Joseph T. Ryder papers

Collection – Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-1255

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

Letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, educational records, yearbooks, and scrapbooks about or belonging to Joseph T. Ryder. Includes materials on his childhood, family, first years of employment, and his 1966 BGSU Alumni Community Award and Honorary Doctorate in Public Service. Additionally, there are records, photographs, and correspondence belonging to his wife, Helen (Strong) Ryder.

Dates

Creation: 1911-1983, 2007, undated

Extent

1.12 Cubic Feet (1 legal box, 1 half-letter box, 1 flat box)

Creator

Ryder, Helen (Strong) (Person)
Big Brothers of America (Organization)

Content Description

The collection offers extensive details about the years Joseph T. Ryder spent in Northwest Ohio. The educational records, yearbooks, a scrapbook, and a portion of newspaper clippings cover Ryder’s academic coursework and involvement in extracurricular activities from primary school through his education at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). A scrapbook of newspaper clippings provides an overview of Ryder’s early years working in education and public service, including his time working as a playground director in Cleveland and as a teacher and coach at the Portage Township School. Photographs and personal correspondence offer a glimpse into his childhood, family life, friendships.

A significant section of the collection has materials related to Ryder’s BGSU Alumni Community Award and Honorary Doctorate in Public Service, awarded in 1966. Personal and university correspondence, newspaper clippings, and a commencement address highlight major achievements in Ryder’s career in public service

Additional materials cover the life of Helen Strong, Joseph T. Ryder’s wife. These include photographs and education and employment records.

Biographical / Historical

Joseph Thomas Ryder (1906-1979) was born and raised in Pemberville, Ohio. He attended Pemberville public schools from 1912 until 1927. In his youth, Ryder developed an interest in outdoor recreation and athletics. Ryder enrolled at Bowling Green State college in 1927 where he studied sociology and education while also being a star member of the college’s track and field team.

His interest in athletics would lead to his first job after graduation in 1931 as a playground director in Cleveland, Ohio. Ryder would become the Director of Education for Wood County in the summer of 1934, where he oversaw programing for eleven playgrounds and four swimming sites. His work impressed the then Wood County Superintendent of Schools, who offered Ryder a position as teacher and coach at the Portage Township School in 1934.

Ryder would remain at the Portage Township School for ten years, serving as the superintendent for the last four years. During those years, he married Helen Grace Strong in 1939 and they would have three sons, Robert Thomas Ryder (b. 1941), William Leland Ryder (b. 1943), and James Martin Ryder (b. 1945).

Ryder left Ohio in 1944 to serve as the director of the Flint Youth Bureau, which would become the Big Brothers of Greater Flint (BBGF), in Flint, Michigan. His work as director brought the organization into local, state, and national prominence. Ryder was honored for his work in public service by Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in 1966 with the Alumni Community Award and Honorary Doctorate in Public Service.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is in the public domain.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The records are arranged into seven series either based on material type (Photographs, Correspondence, Newspapers) or material content (Educational Records, Helen Strong records, Employment, BGSU Alumni Community Award and Honorary doctorate). The folders in each series are arranged chronologically.

A scrapbook from Series 4, Educational Records and Student Life, was moved to an oversized box (Box 2). Loose material within the scrapbook were moved into folders that can be found with the scrapbook in Box 2. Similarly, loose materials from Box 1, folder 12, “Scrapbook (employment at Portage Township” are within Box 1, folder 13.

Related Materials

Related Materials: See Letter to Joseph Gillian from Joe Ryder, July 7, 1943; Joseph Gillian papers. MS-1173, Box 1, Folder 1, Center for Archival Collections, University Libraries, BGSU.

A companion collection focusing on Ryder’s life and work in Flint, Michigan from 1944-1979 can be found at the Genesee Historical Collections Center, Frances Wilson Thompson Library, University of Michigan-Flint.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated to the Center for Archival Collections by Robert T. Ryder of Reston, Virginia on October 10, 2017.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Robert Ryder prior to donation; subsequent processing and arrangement was completed by Rene Ayala in October 2022. This processing included removal of yearbooks due to water damage they sustained prior to donation, as well as removal of duplicates of materials held elsewhere in the CAC (Ryder’s masters thesis and a biography about him). Four empty envelopes were returned to the donor because they lacked content.