Scope and Content Note
The papers of Angelo Patri (1876-1965) are dated 1904-1962, although the bulk of the material is from 1924 to 1962. The material reflects Patri's role as a popularizer of John Dewey's progressive educational principles and indicates the evolving nature of education and child rearing from the 1920s to the 1960s. Almost no papers relating to Patri's personal life or role in civic affairs are included. The collection is organized into four series: Personal Correspondence; Professional Correspondence; Speech, Article, and Book File; and Miscellany.
The Personal Correspondence includes letters exchanged with friends, advertisers, and publishers. The Professional Correspondence consists of letters to Patri from people seeking child-rearing advice. Although this correspondence covers the period 1924-1962, the bulk of the letters is dated 1924-1939. Patri invited those who read his syndicated column Our Children and who heard his radio programs to write him about their family problems. He then responded personally to each request for assistance. Patri claimed in 1934 that he received as many as five thousand letters each month from the public. The letters from troubled parents disclose the problems of child rearing during the 1920s and 1930s. Many of Patri's correspondents questioned various practices of public and private schools; a few sought marital advice. Several of the letters illustrate family hardships caused by the Depression.
More than half of the Speech, Article, and Book File consists of typewritten copies of Patri's syndicated column from its inception in 1923 to the last column in 1962. Another large segment is composed of radio scripts dated 1928-1943. Supplementing the column articles and radio scripts are product endorsements, a pageant, children's short stories, and an unpublished typewritten autobiography of Patri's years as a public junior high school principal in New York City.
Included in the biographical material in the Miscellany series are biographical articles and a few items documenting his social life, as well as a registration book from Columbia University indicating that John Dewey was one of his professors. The financial material consists of account books, bills and receipts, and income tax material.
Although Patri's writings, especially his syndicated columns, reflect his advocacy of the principles of progressive education associated with John Dewey, there is almost no material in the papers demonstrating Patri's practical application of Dewey's principles as a school administrator.