normal School's Board of Trustees in October 1898. He served as president until 1910. Having previously been State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and having had numerous other administrative and teaching appointments throughout California, he entered the position with extensive experience. He brought professional activism and many solid connections in the educational world.

Black was born in 1846, in northern England, to Scottish parents. He came to the United States in search of an uncle the family had lost touch with, and upon finding him in Wisconsin, decided to stay in the US. Though he spent his first year teaching in the Midwest, he eventually traveled to California, arriving in San Francisco in 1868. Mr. Black had two children, the second of whom, Pauline Black, followed him into the teaching profession, and taught at the Normal School for several years. In 1910 she and her father took a trip around the world.

On September 1, 1910, Mr. Black officially stepped down as San Diego Normal School's president. Enrollment had increased from 83 students the first year to nearly 400. The original seven members of the teaching faculty that Black had assembled remained largely intact, and the addition of several new faculty members brought the total number of instructors to 19. From 1913-1916 Black served as a member of the Board of Education of the City of San Diego. He died in San Diego, March 23, 1917.