New Exhibit: Faculty Portraits: An Historic View

Represented in Offit Gallery is an eclectic mix of faculty who served at Teachers College, some also in administrative roles – from the presidency of Nicholas Murray Butler (1889-1891) to the progressive teachings of John Dewey (1904-1930), through to the educational histories written by President Lawrence Cremin (1961-1990). The subjects were photographed from the early to mid-twentieth century, prior to the advent of digital photography, likely by numerous skilled photographers – who, through monochrome, evoke a certain import and nostalgia in covering over 100 years of education. The framed portraits are being shown collectively for the first time in Offit Gallery, and they are supplemental to the Historical Photographs of Teachers College, as well as Historic Portraits of Teachers College Faculty in the Teachers College Digital Collections.

While the portraits do not present a comprehensive picture of the extraordinary and wide-ranging achievements of our faculty across many academic departments and programs, they reflect teaching, scholarship, and commitment in the fields of history, philosophy, and religion; educational administration; international and comparative education; anthropology; economics and sociology; adult education; and psychology. And true to their medium, the portraits speak volumes about their subjects, capturing personality, identity, and essence of character through lighting, composition, and pose.

Paired with the black and white portraits are faculty book publications, necessarily selective due to their large volume of research. The book pairings provide a snapshot of scholarship, with additional historical materials on display in the adjoining Curiosity Cabinets of the Third Floor Reading Room.

On Black and White Portrait Photography 

Also known as monochrome, black and white photography began in France in the early 1800s when scientist Joseph Nicéphore exposed a bitumen-coated plate in a camera obscura for several hours, capturing a scene he would call, Vue Depuis la Fenêtre du Gras / View from the Window at Le Gras. Fellow scientist Louis Daguerre’s experiments involved a polished, silver-coated copper plate that he fumed with mercury and chemically treated before he rinsed, dried, and sealed the image (eponymously dubbed the “daguerrotype”) behind protective glass. In 1871 photography took a leap in the United Kingdom when English photographer Richard Leach Maddox invented the dry plate, or gelatin process. And, thanks to new, innovative approaches that made it easier and also more affordable, photography began to see mass growth in the United States. In the late 1880s hobbyist, then bank clerk, George Eastman developed the first machine for producing photographic plates, followed by a flexible roll of film, and ultimately, in partnership with Henry Strong, the first Kodak camera.

Monochrome is timeless and classic, allowing the artist and viewer to focus on the subject without attention to color. Photographic portraiture similarly appeals as a medium, accentuating unique features, shadows, patterns, textures, and lines. Some consider black and white photography superior to color – calling for more sophisticated ways to convey mood, tone, and emotion.

But what about the genre of historic, black and white academic portraits? At Teachers College, Columbia University, they were taken to remember our faculty pioneers and portray innovation at our institution which dates back to 1887, the year before the first successful roll-film hand camera, the Kodak, was publicly introduced.

History, Philosophy, and  Religion

In 1902 Dean James Earl Russell divided up the Division of General Education, creating five new departments, among them History and Philosophy of Education. When John Dewey joined the faculty in 1904, Teachers College took the lead in the progressive education movement and centered its programs, research, and vision around democratic ideals and progressive thinking. He was an eminent philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer who actualized his pedagogical beliefs in child-centered learning, pragmatism, experience, democratic process, and open social communication. Dewey’s students included William Heard Kilpatrick, who would become his successor, known for “The Project Method”, which emphasized experiential learning and collaborative problem solving  – methods in classroom use today.  

From the turn of the twentieth century and in anticipation of a new Department of Religious Education, there were regular courses in Bible study, resulting in the mid 1940s to the substitution of several interdivisional programs. Frederick Johnson joined the faculty in 1931 and wrote on religion and social change throughout his tenure.

Under the leadership of James Earl Russell, courses in the History of Education initially were taught in the Faculty of Education (rather than the Faculty of Practical Arts) until the creation of the Department of Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education. Edward Reisner enriched the field with his books on nationalism and education, historical foundations of modern education, and the common school.

Regular bimonthly meetings and discussions by professors William Heard Kilptrick, George Counts, John Childs, Robert Raup, Edwin Brunner, and Frederick Johnson among others over a period of ten years led to an academic reorganization in 1934 – and one which recognized the need for more specialized courses in history. The foundations group began a new course entitled Foundations in Education, Education 200F. This same group, members of the John Dewey Society, started the periodical publication, Social Frontier (1934-1943), which criticized schools for their emphasis on individualism and favored a more democratic collectivism “in the present age of social transition.”  Interestingly, Professor Willystine Goodsell, the only woman featured in Offit, disagreed with the tone of Social Frontier;  her research looked into the family and pioneers in women’s education.

