Introduction
Dr. James E. Bryan
Dr. James Edmund Bryan was born September 9, 1869 in Maryland to the Reverend James Edmund Bryan and Anna Virginia Smith Bryan. An 1890 graduate of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore MD, he served as a teacher and principal in Michigan and Illinois, he was hired as superintendent of Camden’s public schools in 1899 and served as such through 1931. He succeeded Horatio Draper in that post. Dr. Leon N. Neulen held the post in the 1930s and 1940s.
During Dr. Bryan’s tenure Camden High School was erected, as was Hatch Junior High and several elementary schools throughout the city. He was the father of the Junior High School in Camden, and besides Hatch, another was built, Veterans Memorial Junior High School in Cramer Hill during his term. Two other Junior High Schools opened in existing buildings, the Alfred Cramer Junior High School being formerly the Eastside Elementary School, and Junior High School Number One, later known as the Clara Burrough Junior High School occupying the building that had housed the Camden Manual Training and High School. Other innovations instituted by Dr. Bryan included the Continuation School and corrections classes.
He was a member and trustee of Centenary Church at 5th and Cooper Street for many years, a member of the Trimble Lodge, No. 117 Free and Accepted Masons, the National Education Association, and many other professional groups. His niece, Dr. Mary Roberts, was principal of Moorestown High School, and “Woman of the Year in South Jersey” for 1948.
Dr. Bryan died at his home, 124 South Springfield Avenue in Merchantville, on December 18, 1951. He was buried at Rising Sun MD.
Photos
Dr. James E. Bryan, 1924
From South Jersey: A History 1624–1924
James Edmund Bryan, Jr., A. B., Ph.D., is superintendent of the public schools in the city of Camden, which office he has held since 1899. Prior to coming to Camden, he held the position of superintendent in the schools of Danville, Illinois, for three years, and in Litchfield, Illinois, for a similar period. He began his educational work as principal of the high school in Houghton, Michigan, from 1891 to 1893. During the period of Dr. Bryan’s superintendency of the Camden Schools, there has been rapid development and growth. The enrollment has increased from less than twelve thousand to more than twenty-two thousand; the number of teachers from less than three hundred to seven hundred and fifty; and seventeen new school buildings have been erected, including the new Senior High School in Forest Hill Park and two junior high schools. The organization of the school system has been completely modernized and developed along the lines of the most advanced educational thought and experience.
He attended the public schools of Maryland and Delaware until fifteen years of age, when he entered the Wilmington Conference Academy, now known as Wesley Collegiate Institute. Upon graduation from the Institute, he matriculated in Johns Hopkins University, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1890. The year 1890–91 was spent in graduate work in Johns Hopkins upon a University Scholarship awarded for high scholastic standing in undergraduate work. After teaching nine years, he entered upon a course of graduate work in the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1908.
Dr. Bryan was born September 9, 1869, in Cecil County, Maryland. He is the son of Rev. James Edmund Bryan, of the Wilmington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Anna Virginia Bryan, both of old Maryland families, and both now deceased. He was united in marriage with May Barratt Martindale, also a native of Maryland, on December 28, 1893, at Newcastle, Delaware.
Dr. Bryan was president of the New Jersey State Teachers’ Association in 1908 and of the New Jersey Council of Education in 1908 and 1909. For ten years he was a trustee of the Teachers’ Pension System of New Jersey. He is a life member of the National Education Association, and a charter member of the New Jersey Schoolmaster’s Club. He affiliates with Trimble Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of Centenary-Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church of Camden, of which church he has been a trustee since 1902. He is also a Rotarian.
From Public Education in Camden, N.J.: From Inception to Integration
Excerpted from Public Education in Camden, N.J.: From Inception to Integration by Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
Between 1920 and 1933 space within the Mount Vernon School was allocated to the Continuation School. In January of that year, Superintendent of Schools Dr. James E. Bryan went to Boston to visit Continuation Schools because they were operating there, in old factories, with separate boys’ and girls’ classes, for about the last four to five years. In Massachusetts, students who worked were required to attend school at least four hours per week. In New Jersey, the Legislature enacted a law requiring at least six hours per week, and whenever a student was unemployed, the state expected the student to attend school every day. This special school, called a Continuation School, had to open by September 1, 1920. According to the New Jersey law, the child attended school in the city in which he worked, and not where he lived, unless the two happen to be the same. (In essence, the state took the financial burden of continuation schools out of the suburbs, and into the cities where the jobs were located.)
