George and Myrtle Phillips papers

The George and Myrtle Phillips papers include correspondence which is arranged by correspondent's name. This correspondence includes letters between George and Myrtle, letters with friends and family, copies of letters written by George, correspondence with various educational and business contacts, personal and general correspondence.

One subject file is included in this collection which pertains to education. Included in this file are George Phillips' college and university records and credentials, notes on classes and seminars, a masters thesis, student notebooks, and reports. This collection also contains many literary productions. Among these are autograph books, Myrtle Phillips' diaries, family genealogies, a record of trips, the history of settlements in Paulding County, and the story of George Phillips' struggle for the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

The only financial document in this collection is a financial ledger containing listings of the Phillips' expenditures and receipts for the years 1912-1950. The collection also contains scrapbooks compiled by George Phillips which pertain to his life, family and friends. He also saved newspaper clippings which provide information on his life and various subjects of interest to him.

The collection also includes two ledgers listing the books contained in his library, membership cards of organizations to which he belonged, and photographs of his house and of various trips. The oversize material includes two large scrapbooks about George Phillips' life which contain newspaper clippings, correspondence, printed material and photographs, and a copy of a Black newspaper published in Cincinnati.

This collection provides excellent information specifically on George Phillips' struggle as a Black man to obtain an education and establish a career, and on Phillips' marriage and family. Generally, this collection provides information on the education of minority and urban youth, Black family history, and local history--Paulding County and Cincinnati, Ohio.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GEORGE AND MYRTLE PHILLIPS; 1906-1965; arranged chronologically. The vast majority of these letters were written before their marriage in October 1909, and all but seven of those letters were written by Myrtle. In the letters, they describe their activities as well as their feelings for each other.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS; 1907-1967; arranged alphabetically by name and chronologically within. The large majority of these letters were written from 1956-1967 and involve family members. The major friend with whom George Phillips corresponded was a Michigan banker, Wilson B. Decker. These letters dealt basically with financial matters, while the letters with family members describe family activities.

COPIES OF LETTERS WRITTEN BY GEORGE PHILLIPS; 1906-1908; arranged chronologically in four small notebooks. These notebooks contain copies of the letters that George Phillips wrote to various people during these years. Most of these were to friends and to his future wife, Myrtle.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH EDUCATIONAL AND BUSINESS CONTACTS; 1907-1947; arranged chronologically in a large notebook. These letters are with those people and organizations that George Phillips had educational or business contacts. They include Western Michigan University and Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College. The correspondence deals with a variety of subjects, such as job offers and educational programs.

CORRESPONDENCE OF A PERSONAL NATURE; 1907-1964; arranged chronologically in a notebook. These letters are with various friends and acquaintances of George Phillips and are characterized by their friendly nature. They are with such diverse people as his brothers and sisters, the American Sugar Industry, a committee from the House of Representatives, and heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles.

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE; 1902-1972; arranged chronologically. These letters are with a variety of people, such as family members, friends, and companies. They deal with different topics such as ordering products and family matters.

EDUCATION; 1906-1968; 11 notebooks arranged alphabetically by title and chronologically within. This subject file deals with education and contains material from notebooks which were compiled by George Phillips, plus a folder of miscellaneous educational material. These notebooks contain his Phillips' college and university records and credentials, elementary curriculum, a master's thesis, and the notebooks and reports of students who took classes with him. Most of these notebooks pertain to courses/curriculum from the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College.

AUTOGRAPH BOOKS; 1953, 1956; arranged chronologically. These books contains comments that were written by Harriet Beecher Stowe Junior High School teachers in 1953 and by members of the Stowe School PTA in 1956. The comments are basically ones that thank him for the job he did as principal.

"COLLECTION OF WELL PUT STATEMENTS."; undated; this is notebook compiled by George Phillips containing quotations and statements that he felt were interesting and said a good deal.