In 1938 Donald Tewksbury, succeeded Thomas Alexander as director of New College, a progressive undergraduate college that existed from 1932-1939 under the auspices of Teachers College, Columbia University, with learning communities situated in North Carolina, Georgia, and abroad through foreign study groups.

Following World War Two, Robert Raup prompted an assessment of the curriculum of Teachers College which led to recommendations for new areas for study;  the Committee of Ten outlined thirteen rubrics to address education and the postwar world; international relations; interracial and intercultural minority problems in America; community relations; work experience and vocation; rehabilitation; communication in modern life; problems of character, personality, and attitudes; expression in American life; social policies; pre-service education; effective College instruction; and the College’s relationship with public schools and education writ large. While these rubrics were not formalized they provided valuable insight into the shaping of academic departments and programs in subsequent decades.

The eminent historian Lawrence Cremin not only wrote the seminal History of Teachers College (New York: Columbia University Press, 1954), but also scholarly literature on the history of American education, including progressivism, the metropolitan experience, popular education, and much more. As the Seventh President, Lawrence Cremin, wrote that the College “has been at the forefront of every major movement, issue and conflict in American education” – the birthplace of new ideas, practices, and fields of inquiry. 

Teachers College carries on its legacy in today’s programs in history and philosophy, the former re-lodged in 2023 to the newest academic department, Education Policy and Social Analysis, and the latter, situated in the Department of Arts and Humanities.

Educational Administration

Also in 1902 came the new department of Educational Administration. A pioneer in the field was George Drayton Strayer, Teachers College alumnus (Ph.D, 1905), professor, and Director of the Division of Field Studies – especially known for his influential work in educational surveys. David S. Snedden together with Samuel Dutton published the first textbook for college courses in school administration, Administration of Public Education in the United States (1907). Enrollments increased substantially, in effect doubling in number before the Second World War and in effect requiring new levels of staffing to meet demand. Today courses in educational administration – the management of schools, educational institutions, and systems at all levels – are concentrated in the Department of Organization and Leadership, and are illuminated by courses in the departments of Curriculum and Teaching, Education Policy and Social Analysis, and other academic areas at Teachers College.

International and Comparative Education

Directed by Professor Paul Monroe and funded by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. with a gift of one million dollars in 1923, the International Institute of Education gave special attention to foreign students and also conducted investigations and research into education in numerous foreign countries. Monroe specialized in education in the Far East and also assisted in developing the educational system in the Philippines, while Professor William F. Russell, son of Dean James Earl Russell, conducted studies of education in Siberia and Christian education in China. The editor of the Yearbook of  International Education (1925-1944) was Professor Isaac Kandel, a member of the staff of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Teachers College founded the Comparative and International Education Society in 1956 and Professor George Z. F. Bereday, a specialist in studies of the Soviet Union, Japan, and Western Europe, served as editor of the Comparative Education Review, which began in 1957. In the 1950s-1960s, Professor David Scanlon pursued interests in African education; served as UNESCO consultant in Liberia; and was instrumental in administering Teachers College programs for teacher education in East Africa. As faculty visited and studied more foreign countries, the number of foreign students at Teachers College grew. Scholarship informed the curriculum, while strengthening the foundation for the field pioneered by Teachers College. Today the program embraces four main areas: global governance, policy, and planning; human rights, emergencies, and peace-building; multilingual and decolonial dimensions of education; and the academic disciplines of anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, politics, and sociology.

Anthropology

The first courses in anthropology at Teachers College were taught in the 1930s. Visiting professor Lyman Bryson offered "Anthropology and Education." Lecturer and adjunct professor Margaret Mead taught courses entitled “Sociology and Anthropology," “Anthropology and Educational Mass Media,” “Anthropology and Interpersonal Relations,” and “Culture and Communication.” Beginning in the 1940s, several members of the Columbia University Department of Anthropology, including Margaret Mead and Solon Kimball, developed the curriculum at Teachers College, in addition to the professional association, the Council on Anthropology and Education.

An expert on social tensions arising from racial segregation, Solon Kimball's anthropological research involved family and community in rural Ireland and on the Navajo reservation in the American Southwest. In 1956 he became the area advisor for anthropology in the “Division of Social Foundations” and also consulted on education in Brazil. In 1963 Professor Lambros Comitas joined the faculty, and the Program in Anthropology and Education was formally recognized, with the first PhD granted just five years later.

Additional faculty with anthropology doctorates joined Teachers College, including Professor William Sayres, Director of the program in International Education who conducted research in Latin America, notably Peru and Columbia; advised on a new curriculum for Afghanistan; and administered the Peace Corps Fellows Program during his tenure, 1963-1993. Bill Sayres, along with Francis Ianni (Educational Administration), Paul Byers, Ray McDermott and Hervé Varenne (Family and Community Education) demonstrate the interdisciplinarity of the field of Anthropology and Education and its relevance to understanding the human condition at many levels. 

