James Houston McBride papers

Collection

Identifier: MS-0796

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

Personal collection of material documenting twenty years of information regarding the establishment and early development of the Firelands College located in Huron, Ohio; includes office files, scrapbook materials, and reel-to-reel audiotapes

Dates

Creation: 1966-1987

Extent

4.31 Cubic Feet (11 letter manuscript boxes and 1 half legal manuscript box)

Creator

McBride, James Houston (Person)

Scope and Contents

The James H. McBride collection documents twenty years of information regarding the establishment and early development of the Firelands College located in Huron, Ohio. The collection consists of office files, scrapbook materials, and reel-to-reel audiotapes. The office files (1965-1976), which are arranged alphabetically, include information regarding fund raising, planning committee files and site maps for the campus. Scrapbook materials (1966-1985) mostly contain newspaper articles, but also include brochures, pamphlets, flyers and other such documents. Because of the brittle nature of the news clippings, photocopies were made and are included in the collection while the originals were disposed of. Also included in the collection are clipping files on the Little Red Schoolhouse, which was once located in Huron County, but was dismantled and moved to BGSU’s main campus. The collection ends with three 1965 reel-to-reel audiotapes of an Erie, Huron, and Ottawa Vocational Education meeting and a Chamber of Commerce special award dinner. This collection illustrates how Firelands College was first established and how it developed during its beginning years.

Biographical / Historical

BGSU’s Firelands College, located in Huron Ohio, first opened its doors on September 25, 1968. Its goal was to offer higher education and non-credit lifelong learning classes to those who reside in Erie, Huron, Ottawa and the surrounding areas. Since its opening, thousands of students have earned degrees and taken non-credit classes. Dr. James H. McBride, revered by former colleagues as a “man devoted to education,” served as superintendent of schools in Norwalk for fifteen years and in Amherst for one year before becoming the first dean of Firelands College in June 1966. McBride served as Dean of Firelands until 1973 when he stepped down and became Firelands’ coordinator in the office of community services. He retired in 1983. McBride died in his home in Huron in 1997 at the age of 84. In his honor, the auditorium and arboretum on the Firelands campus are named after him.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The James McBride collection, which documents the establishment and early development of BGSU’s Firelands College, was donated to the Center for Archival Collections in 1999 by Mrs. James (Margaret) McBride.