Bryan reasoned that the district needed to provide instruction for a maximum of 600 students, and believed that in this type of school, efficiency required 15 pupils per class, covering the sixth through tenth grades. Bryan also recognized that these classes would be in a constant state of flux, and he would have to arrange the classes by ability and personal advancement. The teacher’s problem was one of individualized instruction. Bryan assigned four male and four female teachers to shops and domestic-science rooms, with academic classrooms, a principal and an office assistant, and attendance clerk. The Mount Vernon School building and the old church (Wynn Memorial Chapel) next to the Liberty School, became the sites for the district’s Continuation School. Bryan also wanted a print shop established in the school, when funds were available, as this was one of the developments of modern industrial education not represented in the curriculum at the time.
In mid-February 1929, Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Bryan learned of the sale of tickets of chance in the school system. Mr. Charles F. Otto, Principal of Kaighn School reported the incident in response to published accounts in the papers of the selling of chances at his school. The board questioned the principal and two students, Nicholas Perino and Charles Menequale. Otto recounted that on the playground, a pupil, Leon Gendler, complained to him that Charles Menequale threatened him with harm, if he [Leon] did not give him money. For this attempted extortion of money, Mr. Otto reprimanded Charles. Disregarding the warning, however, Charles continued his threats for money, and Leon again complained to the principal. Consequently, Otto summoned both boys to the office, and learned that Charles was coercing Leon to extort money from others in order to play a form of lottery. Otto decided it was advisable to inform the police, and let them make a full investigation. The board appointed a committee of three to work with the police, and to investigate further the sale of lottery tickets in the schools. The committee exonerated Mr. Otto from all blame in reference to the published accounts in the papers, and the board complimented him for his promptness in reporting the incident. The board directed the superintendent to instruct principals to cooperate “in stamping out the evil of school children selling or buying lottery chances.
Camden News Notes
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Another day was put in by Vice Chancellor Grey yesterday hearing the interminable testimony in the case of the Jonas Glass Company against the Green Glass Bottle Blowers’ Association.
Miss Minnie Tierney, the pretty Irish girl who was taken violently insane at the Cooper Hospital Wednesday, will be removed to the State Hospital for the Insane by Overseers of the Poor Jefferies to-day.
The graduating class of the Camden High School gave a banquet in the Masonic Building Wednesday night. The toastmaster was Edward H. Sayford and the toasts were: “The High School Graduates in After Life,” Professor James E. Bryan; “The Influence of the Senior Class,” Miss Clara S. Burroughs; “Our Alma Mater,” Miss Susanna Danser; “School Athletics,” Julian K. Potter; “Our Curriculum,” Miss G. Rovilla Fry; “The Girls of ‘03,” George T. Phillips; “The Boys of ‘03,” Miss Helen E. Herbert.
Camden Lodge of Elks has appointed Frank Healy, Peter Verga, Frank Gardner, A. R. Dease and Levi Farnham a committee to arrange plans for enlarging its handsome headquarters at Broadway and Federal streets. The first floor of the addition will be used as a bowling alley, shower baths and shuffle boards. There will be a stage on the second floor and on the third there will be rooms for billiards, pool and other games.
Albert West, colored, of 1018 Linden street, reported to the Camden police yesterday that he had been swindled out of $6. West says he met a man who gave the name of William Beston, and claiming he had been sent by the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad to get West to work as a porter. Beston declared White [sic] must first have a uniform and after measuring him Beston asked for the $6 as advance money. He then told West to report at the railroad office. He did but no porters were needed.
