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Collection Details:
Creator/Collector: Horace Macaulay Ivy and others.
Date(s): 1955-1966.
Size: 5.72 cubic ft.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH Staff; Biographical sketch by Will Pickering, 2023.
Provenance: Presented by the Meridian Public Library, Meridian, Mississippi, on April 1976. The library had previously acquired the collection from Horace Macaulay Ivy.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.
Rights and Access:
Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).
Preferred citation: Horace Macaulay Ivy Collection, Z/1806.000/S, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.
Biography/History:
Horace Macaulay Ivy, Ph.D., was born January 19, 1884, in Sedalia, Pettis County, Missouri, the eldest child of Henry McPherson Ivy (1858-1908), a school teacher, lawyer, Sunday school superintendent, and church treasurer, and Cynthia Smith Ivy (1863-1950), a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. His siblings included: Beryl Ivy (1890-1891), Adele Ivy (1885-1887), Andrew Conway Ivy (1893-1978), Mary Cynthia Ivy Swank Schumacher (1895-1987), and John Smith Ivy (1898-1983). In his autobiography, Ivy wrote that his brother John was a guardian to their nephew, Paul A. Swank, the son of their sister Mary. John served as an oil chairperson and consultant from 1942-1945, and then as a chairperson for the Naval Reserves under the Truman administration from 1945-1953. Paul Swank later died in service in Alet-les-Bains, France during World War II.
Ivy recounts that he had a strict, religious upbringing, with his mother not permitting any alcoholic beverages in the home, forcing him to quit his job delivering beer buckets to the local saloon. At the same time, he grew up surrounded with cultural diversity, with neighbors ranging from Germans to African-Americans. Despite there being no high school in their town, his parents put a high premium on education so much so that Ivy entered Normal School, a school for training future educators in curriculum and pedagogy. There, Ivy took courses during his freshman year in English, Algebra, Civics, Geography, and Latin. He thought his Algebra teacher a poor instructor, while his Geography teacher was very "exacting." His Latin teacher, however, he saw as a "bully and bluffer."
His sophomore year he took penmanship, Civics and Plane Geometry, the latter two which he achieved passing marks of 75% or so, leading his father to make him take the courses over. His father would later instruct him in physiology, botany, zoology and physics. His agnostic English teacher of Shakespeare would room and eat with his family in their home, with him and Ivy's mother engaged in spirited debates about religion.
As his studies continued, Ivy joined one of two literary societies at the Normal School, the Websters, though his father joined its rival, the Bentons. Ivy wrote he would learn about the art of debating and parliamentary procedure. Chapel was also held daily with Bible readings, prayer, announcements and a speaker. And as music lessons in piano, violin, horn, mandolin, and singing were standard at the school, Ivy took up violin lessons taught by faculty member Miss Tinkham.
In 1900, Ivy transferred from Normal School to Central College as a sophomore in Fayette, Missouri. There he studied English, Latin, Greek, analytics, and chemistry. It was there he met his wife, Beryl Smith (1883-1969), the daughter of Thomas Berry Smith, Ph.D. (1850-1933) and Emma Marvin Newland (1855-1948). They married in 1907 and moved to Yazoo City, Yazoo County, Mississippi. Together, they had three children: Horace Macaulay "Mac" Ivy, Jr. (1909-1994), Phillip Byrd Ivy (1917-1919), and Beryl Dean Ivy Mayo (1922-1994).
Ivy and his family would later move to the city of Meridian in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, where he became a city school superintendent from 1923-53. He also served as president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1928, was Chairman of the Southern Association Committee on the Evaluation and Accreditation of Negro Schools in 1928-48, and Chairman of the NEA Committee on Federal Legislation for Education in 1944-54. A scholarship would be named after him in his honor. After 30 years as a school superintendent, he passed away on July 27, 1975 at age 91. He was buried in Magnolia Cemetery, his gravestone overlooking the public schools he oversaw in his life.
In 1977, two years after his passing, The Horace Macaulay Ivy Scholarship was awarded to three Meridian Junior College honor graduates, Stan Burton, Donna Goodman, and Becky Matthews.
