Overview
Beatrice E. Cramer taught in the public schools of White Plains, N.Y. She was also known an inveterate traveler and had been to all fifty states, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The typewritten memoir documents Cramer’s automobile sightseeing tours across North America and, to a lesser degree, discusses her professional training and work as a teacher. The handwritten diary documents Cramer’s tour of Europe in the summer of 1953.
Dates
- Creation: 1917 - 1967
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1938 - 1953
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is available for research. Access to these materials is governed by the rules and regulations of the Gutman Library’s Special Collections Department.
Copyright
The copyright interests have not been transferred to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Users are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be directed to the Special Collections Librarian. Researchers who obtain permission to publish from the Gutman Library are also responsible for identifying and contacting the persons or organizations who hold the copyright
Extent
2.37 linear feet (2 Volumes (2 boxes) )The collection consists of two items written by Beatrice Cramer: a typewritten memoir and handwritten travel diary.
The typewritten memoir primarily documents Cramer’s automobile-sightseeing tours across the United States and Canada. To a lesser degree, the text discusses her professional training and work as a teacher. The typewritten portions of the work appear to have been assembled by Cramer around 1942. The volume also includes newspaper clippings and ephemera, dated approximately from 1917 through 1967, that mainly document her work in education. Twenty-one photographs of Beatrice Cramer, Cramer family members and her cars (“her children) are included throughout the memoir.
The handwritten diary records Cramer's sightseeing tour of Europe in the summer of 1953.
Biographical / Historical
Beatrice E. Cramer was born on June 6, 1897 in Gloversville, New York to Frank Henry (1867-1948) and Estella S. (née Brown) Cramer (1862-1953). Kenneth Frank Cramer (1894-1954) was her brother.
Beatrice Cramer graduated from Gloverville High School in 1914. In 1920, Cramer graduated from Oneonta Normal School where her coursework focused on elementary school teaching. Later, she earned a B.S. (diploma in supervision) in 1930 and a M.A. (diploma in curriculum construction) in 1931 from Columbia University. In 1938, Cramer earned a M.S degree in guidance from the New York State Teacher’s College in Albany, New York.
Cramer initially taught in the elementary schools of Salisbury Center, New York (1916-1919) and later in Rockville Center, New York (1920-1921). From September 1921 through June 1967, she held a variety of teaching and administrative positions in the public schools of White Plains, New York. These positions included stints teaching the sixth grade (1921-1923) and junior high social studies (1923-1940). From 1940 and until her retirement in 1967, Cramer served in a variety of administrative roles including Dean of Girls, Guidance Counselor, and Head of the Guidance Department.
Cramer was known an inveterate traveler and had been to all fifty states, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
She died on June 4, 1988.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Memoir: Purchase, EBAY, 2010 November 9
Diary: Gift, Carol Lew, 2013 May 30
Processing Information
Processed by Edward Copenhagen June 2013.
Transcribed to HOLLIS for Archival Discovery by Lindsay Skay Whitacre, March, 2020.
- Title
- Beatrice E. Cramer Memoir and Diary, 1917-1967, bulk 1938-1942, 1953.
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid
- Author
- Monroe C. Gutman Library
- Date
- June 10, 2013
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- GUT0001
Repository Details
Part of the Monroe C. Gutman Library, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University Repository
Monroe C. Gutman Library
6 Appian Way
Cambridge MA 02138 United States
special_collections@gse.harvard.edu