Class Soon to Leave Camden’s High School
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Supervising Principal James E. Bryan, of the Camden Public Schools, yesterday announced the following as the graduates of the Manual Training and High School:
Fulton Russell Aleck, Linda Allen, Albert Edward Becker, Charles Edward Blair, Anna May Boyle, Ethel Beatrice Buckwalter, Mary Keyser Carlin, Elmer Robair Cavanna, Ida May Coles, George Douglass Connelly, Ethel Sidney Conrad, Elizabeth Leona Cromie, Lillian Elliott, Harry Davidson Evans, Helen Reed Faust, Rufus Hill Flinn, Florence Nohl Garwood, Anna Mayer Geister, Reba Gilkey, Anna Rosina Goerlick, Hyman Isaac Goldstein, Newton Hughes Graw, Harriet Mabel Hall, Effie Flewelling Harbaugh, Helen Austin Hinchman, Thirston Henry Jackson, Mildred De Puy Janke, Vinal Alfonso Johnson, Elizabeth Linda Kemmerer, Dorothy King, Clara Adelaide Larzalere, Jessie Oleita Lewis, Mabel Emma Lewis, Margaret Agnes Larigan, Anna Denny Lyell, Elizabeth Marchaust, Mabel Louisa Morris, M. Alice Murphy, Henrietta Evelyn Nesson, Mary Laugheed Parsons, Charles Edward Paxson, Reba May Peacock, Ethel Emma Pressy, William Haywood Rogers, Harry Burnley Rose, Frank Maxwell Sayford, William Deacon Shemley, Albert Whittaker Cook Smith, Sara Florence Stanton, Carrie Estella Steelman, Ethel Matthews Todd, Earl Frank Tucker, Elizabeth Allen Whitely, Harry Wickland and Perry Hollinshed Wood.
The class day exercises will be held at the High School Auditorium, June 20, and the commencement exercises at the First Methodist Episcopal Church on June 22.
One of the New Schools Opened
Camden Daily Courier —
The James M. Cassady Threw Open Its Doors Yesterday
THREE OTHERS SOON FINISHED
One of the new schools, the one at Third and State streets, named after ’Squire James M. Cassady, was thrown open to the public yesterday, Supervisor James E. Bryan reporting to the Board of Education last night that 120 pupils had been transferred there from the Read School. From time to time other pupils will be sent to that school until its twelve rooms are in use. It is anticipated, however, that notwithstanding the rapid growth of the population in that section of Camden the school will be sufficient for the needs of the pupils for several years to come.
Within a comparatively short time the three other schools now under course of construction will be in readiness for pupils. These include the Parkside School at Princess and Kaighn avenues; Henry B. Wilson School, Ninth and Florence streets, and the George Washington School, at 27th and Cambridge streets. In all these four schools will accommodate about 2,000 children and the Board of Education is of the opinion that they will meet the demands for several years.
Supervisor Bryan also reported that the Jamestown Exposition had awarded three silver medals to as many exhibits from the local schools. One was for the model of a locomotive constructed by the Manual Training students, another for the exhibit of music, and the third for the general work of the pupils of the Mt. Vernon (colored) School.
In his report concerning the closing of the Dudley School, Health Physician Davis stated that the prevalence of diphtheria in that section of the city, and which necessitated the temporary discontinuance of the school sessions, is due to bad drainage and the failure of the majority of the families to give the proper attention to the sanitary necessities. The total number of contagious diseases for the month were 135, the principal ailments being affections of the throat.
On recommendation of the Teachers’ Committee it was decided to close the schools for the holidays on Monday, December 23, and reopen them Thursday, January 2.
Mathias Jackson was appoitned janitor of the new Parkside School, at a salary of $850 a year, the appointment to take effect from November 1.
Custodian Frey’s report showed a balance on hand of $55,290.07.
Pupils Ask for Military Training
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The 400 students at the Camden High School were given a patriotic address by Superintendent James E. Bryan yesterday. The enthusiasm of the boys was so pronounced that they made a request that they be given military training. This Superintendent Bryan promised to take before the Board of Education.
War Affects High School
Philadelphia Inquirer —
That the war is affecting the Camden High School enrollment is indicated in connection with the plans under way for the occupancy of the new half-million-dollar building at Forest Hill Park. It was originally deemed advisable to place all except the first year students in the structure, the others remaining at the old building at Haddon and Newton avenue. It has been found, however, that while the building has been under construction, the enrollment has greatly fallen off, so that at present it would be possible to accommodate all the student body of 9000 boys and girls. It is likely that in the beginning but 500 of these will be taken to the new building.
City Superintendent Bryan has found that many potential students have been lured away to shipyards, munition plants and other places where high wages are paid even the youths.
