Horace Macaulay Ivy Collection (Z/1806)

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:

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 Note:

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:

Series 1: Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., Surveys of Mississippi Public Schools. 1955-1966.

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

Series 2: Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., Surveys of Other Schools. 1955-1964.

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

Series 3: Other Educational Consultants' Surveys of Mississippi Public Schools. 1955-1956.

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:

Series 1: Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., Surveys of Mississippi Public Schools. 1955-1966.

Series 2: Associated Consultants in Education, Inc., Surveys of Other Schools. 1955-1964.

Series 3: Other Educational Consultants' Surveys of Mississippi Public Schools. 1955-1956.