William Henry Maxwell

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Portrait c. 1912

William Henry Maxwell (March 5, 1852 – May 3, 1920)[1] was an American educator. From 1898 to 1917, he was superintendent of public schools in New York City.[2][1]

Biography[edit]

Maxwell born near the village of Stewartstown, County Tyrone, Ireland, on March 5, 1852. He comes from “an old Scotch family which settled in Ulster during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, his father, John Maxwell, being a Presbyterian clergyman.”[3]

He was educated at the College of Belfast and Galway and at Queen's University, took his A.B. in 1872, and his A. M. in 1874. In 1874 he emigrated to the United States; and from 1882 to 1898 he superintended the Brooklyn public schools. As superintendent of the New York City Public Schools Maxwell worked to keep the march of educational facilities apace with the growth of New York City. In 1901 he was made an honorary LL.D. by Columbia University. In 1904/05 he was president of the National Education Association.[2]

Publications[edit]

He was the author and editor of several textbooks for schools, and many of his short papers and addresses are printed in the proceedings of the N. E. A. and in educational magazines.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b John S. Brubacker (1933). "Maxwell, William Henry". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  2. ^ a b c This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain"Maxwell, William Henry" . The New Student's Reference Work . 1914.
  3. ^ "William Henry Maxwell". New York Times. 2 October 1898. Retrieved 2 March 2019.

Further reading[edit]

  • Abelow, Samuel P. Dr. William H. Maxwell: The First Superintendent of Schools of the City of New York (Brooklyn: Scheba Publishing Co., 1934), biography
  • Arrington, Jean. From Factories to Palaces: Architect Charles BJ Snyder and the New York City Public Schools (Fordham University Press, 2022), he designed school buildings for Maxwell..
  • Berrol, Selma C. "William Henry Maxwell and a New Educational New York." History of Education Quarterly 8.2 (1968): 215-228.
  • Berrol, Selma C. "Health Education and Welfare: The Progressive Impulse in the New York City Public Schools." Elementary School Journal 71.3 (1970): 134-142. [
  • Doherty, Robert E. "Tempest on the Hudson: The struggle for 'equal pay for equal work' in the New York City public schools, 1907–1911." History of Education Quarterly 19.4 (1979): 413-434.
  • Gold, Kenneth M. "From Vacation to Summer School: The Transformation of Summer Education in New York City, 1894–1915." History of Education Quarterly 42.1 (2002): 18-49.
  • Hendrick, Irving G., and Donald L. MacMillan. "Selecting children for special education in New York City: William Maxwell, Elizabeth Farrell, and the development of ungraded classes, 1900-1920." Journal of Special Education 22.4 (1989): 395-417. online
  • Mohl, Raymond A. "Schools, Politics and Riots: The Gary Plan in New York CIty, 1914-1917," Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education 15.1 (1975): 39-72. online
  • Mooney Jr, "John Vincent. William H. Maxwell and the public schools of New York City" (thesis, Fordham University, 1981).
  • Ravitch, Diane. The Great School Wars, New York City, 1805-1973; A History of the Public Schools as Battlefield of Social Change (1974) online.
  • Smead, Kevin J. "Maxwell, William Henry (1852-1920)" American National Biography (2000), online.
  • Tyack, David B. The one best system: A history of American urban education (Harvard University Press, 1974). [1]

Primary sources[edit]

  • Kilpatrick, Van Evrie. Departmental teaching in elementary schools (1908) online.
  • Maxwell, William Henry. The election of William H. Maxwell as city superintendent of schools emeritus (1918) online
  • Maxwell, William H. A Quarter Century of Public School Development (1912) online