12,000 Camden Pupils Members of Red Cross
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Children Have Paid in $3175 in Dues to Aid Relief Organization
Just what excellent work is being done by Camden’s public schools in connection with the Red Cross is indicated in the report of Superintendent Bryan, made yesterday, in which he shows that in twenty-six schools in the city there are 12,000 members who have paid $3175 in dues. This leaves a balance of but 4000 children who have not become affiliated with the organization and these are fast becoming members, so that very shortly virtually every boy and girl in the city attending school will be a member of the society. Dr. Bryan has suggested to Dr. Daniel Strock, president of the Camden County Chapter of the Red Cross, the following principals as a committee to further prosecute the work: Mrs. Margaret Thomson, Northeast School; Miss Dorothy Morris, Dudley School; Ralph Parker, Liberty School; Mrs. Mary Brown, High School; George B. Pine, Pensauken [sic]; Miss Emma Summerill, Collingswood; John Koerner, Audubon; and Helen A. Amelson, Helping Teacher.
Centennial Pageants Given by Camden School Children
Camden Courier-Post —
Wilson Rickenbach, right, winner of first prize in a Camden centennial contest conducted at the Washington School, and below, the sketch he submitted. William Baughman, left, won second prize at the school. Nineteen pupils participated. Both prize winners are students at Washington School and at the Graphic Sketch Club, Philadelphia, and aspire to become artists.
Schools throughout the city yesterday afternoon climaxed their part in the week’s celebration of Camden’s centennial of incorporation with pageantry and other exercises.
Several thousand pupils participated in the programs, which, in higher grade schools, included patriotic speeches. The exercises were conducted in accordance with plans outlined last week by Dr. James E. Bryan, superintendent of schools.
Highlights in the city’s history were depicted in tableaux at the exercises and pupils were impressed by their teachers with the significance of the city’s celebration. All speeches were brief, the primary aim being, according to Dr. Bryan, to cultivate and stimulate civic pride through the exercises themselves.
Historical characters portrayed by the students in costume included Walt Whitman, Elizabeth Haddon, John Estaugh, Richard Cooper, Lord Camden and Benjamin Franklin. Several schools awarded prizes for costumes at the exercises.
Awarding of two prizes in a poster contest and pageantry depicting historical characters marked a program at the Washington School, Twenty-seventh street and River avenue. Wilson Rickenbach, 12 years old, North Twenty-eighth street, won first prize, and William Baughman, 13 years old, 1107 Belderman avenue, was awarded second prize. Both are in the 7-A grade and are members of the school’s art club and students at the Graphic Sketch Club, Philadelphia.
Rickenbach used as his idea a sketch in the Evening Courier’s centennial rotogravure section Monday. This pictured the Camden of 1825 and of 1925, with skyscrapers depicting it as it is expected to be in 2025. Baughman sketched a Colonial scene of 1825. The pictures were in colors and won high commendation from Miss Charlotte V. Dover, principal of the school. The contest was under the direction of Miss Viola Pedrick, of Haddonfield, teacher of the drawing classes. Nineteen pupils participated.
Twelve scenes depicting the history of Camden were presented by the pupils of Bonsall school, Mt. Ephraim and Chase street, in the school auditorium yesterday. Nearly 150 costumed children participated. Because of the enrollment of 1400 children the pageant was presented yesterday morning and again yesterday afternoon.
The pageants were written by the teachers of the school under the direction of Mrs. Katherine Atkinson, teacher of history. The teachers made the costumes and coached the pupils. Each episode was announced by the herald. Emlie Dobkowski and a costumed pupil exhibited a poster giving the historical details of the act. A song “Camden the Beautiful” written by the teachers was sung by the audience.
Dr. Bryan Pleads for School as Curb on Juvenile Crime
Camden Courier-Post —
Tells Yorkship P.T.A. Curtailment of Classes Adds to Wanderers
Blames Governments
Retention of uncurtailed educational facilities to prevent an increase in youthful crime and in “the great army of discontent” is urged by Dr. James E. Bryan, former superintendent of Camden city’s schools. Education, he declared, cannot be deferred from year to year in the case of children, and what they are denied today cannot be retrieved.
Addressing the Yorkship Parent-Teacher Association at the Yorkship School, Fairview, Dr. Bryan told of the thousands of “migratory youths” roaming the country, many being introduced to crime, because their schooling has been neglected. His subject was “Choosing Values.”