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of consultants' surveys and reports on public-school districts and on education administration and planning. Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., conducted most of the surveys on Mississippi county and municipal school districts in the 1950s and 1960s. The surveys were necessary to comply with Chapter 12, Laws of the Extraordinary Session, Mississippi Legislature, 1953, which mandated the reorganization of public-school districts. The reports contain data on academic courses, facilities, funding, and segregation in public-school districts and suggestions for their reorganization. There is also economic and population data for public-school districts. The collection also includes surveys and reports prepared by Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., for out-of-state public-school districts and surveys and reports of other consultants relating to the reorganization of Mississippi public-school districts.
Series Identification:
This series consists of consultants’ surveys of and reports on Mississippi public-school districts. Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., conducted the surveys in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of the surveys were in response to legislation mandating the reorganization of public-school districts. There are also surveys conducted for other planning purposes such as forecasting physical-plant needs. Correspondence relating to surveys and maps of public-school districts are included with the reports. Arranged by county and thereunder by school district.
Boxes 1-16; 23; 24
This series consists of consultants' surveys of and reports on out-of-state public schools, private colleges, and special Mississippi-related studies. Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., conducted the surveys in the 1950s and 1960s. Correspondence relating to the surveys is included with the reports. Arranged by state.
Boxes 17-20
This series consists of consultants' surveys of and reports on Mississippi public-school districts in the mid-1950s. The Bureau of Educational Research at the University of Mississippi conducted most of the surveys. Arranged by county.
Boxes 21-22; 24.
Box List:
| Box | County | School Districts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Attala | Attala County Public Schools (1956) Kosciusko Separate School District (1956) |
| 1 | Bolivar | Bolivar County Public Schools (1955) |
| 1 | Choctaw | Choctaw County Public Schools (1955) |
| 1 | Clarke | Clarke County Public Schools (1955) |
| 2 | Clay | West Point Municipal Separate School District (1957) 2 copies |
| 2 | Coahoma | Clarksdale Separate School District (1954) Coahoma County Public Schools (1954) Coahoma County Public Schools (1958) |
| 2 | Copiah | Copiah County Public Schools (1955) Hazlehurst Separate School District (1955) |
| 2 | DeSoto | DeSoto County Public Schools (1955) |
| 3 | Hancock | Bay St. Louis Municipal Separate School District (1955) Bay St. Louis School District (1963) 2 copies Hancock County Public Schools (1955) Waveland Municipal Separate School District (1955) |
| 4 | Harrison | Biloxi Separate School District (1956) Biloxi Site Survey (1957) Gulfport Separate School District (1956) Harrison County Public Schools (1956) Long Beach Separate School District (1956) Pass Christian Separate School District (1956) |
| 5 | Hinds | Hinds County Public Schools (1956) |
| 5 | Humphreys | Humphreys County Public Schools (1955) |
| 5 | Issaquena | Issaquena County Public Schools (1956) |
| 5 | Jasper | Jasper County Public Schools (1955) |
| 5 | Kemper | Kemper County Public Schools (1955) Scooba Separate School District (1955) |
| 6 | Lamar | Lamar County Public Schools (1955); |
| 6 | Lauderdale | Meridian Public School System, Historical Supplement (1956) |
| 6 | Lafayette | Oxford Separate School District (1956) |
| 6 | Leake | Leake County Public Schools (1956) |
| 6 | Lee | Lee County Public Schools (1956) Tupelo Separate School District (1956) |
| 7 | Leflore | Greenwood Separate School District (1956) Leflore County Public Schools (1956) Leflore County Public Schools (1962) |
| 7 | Madison | Canton Separate School District (1956) Flora Separate School District (1956) Madison County Public Schools (1956) |
| 8 | Marshall | Holly Springs Separate School District (1956) Marshall County Public Schools (1956) |
| 8 | Monroe | Aberdeen Separate School District (1956) Amory Separate School District (1956) Monroe County Public Schools (1956) |
