MS 422 mf - Huron Institute/Western Reserve Normal School (Huron, Ohio)

The records of the Huron Institute/Western Reserve Normal School were loaned for microfilming to the Center for Archival Collections in May 1985, with the cooperation of Luella Simon, Director of the Milan Public Library. The collection, dating form 1831 to 1948, consists of Board of Trustees proceedings, annual catalogs, literary works on the Institute and a few items of correspondence and legal documents. No restrictions exist on the research use of this microfilm edition. This finding aid was prepared by Ann Bowers, University Archivist, in May 1985.

The Huron Institute was opened in April 1832. The school building was completed in December 1832 at a cost of $4,000; $2,000 being raised by the Huron Presbytery and the balance being raised by the village of Milan. Reverend Elded Barber was the first Principal and the purpose of the school as stated in the Board of Trustees minutes was to provide "instruction to youth of both sexes in the higher branches of English education, the learned languages and the liberal arts and sciences." The Huron Institute closed in 1857 and opened as the Western Reserve Normal School the next year. The Normal School continued to operate until 1889 when it too was closed. The building remained standing until 1910 when it was razed.

Roll 1

1. Board of Trustees Proceedings, December 20, 1831-June 23, 1922
2. Correspondence on history of school, August 5, 1948
3. Legal files on ownership of land, building of chapel and erection of tablet on school site, 1913, 1922, n.d.
4. History of school--typewritten, n.d.
5. Memorial of College Days at Milan, Ohio, by Mrs. Alice Simpson Wiggins, Sandusky, Ohio, 1932-1933
6. First Annual Commencement--Western Reserve Normal School, June 15, 1883
7. Catalogs, 1861, 1862, 1872/73, 1876/77, 1877/78, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1886