DIARIES OF MYRTLE PHILLIPS; 1932-1935, 1940-1941, 1943-1971; arranged chronologically. The diaries contain daily entries written by Myrtle Phillips. Most of the entries deal with her daily activities and are complete until the last few years when she did not write very much because of poor eyesight.

FAMILY ALBUM OF LETTERS AND WRITINGS; 1871; this book contains letters which were written by the family of Elizabeth Wilson, a relative of George Phillips.

FAMILY GENEALOGY; undated; these papers contain the genealogy of the Phillips and Reynolds families. Reynolds was Myrtle's maiden name. The Phillips family genealogy begins with George's grandfather Abraham, who was born a slave. It is fairly compete and has been updated through the mid-1960s. The Reynolds family genealogy begins with Myrtle's grandfather, Elisha. Also included is genealogy on the Allen family (Myrtle's mother's maiden name). The information on the Reynolds and Allen families is not as complete as the Phillips genealogy.

FAMILY RECORD AND TRIPS; 1933-1947; arranged chronologically. This is a record of trips which were taken by George and Myrtle Phillips during the above-mentioned years. Mentioned are the dates and times of arrivals and departures in various cities and what of interest was seen in those cities.

"PIONEER HISTORY OF SETTLEMENTS IN PAULDING COUNTY."; 1968; this is a history of the towns of Oakwood, Melrose, Fort Brown, Newburg-Royal Oak, and Hickory Flats, which are located in Paulding County. This history was written by Wilbur Porter.

"REFLECTIONS ON DR. AND MRS. GOOD'S GRANDCHILDREN."; 1953-1965; arranged chronologically. This was written by George Phillips and is a character analysis of Dr. and Mrs. Good's grandchildren, which was compiled by studying photographs of the grandchildren between the years 1953-1965.

"MY STRUGGLE FOR THE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE."; 1939; this was written by George Phillips and tells how, after years of long work, his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Education (Cincinnati University) was recognized by the Tennessee State Board of Education in 1939.

FINANCIAL LEDGER; 1912-1950; arranged chronologically. This ledger lists the receipts and expenditures of George Phillips for the years 1912-1950. The listings for 1924-1933 are monthly and very detailed. For the years 1934-1950, the only entries pertain to his yearly earnings and income.

SCRAPBOOKS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS; 1844-1976; arranged alphabetically by subject of scrapbook. These scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, photographs, and other memorabilia of the family and friends of George Phillips.

NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS; 1924-1975; arranged chronologically. These articles are form various newspapers and pertain to George and Myrtle Phillips, their friends and family, and various items which were of interest to George Phillips. Also included are copied quotes and saying which he collected.

LEDGERS OF LIBRARY BOOK LISTS; undated; these two ledgers contain the books which George Phillips had in his library. Each listing includes the author of the book, the title, and the publisher.

MEMBERSHIP CARDS; 1908-1966; listed chronologically. Included are membership cards of various groups to which George Phillips belonged. Included in these are a church, the Patriotic League, and the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools.

UNIDENTIFIED TINTYPE AND PHOTO ALBUM; 1940-1951; the tintype is not dated and of an unknown person. The photo album contains pictures taken by George and Myrtle Phillips and also pictures of their house taken in 1951. The photographs are all black and white.

HONORARY DEGREE SCRAPBOOK; 1941-1971; this was compiled by George Phillips and contains newspaper clippings and letters relating to the Honorary Doctorate he received from the University of Cincinnati in 1968.

MY LIFE CAREER BOOK--GEORGE A. PHILLIPS; 1900-1968; this book contains the life history of George Phillips from his beginning schooling in 1900 to his Honorary Doctorate in 1968. Also covered in this book are his marriage, farming career, education at Western Michigan University, teaching career in Cincinnati, and administrative career as principal of Harriet Beecher Stowe School.

ENCAPSULATED NEWSPAPER--THE UNION; 1948; this is a copy of a Black newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 22, 1948. It has four pages and its editor is W. P. Dabney. Most of the articles deal with political issues and their relation to Blacks.