Teaching Materials

The John Robert Lee Papers are arranged in ten main categories: biographical material; correspondence; teaching material - specific courses; teaching material - supporting documents; teaching material - general; student papers and related material; committees and administration; speeches; publications; and social studies curriculum study center materials.

The biographical material includes appointment books (1971-1974, 1976) and some consulting materials from Lee's work with the Crocus Nutrition Program (1973) and the Victor Company (1966-1975).

The correspondence consists primarily of carbon copies of outgoing letters (1967-1976). These are mostly related to Lee's teaching and writing. There is a considerable number of carbon copies of recommendations Lee wrote (1961-1970) for students and colleagues.

The teaching material - specific courses category includes assignment sheets, reading lists, notes, and other items dealing primarily with the 77 series of the social sciences courses at Northwestern. There is also some material related to reading programs at the Palo Alto and Evanston school systems.

The teaching materials - supporting documents category contains slightly more than four boxes, and includes rough and revised notes, reading lists, marked articles that provided useful information, and many other varieties of source materials and developmental drafts.

The teaching material - general category embraces a small amount of critical reviews and comments.

The student papers and related material category includes many papers written for courses, drafts, outlines, and correspondence relating to doctoral dissertations. Some grade reports are also included. Several student papers may be found with the specific courses or supporting material folders where Lee had originally filed them.

The committees and administration materials include minutes, correspondence, and reports dealing with graduate and undergraduate programs.

Only a few of Lee's speeches are dated. The rest are arranged alphabetically by title.

The publications include both published and unpublished materials. Most of the unpublished items are revisions of chapters for books written or edited by Lee.

The social studies curriculum study center category (7 boxes) is substantial, and presents a good picture of the birth, development, activities, and publications of this federally-supported project.

Addition, Boxes 24-26

This addition to the John R. Lee Papers, filling three boxes (including one half-size), consists primarily of correspondence with publishers and consulting clients; teaching materials; and materials connected with Lee's elementary social studies curriculum Americana +50, published by McGraw-Hill.

The correspondence comprising eleven folders is arranged alphabetically by publisher or organization. It includes correspondence with Allyn & Bacon (1967-69, 1974) concerning the second edition of Readings in Elementary Social Studies, edited by Lee and Jonathon C. McLendon; with Doubleday Multimedia (1973-76), pertaining to a projected elementary-level legal education curriculum; and with the Free Press (1968-73) concerning Lee's text, Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School. Also included are outlines and scripts of a projected educational filmstrip for the American Dental Association.

Nine folders of teaching materials pertain to readability and vocabulary control in writing for elementary students, and an additional nine folders relate to techniques of making instructional films. These materials were probably prepared for Lee's elementary social science methods course, Education 265-C77. They include lecture outlines, transparencies, and class exercises. Also included is one folder relating to Education D06, "Introduction to Research," and one folder of unidentified course materials.

Material concerning the Americana +50 series includes one folder of correspondence with McGraw-Hill Films (1974-76); one folder of unit outlines, teacher's guides, class activity cards, and bibliographies; one folder containing photocopies of possible book illustrations; and one folder of transcribed tape recordings discussing the series, made by Lee and his collaborator Shirley Baugher. Eight additional folders contain scripts and (in some cases) photocopied illustrations for the eight filmstrips in the series.

The addition also includes a small amount of miscellaneous material including a folder of unidentified bibliographies; a folder of miscellaneous instructional filmstrip scripts; an outline of desirable skills for elementary school social science students; and a "Library Research Guide for Ph.D. Candidates in Social Science Education."