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School Committee Records

Collection Description:
The records of the Town and City of Manchester School Committee consist of ten volumes of minutes dating from 1824 to 1876.

The Manchester School Committee was comprised of school districts, governed by committees. Each school committee was elected by the male residents living with its confines. Of primary importance to each committee was the location of schoolhouses within the boundaries of each school district. There was no public transportation so the ability of each child to walk to school was of paramount importance. The School Committee carefully planned the school year to accommodate the needs of a growing town. It combined the needs of an agrarian population with those of a burgeoning manufacturing economy. There were two cycles. Summer School began the first of May and Winter School began on the first of December.

Each school district journal describes the physical location of the district in terms of its proximity to individual landholdings, natural boundaries (i.e. Merrimack River) and to other towns. School district configurations would change as Manchester grew. In 1840, the district (with one school) began at the northwest corner of John Ray's farm on the Merrimack River to the old ferry road and then on to the southwest corner of the Amoskeag Company's land, ending at the town of Chester's original boundary line. By 1856, the district was so large that it included a high school, two grammar schools and two intermediate schools.

The importance of obtaining an education is clear from the earliest journal onward. In the 1820s, the population of Manchester was under 1,000 but by then, the inhabitants of School District #3 had an elected Prudential Committee who, in turn, hired a schoolmaster to teach the children.

Restoration and microfilming of these records was made possible through a grant by the New Hampshire Conservation License Plate Fund and the New Hampshire State Library.

Managing Organization: Manchester City Archives >>

Geographical Focus:
Town: Manchester

Collection Size: 10 volumes