Stresses Education
“We should do all within our power to give the children the education to which they are entitled,” Dr. Bryan said. “We must do this so that we do not increase the great army of the discontented and the number of potential criminals, for that is what curtailment of educational facilities means.
“It is a serious question, and when we deny to young men the education and school privileges to which they are entitled we are adding to the movement of this migratory stone down hill. Roaming the country today are many boys who are becoming beggars and in many cases will be introduced to crime. We must do everything possible to halt this evil, and we can do that by insisting on the maintenance of our educational facilities, which have a restraining influence on youth to keep away from crime.
Fears for Children
“We should keep in mind one thought. That is that the careers of millions of boys and girls are being charted in this country. For them, and for us, it is the ‘uncharted future.’ Should we consider then what the value today in education, or 20 years hence. It is a matter of great importance that we consider not 20 years hence, but today, for we must realize that education cannot be deferred…
“We cannot defer proper, adequate schooling in the lives of our children. What is denied them this year will never be supplied in the same way in the future in the method where they would best profit by it.
“I know, therefore, of no group that should give as much attention to this question of adequate education than the Parent-Teacher associations. These associations have it in their power to determine whether the schools are to be crippled for a whole generation, or maintained with relative efficiency. The P.T.A’s are needed because of the sympathetic support they can give to the schools.”
Must Get Money
“I’ve read of schools being closed because no money was available,” the former superintendent said. “Why is it not available? It is not entirely due to the fact people cannot pay their taxes. That is true only in part, for there is one thought deeper than that, and that is we’ve gone ahead to get things we didn’t have the money to pay for. We thought of today and not of tomorrow and the future. Governments have spent money they did not have and because of that they are struggling with heavy debts.”
Dr. Bryan said that if Camden city and Camden county were not so loaded with past debt, there would be no trouble to live on with the taxes that are paid. He said such a condition should serve as a lesson for tomorrow and the future.
Mrs. William Angus, president of the Yorkship School Parent-Teacher Association, presided. The program included vocal selections by Mrs. Jack Williams and a pageant in observance of P.T.A. Founders’ Week, in which Mrs. Angus, Mrs. Marcie Herford and Mrs. Samuel Magill participated.
The association made plans for a card party for February 17. A contribution of more than $11 from teachers of the Yorkship School toward the welfare fund was reported.
Retiring Northeast Principal Is Guest of Honor at Dinner
Camden Courier-Post —
School Officials, Teachers Praise Mrs. Margaret Thomson
30 Years’ Service in Camden Ended
P.T.A. Plans Farewell Reception at State Street M. E.
Twenty-two teachers of Northeast School, Seventh and Vine Streets, honored Mrs. Margaret Thomson, principal of the school, at an informal dinner Wednesday night in Haddon Heights, to mark Mrs. Thomson’s retirement from active service in Camden schools after 30 years.
Some of the teachers at the dinner at the “Little White House” tea room are members of the present staff of Northeast School, while others have taught at the school and have either retired or been transferred.
The teachers presented a chair to Mrs. Thomson, and a gold pin to Miss Eva Burrough, a cousin of Miss Clara S. Burrough, retiring principal of Camden Senior High School.
Mrs. Thomson began her Camden teaching career in 1904 when she was assigned to Sewell School. For 12 years the boys of Sewell School and members of their families regarded Mrs. Thomson as more than a teacher, often bringing to her little family problems to be settled, or seeking advice in matters other than affairs of the school.
In 1916 Mrs. Thomson was named principal of Northeast School, across the street from the building where she started teaching in Camden. Her interests in the families remained the same for her pupils at Northeast School were the girls of the same families she had counseled while at Sewell School.
Mrs. Thomson was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, and received her education there. She taught in the Chester schools for several years before her marriage.
She decided to re-enter the teaching profession several years after her marriage and went to Millersville Normal School for further training.
Meanwhile her sister, Mrs. Mary Brown, had located in Camden to start the French department in the high school. Mrs. Brown, pleased with Camden and its schools, persuaded Mrs. Thomson to come here, and a few years later they were joined by another sister, Mrs. Frances Wilmerton.
