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E.R. Harrington Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-299-BC

Scope and Content

Albuquerque High School students with science experiment. Part of the E.R. Harrington Pictorial Collection PICT 000-299 (Box 1, Folder 4).

This collection contains items pertaining to E.R. Harrington as well as those originally belonging to his mother, Isis L. Harrington. Among the contents related to Isis Harrington are manuscripts from her publications (poetry and stories following Native American themes), as well as manuscripts of oral narratives collected by her Native American students from their grandparents. Several of these appear (in some cases with the names of their original narrators) in Isis Harrington's book Told In the Twilight. Also included in this collection are watercolors and other illustrations to her books done by Quannie (a Hopi artist) and Juan Chiquito (a Navajo artist).

E.R. Harrington's papers housed in this collection are extensive, and include a great deal of historical material drawn from his tenure as a teacher throughout many years at Albuquerque High School. This collection also contains numerous articles written by E.R. Harrington relating to his scientific interests, such as geology (Black Butte, Black Mesa, and the Shoshone Ice Caves of Idaho), science and mathematics in high school, educational policy, physical chemistry (the colloid properties of western clays), meteorology, fiction, mining, physics, engineering, archaeology, irrigation, meteorology, and geography. These topics are reflected in his writing (both published and unpublished) which comprise the majority of this collection.

His contributions to numerous scholarly journals are also kept in this collection. Such journals include The Journal of Geology, The Journal of Geography, Engineering and Mining Journal, Engineering News Record, Scientific Monthly, Journal of Chemical Education, the Journal of Physical and Colloid Chemistry, and many others. Though he published prolifically, E.R. Harrington's record of unsuccessful publications is also manifest in this collection through numerous rejection letters from assorted journals and magazines.

E.R. Harrington's correspondence with several former students is also kept in this collection along with biographical data on many of those students in their adult years. The esteem that E.R. Harrington earned in their eyes is manifest in numerous letters as well as in a few articles written about him.

Several items from E.R. Harrington's personal library also from part of this collection.

Dates

  • 1945-1978

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Copy Restrictions

Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.

Biography

E.R. Harrington. Part of the E.R. Harrington Pictorial Collection PICT 000-299 (Box 1, Folder 6).

Eldred Ray Harrington was born in Kansas in 1902, and died in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1980. Though his scholarly achievement is noteworthy (he earned six degrees in assorted disciplines related to the fields of science and education), the accomplishment for which he is best known is his dedication to teaching in public high schools for the majority of his lifetime. He was raised by his mother, Isis Harrington, a teacher with the Indian School Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. E.R. Harrington followed in her footsteps, becoming an influential teacher for many students of Albuquerque High School (a fact to which letters in this collection attest). In 1954, he became the Director of Secondary Education for Albuquerque Public Schools. His enthusiasm for teaching and for science was limitless, and he is remembered by former students for holding extra science classes on weekdays at dawn for students especially interested in the sciences.

Extent

4 boxes (4 cu. ft.)

Abstract

This collection contains items written by and about teacher Eldred R. Harrington of Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as other memorabilia from E. R. Harrington's library and collections.

Related Archival Material

Black Sparrow Press Records. Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico.

Separated Material

Photographs, pertaining to Pueblos, Native Americans, Oil Shale Reporting Technology of geological interest (including Black Butte, the Shoshone Ice Caves of Idaho, and Isleta lava), of E.R. Harrington and his family members, from the International Harvester Company depicting agricultural scenes and machines, and of Al Simpson, Bicycle dealer in Albuquerque and friend of E.R. Harrington, along with five postcards depicting kiltclad Scotsmen and two of the Shoshone Ice Caves have been transferred to the Eldred R. Harrington Photograph Collection.

The following publications have been transferred to UNMGL for cataloguing: Louis M. Hacker, Thomas Jefferson. New York: Stevens Publications, 1958.

Glen O. Ream, Little First Americans. Albuquerque (no date).

Relevant Secondary Sources

  • Harrington, Isis. Told In the Twilight. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 1938.
Title
Finding Aid of the E.R. Harrington Papers, 1945-1978
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by K. Stocker
Date
©2000
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is in English

Revision Statements

  • June 28, 2004: PUBLIC "-//University of New Mexico::Center for Southwest Research//TEXT (US::NmU::MSS 299 BC::E.R. Harrington Papers)//EN" "nmu1mss299bc.sgml" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15).

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451