Economics and Sociology

While the earliest courses in economics at Teachers College are linked to the School of Household Arts, specifically for Hospital Economics in 1909, the field expanded during the reconstruction after the First World War. Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler maintained that “the doctrine of gainful occupation” – economics – along with ethics and politics – were central to an effective education (“Education After the War”, Teachers College Record, 1919).  Teachers College thus had work to do in addressing how to allocate resources, including funding and staffing, to meet changing educational needs and goals, while also understanding how education relates to other aspects of society, namely, the economy, politics, culture, and social classes. Forerunners included Edmund Brunner, a specialist in American rural sociology, and Harold Clark, an economist who worked in more than sixty countries, many with developing economies, and wrote about the role of education in the American economy, as well as in the military.

The Economics and Education Program at Teachers College has developed over the decades to prepare students to apply the economic approach, as well as its methodological tools, to contemporary education policy issues both domestically and globally. The curriculum in the Sociology and Education Program focuses on the social context of schools in both cities and suburbs; the organization and structure of schooling; and the intersection of race, ethnicity, social class and gender with educational policies and practices. It draws upon faculty experts in organizational studies, the sociology of teachers and teaching, stratification, racial inequality, critical race theory and urban sociology. 

Adult Education

The Institute of Adult Education at Teachers College was founded in 1941 with an agreement between the Association for Adult Education and the Carnegie Corporation to conduct training programs for personnel in adult education, as well as research in the field. In cooperation with other organizations, the Institute helped plan educational programs for returning soldiers, and in the 1950s it helped educate adults for greater international understanding. 

Wilbur C. Hallenbeck earned his Ph.D in Adult Education at Columbia University in 1935 and came to Teachers College where he shaped the growth of the program over the next twenty-three years. An urban sociologist, Hallenbeck divided his time between training adult educators and participating in adult education organizations and foundation projects.

The focus of Adult Education and organizational learning in today’s program at Teachers College is transformative – intending to shape and be shaped by diverse views and cultures through societal learning.

Psychology 

Like philosophy, comparative education, history of education, educational sociology, and educational economics, courses in psychology were originally taught in the Faculty of Education. Professor Edward Lee Thorndike conducted in 1899 the first scientific studies of animal intelligence and learning, which resulted in a fresh series of texts that established the field of educational psychology. Thorndike also developed the first “standard scale” to measure student learning.

Goodwin Barbour Watson was Professor of Education, 1925-1962; Professor Emeritus of Social Psychology and Education; Co-Director of the Institute of Group Psychotherapy. He came to the field of psychology as an ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He taught courses in social psychology and personality development and urged the use of group psychotherapy in training teachers to meet the needs of their students. The “Watson Plan” (circa 1929-1930) attempted “to remove the disadvantages of rigid departmentalization for advanced doctoral candidates”, allowing them to pursue more independent study. (Cremin, p.137)

By the early 1990s, the Division of Psychology and Education (encompassing developmental, educational, social, organizational, counseling, clinical, measurement-evaluation-statistics, and speech-language pathology and audiology) was integrated throughout nine new academic departments: Arts and Humanities; Biobehavioral Science; Curriculum and Teaching; Education Policy and Social Analysis; Health Studies and Applied Health Psychology; Human Development; International and Transcultural Studies; Mathematics, Science and Technology; Organization and Leadership, with a dedicated one for Counseling and Clinical Psychology. Today the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology prepares students to investigate and address the psychological needs of individuals, families, groups, organizations/institutions, and communities and trains students to become knowledgeable and proficient in research; practice, and psychological and educational leadership.

Portraying the Future 

While we know very little about the monochrome photographers of Teachers College, we can attest to their appeal; black and white photographic portraiture conveys a professional, professorial, and serious tone – one that reminds us of our clear and enduring place in schools, society, and the world at large, and our continuing impact on the educational, psychological, and applied health professions. 

References

Announcement of Teachers College, Columbia University (Teachers College Bulletin). Teachers College, Columbia University, 1896–1990.

Cremin, Lawrence A., David A. Shannon, and Mary Evelyn Townsend. A History of Teachers College, Columbia University. New York: Columbia University Press, 1954. (e-book).

Faculty Files, Public Relations Collection, Teachers College Digital Collections.

Teachers College Academic Catalog, 1999-2025. Website of Teachers College.

Torres, Rosie. “A Brief History of Black and White Photography.” The Independent Photographer, 2021.  Website.

Exhibition Acknowledgements

Faculty Portraits: An Historic View is made possible through the generous support of the Myers Foundations and the creative contributions of Soeun Bae, Library Associate for Art and Design in collaboration with Jennifer Govan, Library Director and Senior Librarian. It enhances the Spring Curiosity Cabinet display, Portraying Faculty: Eclectic Views, also funded through Myers.

Where: Offit Gallery
When: January 27th - March 27th