A member of Centenary-Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church since coming to Camden, Mrs. Thomson has been active in church affairs of the community. She has served as treasurer of the Teachers’ Relief Insurance Fund, and is a member of the State Teachers’ Association as well as the National Education Association.
Through her efforts, the number of Camden teachers associated with the insurance fund has increased from less than 500 to more than 500, and the benefits have been increased from $300 to $500.
Mrs. Thomson will be honored Monday at a reception given by members of the Parent-Teacher Association of Sewell and Northeast schools and by families of the community. The reception will be held in State Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Sixth and State Streets.
Dr. James Bryan, former superintendent of Camden schools; Dr. Leon N. Neulen, present superintendent; Samuel E. Fulton, president of the Camden Board of Education, and several former pupils of Mrs. Thomson will review her career as a teacher here and recount many incidents of her work.
Principals Fete Retiring Members
Camden Courier-Post —
Association Gives Banquet and Entertainment for 8 at Hotel Here
Eight retiring school principals were honored last night at a banquet in the junior ballroom of Hotel Walt Whitman by the Camden Principals’ Association.
Amid decorations of roses and spring flowers these teachers, who have served the city from 35 to 40 years, heard words of praise from their schoolmates and superiors.
They are Miss Daisy Furber, Central School; Mrs. Margaret Thomson, Northeast; Miss minerva stackhouse, Davis; Miss Bessie Snyder, McKinley; Miss clara s. burrough, Camden High; Miss Helen Wescott, Mulford; Miss Loretta Ireland, Cooper; Miss Charlotte V. Dover, Washington.
Harry Showalter, president of the association, presided. Eighty guests represented the entire school system of 38 institutions. Showalter, Dr. Leon N. Neulen, superintendent of schools, and Dr. James E. Bryan, retired superintendent, joined in paying tribute to the retiring principals as having set a high example for Camden’s school system.
The male teachers serenaded the women instructors and vice versa with song. At the closing the teachers joined hands at the suggestion of Dr. Bryan and sang “Auld Lang Syne.”
Many Pay Tribute to Miss Burrough
Camden Courier-Post —
Friends and Associates File by Bier Prior to Private Funeral Today
Educators, students, alumni and men and women of all walks of life, who benefited by her teaching, joined yesterday, afternoon and last night in a final tribute to Miss Clara Stewart Burrough, principal of camden high school, who died Friday.
They passed her bier in silence at her home at 228 Washington Avenue, Haddonfield. Surrounding the casket were countless floral expressions of sympathy.
Today the family will have strictly private services at 2 p. m. at the house. Dr. George F. Finnie, pastor of North Baptist Church, of which she was a member for years, will preach the sermon and conduct the burial services in Colestown Cemetery.
The honorary pall-bearers will be Dr. Howard Dare White, assistant state commissioner of education; Samuel E. Fulton, president of the Camden Board of Education; Dr. Leon N. Neulen, superintendent of schools; Dr. James E. Bryan, former superintendent of schools; Thomas W. Trembath, vice principal of Camden High School, wilfred w. fry, North Baptist Church; George M. Bryson, former member of the board of education; Dr. William A. Wetzel, principal of Trenton High School, and Henry P. Miller, principal of Atlantic City High School.
The following members of the Camden High School Associate Alumni will be active pall-bearers:
William A. Rogers, president; Franklin S. Garman, 1907; Albert E. Burling, 1909; Charles E. Glendenning, 1913; Robert A. Haley, 1921, and Merrill N. O’Brien, 1911.
What was to have been a joyous occasion Saturday night was turned into one of sorrow when the alumni met at the school for a dance and frolic in honor of the graduates.
Instead of the reception, the alumni passed resolution of condolence, and voted to raise a four-year scholarship costing $20,000. The alumni plans to endow a fund to give graduates from the school a complete four year course in a university. A new graduate will be given a scholarship each year. It will be known as the Clara S. Burrough Scholarship. Rogers was authorized to appoint a committee to raise the fund.
A floral piece had been ordered placed in her chair at the school by the alumni early Saturday. It was carried with solemnity to a tree planted by the alumni in her honor near the school. After singing her favorite hymn, “The Lord is My Shepherd” Rogers offered a prayer.
The alumni also sent a floral expression to the house. Classes, graduates and various state, county and city educational groups were represented in the floral tributes.
