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Jack Day George Miller Research Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 10-1-C-15

Content Description

Five boxes of materials related to George T. Miller, collected by Jack Day. Two boxes contain hanging folders outlining chapters of Day's proposed book on Miller and one box contains index cards related to each chapter. One box contains hanging folders of other information about Miller. One box contains miscellaneous research on Miller that may coincide with the book chapters.

This collection contains handwirtten notes, both personal and research based correspondence, publications, footnotes, research materials for, "They Also Serve", the book Jack Day was writing about his uncle George T. Miller, and misc. reasearch about the life of George T. Miller, and a book written by George T. Miller, "Story Telling to Live Wire Boys". The collection also contains research about the whereabouts of the missing Slippery Rock Victory Bell, from which the publication by George T. Miller received its name. There may be some overlap of information between materials found within this collection and that of the George T. Miller collection donated to the archives.

The research gathered by Jack Day that he then organized is done so in the order of which the chapters of the book would've been laid out. The information gathered by Jack Day personally can be denoted with an HF, indicating that the information was pulled from the hanging folders donated from Jack Day's widow.

Dates

  • 1891 - 2018

Conditions Governing Use

The items in this collection are protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use these items in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

See In Copyright-Educational Use Permitted on RightsStatements.org for more infomation.

The Slippery Rock University Archives assumes no responsibility for copyright infringement by users. Contact the Archives at rockarchives@sru.edu for more information.

Biographical / Historical

Jack Day (June 6, 1944 - March 29, 2021) was the nephew of George T. Miller through marriage, a former member of the facutly at Slippery Rock University. When Jack was growing up he and his brother were raised by his parents in the home of their grandmother Harriett Day, who was widowed. Anytime George T. Miller and his wife would visit with Harriett they would in turn visit with Jack and his siblings. Jack Day's widow, described George T. Miller as a loving man who took time to interact with Jack and his siblings. Jack Day held great admiration for his uncle and the things he was able to accomplish throughout his life. This admiration for his uncle is what lead him to decide to begin writing a book, which he was going to title, "They Also Serve". Jack was working on the research for the book until his death in 2021. His widow, Barbra Emmer Day dontated Jack's research materials to Slippery Rock Archives because of the connection with George T. Miller.

George Tasker Miller (May 10, 1891 – July 5, 1963) was born in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, to John C. Miller and Margaret Miller (Goodfellow).

Miller graduated from Slippery Rock Normal School in 1911. He received his bachelor of art degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, and his master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Miller served in the Navy during World War I. His experiences during the war inspired him to start The Victory Bell, a newsletter created during his tenure at Slippery Rock Teachers College, where he served on the faculty from 1931 to 1947. He wrote The Victory Bell for students serving in World War II. The newsletter was mailed all over the world, reaching approximately 700 recipients. After WWII, many of the returning students showed their appreciation to Miller by presenting him with war memorabilia they had collected during their deployment. Many of these items are included in his collection in the Slippery Rock University Archives.

Prior to being the head of the Slippery Rock Art Department, Miller taught at Aliquippa High School and Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. After leaving Slippery Rock he went on to work for the Department of Education in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was in charge of art education at public schools and state colleges.

Throughout his career, Miller traveled the world visiting art collections throughout Europe, Canada, and America. In 1950, Miller was sent to Cuba by the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. to survey their educational institutions.

Extent

3.58 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in five series. Series One is curated research materials from the book Jack Day was writing, They Also Serve. Original order was kept whenever possible presumably by chapter title/book section. Series Two to Five are materials that are also research related to the book, but were loose in a separate box. When possible materials were added into Series One based on the presumed book chapter/section. The original materials collected by Jack Day are indicated on the folder with HF to designate the hanging folder they were originally in. If no HF is found, this material was added during the processing of the collection.

Series 1: They Also Serve

Series 1A: Curated Research Materials

Series 1B: Footnotes

Series 2: Misc. Research Materials

Series 3: Publications

Series 3A: Newspapers

Series 3B: Books

Series 4 Correspondence

Series 4A: Personal

Series 4B: Research

Series 5: Ephemera, Realia, Memorabilia

Related Materials

While proccessing the collection it was discovered that Jack Day had several issues of the Victory Bell publication that SRU Archives did not have in their collections. These issues were scanned and pulled to add to the collection of Victory Bell publications already held in the archives collection. RG 10-1-C-3-P-1

See the George T. Miller collection donated to the archives which consists of war related materials. RG 010-1-C-3

Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Slippery Rock University Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
315 Bailey Library
Slippery Rock University
Slippery Rock PA 16057
724-738-4295