Guide to the Records of the Fifth Avenue High School, 1863-1976
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Records of the Fifth Avenue High School
- Creator
- Fifth Avenue High School (Pittsburgh, Pa)
- Collection Number
- MSS#30
- Extent
- 4.5 cubic feet (7 boxes)
- Date
- 1863-1976
- Abstract
- The Fifth Avenue High School was a public secondary school for the City of Pittsburgh built in 1896. The records include correspondence, minutes, organizational material, commencement programs, school handbooks, reports, and monthly records (grades) of students.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Organizational History of the Fifth Avenue High School, (1896-1976)
The Fifth Avenue High School was a public secondary school for the City of Pittsburgh built in 1896. The school was constructed after the Pittsburgh Central High was no longer able to accommodate the growing enrollment of high school students in Pittsburgh. The site for the school was once used as a city market and was leased by the city to the Board of Education for 99 years for the nominal fee of one dollar. The cost of the building was a major consideration to the members of the Board, and the architect, Edward Stotz, was told to keep the expenses under $250,000. When the building was completed in 1896, the total expense was under that figure at $247,000. The school opened with commercial and normal departments for students. These departments were autonomous and each had different directors. The first floor of the building housed offices, meeting rooms and training rooms for the normal school. In 1912, a Pennsylvania law brought Fifth Avenue School under the supervision of a single principal, Dr. Edward Rynearson. As a consequence of this consolidation, the normal department was transferred out to another school and Fifth Avenue High School became a "cosmopolitan school." An auditorium and physical education facilities were added to the school in 1926 through the persistent efforts of the school's students. Besides leading the school through administrative duties, Principal Rynearson gained national recognition as the founder of the National Honor Society in 1922. Fifth Avenue High School was naturally chosen as the site of the first chapter in the country. Changes in the Board of Education and of the facilities in Pittsburgh forced yet another change in 1928 when the school became a junior-senior high school.
Economic, social and demographic conditions of Pittsburgh Public School students greatly affected the Fifth Avenue School. When the school was built in 1896, the maximum age for compulsory education was thirteen, which allowed many lower income families to remove their children from the educational system and into gainful employment. During this period, the majority of the students were from upper-middle income families, many of whom lived in Pittsburgh's East End. Fifth Avenue's location in the Hill District exposed the school to a diverse blend of ethnic communities who migrated to Pittsburgh's Hill. The school reflected this blend within its classrooms and included students from Jewish, Chinese, and African-American families and boasted of its multi-culturalism. During the mid-twentieth century, the Jewish Community continued to move from the Hill District to East Liberty and Squirrel Hill and the constituency of the Fifth Avenue High School eventually became mostly African-American.
Scope and Content Notes
These records include correspondence, minutes, organizational material, commencement programs, school handbooks, reports, and monthly records (grades) of students. While not comprehensive, these records document many capacities and activities at the school and provide thorough student records for the early years of the school. Material relating to benevolent activities includes raising money for Sioux Indians in 1887 and French orphans after World War I. Material on organizations affiliated with Fifth Avenue High School includes numerous student clubs and the National Honor Society. Prominent with material on the National Honor Society is the role played by Fifth Avenue principal Edward Rynearson. Publications are from a variety of functions including commencement programs and provide insight into the activities and expectations of the student body. School reports are from a number of offices and document the school's handling of a variety of concerns including race relations, memorials and anniversaries and student savings accounts. The largest component of these school records are the monthly reports of students, 1886-1904, which have been arranged by class year with the youngest class first (D [freshman], C [sophomore], junior and senior) and Commercial classes in the rear. These reports provide names, courses and the grades received. Also included are the monthly reports for Edward Demmler, possibly a music teacher at Fifth Avenue High School, from his years as a student at Pittsburgh Central High School.
Arrangement
The Fifth Avenue High School Records are housed in seven archival boxes and are arranged alphabetically by folder title with miscellaneous materials arranged in the rear.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in one accession, 1976.
Acc# 1976x -- Gift of the Fifth Avenue High School, (Records).
Preferred Citation
Records of the Fifth Avenue High School, 1863-1976, MSS#30, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Ruth Salisbury Reid in c. 1976.The records were rearranged and inventory rewritten by Erin Clougherty on August 9, 1993.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Janie Weaver on January 20, 2000.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- National Honor Society (U.S.)
- Pittsburgh Central High School (Pa.)
- Pittsburgh High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Rynearson, Edward, -- 1867-1932.
- Afro-Americans -- Education -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh.
- Education -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh.
- High schools -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh.
- Indians of North America
- Race relations in school management -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh.
- Schools -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh.
- Students -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh.
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Civilian relief.
- World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Schools.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- War work -- Schools