Miss Burrough died at 1 p.m. Friday, one hour after she had been placed on the retired list after 45 years of service as a teacher and principal in Camden schools. She had been principal of the school since 1900.
2 Scholarships Honor Miss Wilson
Camden Courier-Post —
At Testimonial by 600 Ex-Pupils
FORMER PUPILS paid heartfelt tribute to their ex-teacher, Miss Lucy Dean Wilson at a dinner, in the Walt Whitman hotel, Saturday night. The retired Camden High school teacher is shown with four eminent ex-students. From left, Congressman Wolverton, Supreme Court Justice Burling, Mrs. Dora Y. Rose, general chairman of the dinner committee; Miss Wilson, and former Assemblyman Frank M. Travaline Jr., who acted as toastmaster. More than 600 of Miss Wilson’s former students attended the dinner which was sponsored by the Camden High School Alumni Association.
Miss Lucy Dean Wilson found out Saturday night just how much her former students think of her.
More than 600 of them turned out to pay her honor at a testimonial dinner in the Hotel Walt Whitman and among them were many persons who have achieved eminence not only in Camden but nationally.
They established two scholarships which will bear her name. They presented her with $500 in U. S. savings bonds, and they gave her a radio-phonograph. In addition she received numerous floral tributes, and scores of telegrams from well-wishers.
The retired Camden High school teacher was escorted to her seat by a guard of honor comprising former pupils representing Miss Wilson’s years of service, from 1896 to 1933 when she left the school. And as she walked through the banquet room, the entire gathering sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”
The principal speakers at the dinner sponsored by the Camden High School Alumni Association were two former students of Miss Wilson. They are Supreme Court Justice Albert A. Burling and Congressman Wolverton, with another ex-student, former Assemblyman Frank M. Travaline Jr., acting as toastmaster.
It was after his speech that Wolverton made the announcement of the two scholarships.
The first, provided by Charles M. Taylor, member of the endowment board of the Alumni Association, establishes funds for a scholarship at Cornell university to be awarded to the boy or girl graduate of the school who is adjudged most worthy to receive it. Funds for the first recipient will be available in 1951.
Second Scholarship
The second scholarship is a $10,000 gift provided by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ostermayer, details of which are to be worked out by Miss Wilson herself.
In his speech Wolverton said [...] pre-eminent in the world because we have the highest type of national character, and declared that this position can only be maintained as long as we keep our standards of citizenship.
It is the teacher, he said, who inoculates principles that build character, ideals and influences the accomplishment of worthwhile things.
Making Americanism his keynote, Burling said that Miss Wilson’s life was dedicated to building character, and character is the basis of permanence in our government.
In her address, Miss Wilson paid tribute to Dr. James E. Bryan, former superintendent of city schools, who pronounced the invocation, and to the late Miss Clara S. Burrough, former principal.
Following Miss Wilson’s speech, Mrs. Rowland Ricketts presented the teacher with the $500 in bonds, contributed by alumni.
The record player was presented by Travaline on behalf of Delta Kappa fraternity, of which John Carson, class of 1925, is president.
Musical Program
Music was provided by three members of the nationally famous Philadelphia Piano Orchestra. In addition, there was a violin solo by Wallace M. Berul, a former music student of Miss Wilson, now a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. There also was “barber shop harmony,” with Mildred A. Burdge as accompanist.
The tribute was climaxed by the singing of a medley in Miss Wilson’s honor to the tune of “The Purple and the Gold,” the school’s song.
At the end of the affair, Miss Wilson, personally greeted all those attending, in the junior ballroom.
Miss Dora Y. Rose, was general chairman of the dinner, assisted by a committee of more than 100 persons.
James E. Bryan, Ex-City Schools Head, Dies at 82
Camden Courier-Post —
Educator Served As Superintendent From 1899 to 1931
Dr. James E. Bryan, 82, of 124 South Springfield avenue, Merchantville, died this morning at his home. He was former Camden city superintendent of schools.
Dr. Bryan, who celebrated his eighty-second birthday Sept. 9 of this year, was an uncle of Dr. Mary E. Roberts, principal of Moorestown High school, who was selected as the first “Woman of the Year in South Jersey” in 1948.
