Teachers from Puerto Rico

In 1904, 353 public school teachers from Puerto Rico came to Harvard for summer study. This expedition was organized by Dr. Samuel McCune Lindsay, Commissioner of Education for Puerto Rico. With the help of others, he oversaw the raising of funds for the project by public subscription. The teachers were brought to the United States by U.S. Army transports. Their course of study at Harvard consisted of English lessons with afternoon lectures in American history and geography, hygiene, the American educational system, and the history and geography of Cuba, Mexico and South America. There were planned excursions to places of interest in the Boston area.

Teachers from Puerto Rico also studied at Cornell that summer. They joined their colleagues in Cambridge and the group traveled to Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia before returning to Puerto Rico.

Cable with travel instructions for teachers from Puerto Rico from the Records of the President of Harvard University, Charles W. Eliot UAI 5.150 Box 112 Puerto Rican Summer School, 1903-05, Folder 5 Click on image for a larger view.

pages 1 and 2 from "Four Illustrated Lectures on the American School System" by George Aldrich, Superintendent of Schools, Brookline, Massachusetts from the Records of the President of Harvard University, Charles W. Eliot UAI 5.150 Box 112 Puerto Rican Summer School, 1903-05, Folder 5 Click on each image for a larger view of page.