| 9 | Montgomery | Montgomery County Public Schools (1955) Winona Municipal Separate School District (1958) |
| 9 | Neshoba | Neshoba County Public Schools (1955) Philadelphia Separate School District (1955) |
| 9 | Newton | Newton County Public Schools (1955) Newton Municipal Separate School District (1955) Union Municipal Separate School District (1955) |
| 10 | Noxubee | Noxubee County Public Schools (1956) 2 copies; |
| 10 | Oktibbeha | Oktibbeha County Public Schools (1956) Starkville Separate School District (1956) |
| 11 | Pike | McComb Municipal Separate School District (1958) |
| 11 | Pontotoc | Pontotoc County Public Schools (1956) Pontotoc Separate School District |
| 11 | Rankin | Rankin County Public Schools (1955) |
| 12 | Scott | Forest Separate School District (1956) Scott County Public Schools (1956) |
| 12 | Sharkey | Sharkey County Public Schools (1956) |
| 12 | Simpson | Simpson County Public Schools (1956) |
| 12 | Smith | Smith County Public Schools (1956) |
| 12 | Tate | Coldwater Separate School District (1956) Senatobia Separate School District (1956) Tate County Public Schools (1956) |
| 13 | Tippah | Ripley Separate School District (1956) Tippah County Public Schools (1956) |
| 13 | Tunica | Tunica County Public Schools (1956) |
| 13 | Walthall | Tylertown Separate School District (1955) Walthall County Public Schools (1955) |
| 13 | Warren | Vicksburg Separate School District (1955) Warren County Public Schools (1955) Warren County Public Schools (1963) |
| 14 | Washington | Greenville Separate School District (1955) Greenville Site Survey (1959) 2 copies Greenville Site Survey (1962) Leland Consolidated School District (1963) Washington County Public Schools (1955) Western Line Consolidated School District--Avon (1962) |
| 15 | Winston | Louisville Separate School District (1956) Winston County Public Schools (1955) |
| 15 | Webster | Webster County Public Schools (1956) |
| 16 | Yazoo | Yazoo City Municipal Separate School District (1955) Yazoo County Study (1960) 2 copies Yazoo County Study--Supplementary Notes (1960) Yazoo City School District Study (1965) 2 copies |
| Box | State | Districts |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Florida | Quality Education in Florida Public Schools (1962) |
| 17 | Kentucky | Asbury College, Wilmore (1958) Bethel College, Hopkinsville (1962) Commission on Public Education (1961) 2 copies |
| 17 | Louisiana | Louisiana College, Pineville (1959) correspondence only |
| 18 | Mississippi | Report to the Personnel Study Committee, Natchez (1962) Delta Council Counties--Education Survey (1957) Delta Council Counties--Education Survey--Supplement (1957) First Presbyterian Church Day-School Needs, Jackson (1964) School Board Policies Recommended for Municipal Special Districts, Mississippi Association of School Administrators (1958) Buildings for Two New Junior Colleges, Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College District (1962) |
| 19 | Mississippi | William Carey College, Hattiesburg (1955) |
| 19 | South Carolina | Marion County Public Schools (1964) |
| 19 | Tennessee | Traveca College, Nashville (1955-1964) |
| 20 | Texas | Prairie View College, Prairie View (1958) San Angelo College, San Angelo (1960) |
| 20 | West Virginia | Greenbrier County School System (1962) |
| Box | County | School Districts |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Carroll | Carroll County Schools, T. H. Naylor, Jr. (1955) |
| 21 | Clay | West Point Separate School District, Bureau of Educational Research (1956) |
| 21 | Hinds | Jackson Municipal Separate School District - Description of Plants, Construction Office, Jackson Public Schools (1956) |
| 21 | Holmes | Durant and Lexington Separate School District, Bureau of Educational Research (1956) |
| 21 | Panola | Como and Sardis Separate School Districts, Bureau of Educational Research (1956) |
| 22 | Quitman | Marks Separate School District, Bureau of Educational Research (1955) |
| 22 | Stone | Perkinston Junior College, Dr. F. A. Rhodes, et al. (1958) |
| 22 | Sunflower | Drew, Indianola, and Ruleville Separate School Districts, Department of Adult Education, Mississippi State College (1955) |
| 22 | Tallahatchie | Tallahatchie County School Survey, Bureau of Educational Research (1955) |
| 22 | Union | New Albany Separate School District, Bureau of Educational Research (1956) |
| 23 | A-M | Oversized city and county maps; blueprints (A-M) |
| 24 | N-Y | Oversized city and county maps; blueprints (N-Y) |