Dr. Bryan served as superintendent of Camden schools from 1899 until his retirement in 1931. Before coming to Camden he was superintendent of schools in Danville, Ill., between 1896 and 1899; in Litchfield, Ill., 1893 to 1896, and high school principal, Houghton, Mich., from 1891 to 1893.
Funeral Rites Friday
Services for Dr. Bryan will be held Friday at 3 p. m. in the Murray funeral home, 408 Cooper street, where friends may call Thursday after 7 p. m. Burial will be at Rising Sun, Md.
Dr. Bryan was the son of the Rev. James Edmund Bryan and Anna Virginia Smith Bryan. The families of both parents were early settlers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Queen Anne county and were active patriot participants in the Revolution.
Dr. Bryan also is survived by a brother, Dr. Alfred C. Bryan, of Wayne, Pa., and a sister, Mrs. S. Taylor Wilson, of Easton, Pa. His father was a minister in the Wilmington conference of the Methodist church from 1857 to 1895, serving pastorates on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in Delaware.
A second sister, Dr. Mary B. Roberts, of Merchantville, died last September.
After preparing for college at Wilmington Conference College, now Wesley Junior College, Dover, Del., Dr. Bryan was graduated from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., with a bachelor of arts degree in 1890, and attended the university as a graduate student in 1890 to 1891, while holding a university scholarship. He also took graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania from 1901 to 1906 and received his doctor of philosophy degree in 1908.
Headed Church Trustees
In 1893 Dr. Bryan was married to May Barrett Martindale, the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Martindale, of the Wilmington Conference, Methodist Church, and Mrs. Anna Hazzard Martindale.
Dr. Bryan was a member of Centenary Tabernacle Church since 1899, a trustee of the church since 1904, and president of the board of trustees of the Centenary Church prior to its merger with the Tabernacle Church. He was superintendent of the Centenary Sunday school for 10 years and a Bible Class teacher 20 years.
The educator held numerous memberships in organizations.
Among them were Trimble Lodge 117, FAM, since 1902; Camden Rotary club, since 1926; John Hopkins University Alumni from 1890; National Education Association, from 1893; American Association of School Administrators, New Jersey Education Association; New Jersey Council of Education, New Jersey Teachers Retirement Fund, New York Schoolmasters club, New Jersey Schoolmasters club.
Other Organizations
Also the Camden Public Library board of trustees; Rittenhouse Astronomical Society; Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Camden County Chamber of Commerce, director of four Camden Building and Loan associations; president of the Cooper and West Jersey Mutual Building and Loan Associations.
Among his major interests was farming. He owned an interest in a grain and dairy farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Kent county from 1895 to 1944. He also wrote numerous papers and treatises upon educational subjects.
When Dr. Bryan came to Camden there were 29 schools with 11,500 pupils and 282 teachers. At present there are 35 schools, 29 elementary, four junior high and two senior high, with 15,782 pupils and 642 teachers.
During the years Dr. Bryan was superintendent of schools he led a movement to give the city better education facilities and looked after the details in the erection of several new schools. He directed a program of modernizing and standardizing the school system.
Final Rites Held For Dr. Bryan; Burial in Md.
Camden Courier-Post —
Final Rites Held For Dr. Bryan; Burial in Md.
Funeral services for Dr. James E. Bryan, 82, former superintendent of Camden City schools, were held Friday in the Murray funeral home, 408 Cooper street.
The Rev. George R. Propert, pastor of the Centenary Tabernacle Methodist Church, officiated. Burial will be in Rising Sun, Md., Saturday. Dr. Bryan died Tuesday in his home, 124 South Springfield avenue, Merchantville.
Many friends called at the funeral home Thursday night to [article continues]
School Staff and Administration
1913
ERECTED MDCCCCXIII BY THE
BOARD OF EDUCATION
CAMDEN, N.J.
E.E. READ, JR. PRES. H.C. SHARP V-PRES.
T. HARRY ROWLAND WILLIAM J. FOX
EDWIN P. CARSON KIRBY GARWOOD
HARRY C. DOLE CHARLES H. MILLS
DANIEL M. STEVENS
J.W.F. BLEAKLY, SECRETARY
JAMES E. BRYAN, SUPERINTENDENT
H.H. DAVIS, M.D. MEDICAL INSP’T’R
GEORGE A. FREY, CUSTODIAN