Russell Stewart, 1976-1980

The collection is divided into three chronological parts that reflect major changes in the way the PSTA operated and kept its records. The first period covers the association’s founding in 1849 to about 1960, and may be characterized as the age of committees. In the early part of this period, the association’s records consisted of a single series of minute books, “Proceedings of the PSTA.” A few committees appeared in the 1910s, but the association’s expansion began in 1925 for real. Papers of the Association’s two main policy-making bodies, the Executive Board and Representative Assembly appear at this point, followed soon after by the Constitution, Salary, and Pension committees. Numerous other committees appeared and disappeared through the mid-fifties. The records from this period survive largely intact, and the association’s original filing structure is duplicated virtually folder for folder in this part of the collection. Items within each folder are usually organized chronologically – frequently roughly, sometimes barely. By the end of the 1950s, records of most of the PSTA’s committees had all but disappeared. A few sets of records extending into the sixties and, in one case, early seventies, are housed here with their earlier counterparts.

The records of the 1960s and 1970s reflect the prominent role of professional staff in the PSTA. Hired in 1963, the executive director and field staff became the association’s chief paper generators. This period includes numerous materials generated outside of the association, especially by the NEA, most of which are collected in the field staff files. Correspondence and other papers of the Association’s presidents, which earlier tended to be scattered through various committee and subject files, are here collected into one relatively small series. Minutes of the executive board and representative assembly continue more-or-less unchanged from the previous era, but they are joined by various draft minutes and miscellaneous papers. While the association’s records indicate that most of the earlier committees continued to exist in this period, there is very little evidence of their activities. In the mid- to late seventies, the association’s records begin to fray a bit at the edges. Some minutes of the executive board are missing, and executive secretary and field staff files dwindle to almost nothing. Presidents’ papers become more numerous in this period, but the extent to which they fully and accurately reflect the association’s activities at this point is unclear. The difficulties suffered by the association in this period are evident in its records: the PSTA’s suspension from the MSTA was due in part to faulty record keeping; PSTA leadership countered that MSTA agents had removed records from its office; finally, in 1980, the outgoing PSTA president absconded with the association’s records. The records were returned under court order, but their order and completeness is questionable.

The records of the 1980s and 90s reflect the PSTA’s increasing difficulties and dwindling membership during this period. Records of the representative assembly cease to exist after 1980, and the records of the Executive Board become inconsistent in frequency and content. The field staff remained, but at this point functioned very much as an arm of the MSTA, which enjoys quite a substantial presence in the records of this period. Fairly numerous, if chaotic, records survive for several newly constituted committees of the PSTA, most notably the Organizing/Membership Committee(s) and Political Action Committee. With most committees, as well as the executive board and offices, staffed by more-or-less the same handful of dedicated volunteers, the divisions between the records of one body and the next are not always clearly delineated.