This series contains correspondence inward and outward of the Director of Elementary Education and the organizer of Technical Education. Files include correspondence and reports regarding summer schools and night schools, manual training and domestic science, agricultural education and wartime Food Conservation Committee. The series also contains miscellaneous reports from school inspectors and correspondence regarding provincial university and college programmes. This collection may be used in conjunction with GR-0457 (Technical Education, 1915-1923) and GR-0458 (Elementary Agricultural Education, 1915-1929). This collection includes: correspondence (inward and outward) of J. W. Gibson, the Director of Elementary Agricultural Education Branch and John Kyle, the Organizer of Technical Education; the records of George H. Deane, the Supervisor of Technical Education; correspondence and reports pertaining to summer school and night school programs, manual training and domestic science, agriculture education and wartime food supply; miscellaneous reports from school inspectors; and correspondence concerning university and college courses. During this period, the Organizer of Technical Education (John Kyle) was responsible for night schools, domestic science courses, and manual training programs. The Director of the Elementary Agricultural Education Branch (J.W.Â\~Gibson) was responsible for rural science courses, schools gardening projects and acted as director of the Summer School for Teachers. Gibson was also the Provincial Organizer for the Wartime Food Conservation Committee. Both John Kyle and J.W. Gibson reported to George H. Deane, the Assistant Superintendent of Education as well as the Supervisor of Technical Education (19131917). Deane also acted as Inspector of Schools on Vancouver Island, and this collection includes correspondence relating to school inspection and to matters other than technical and agricultural education.

This series consists of correspondence outward from Dr. H.B. King in his capacity as Technical Adviser, May, 1938 - Aug. 1939, and later as Chief Inspector of Schools, Sep to Oct 1939.

This series contains correspondence, reports, memoranda, briefs, bulletins, etc., of the Home Economics Branch of the B.C. Department of Education. The collection begins with the introduction of domestic science into the public school system and runs until the branch was disbanded in 1981. It includes correspondence relating to operations of the Branch and home economics in general; curriculum development materials; teaching aids; lists of textbooks, teachers and circulating library materials; histories of the Branch; informational packets for teachers; and bulletins and newsletters prepared and issued by the Branch. It also includes a box of plans of home economics classrooms and a slideshow of a nursery school operated at Kelowna Secondary School.

A wide range of general departmental circulars were removed from the collection and catalogued separately.

The file contains a photocopy of a typescript of an article by Home Economics Branch director, Jessie L. McLenaghen, giving brief survey of the development of Home Economics in B.C. schools from 1895 to 1941. The article was intended for publication in "The School".

The series consists of School Inspectors' reports created by the Dept. of Education between 1918 and 1957. The reports are arranged alphabetically, by name of school or community, for the years 1918-1938; thereafter, reports are filed alphabetically by name of teacher.

Evaluations of a number of private schools are included, as well as assessments of manual training and domestic science programmes in various schools. These reports contain evaluations of individual teachers and assessments of education programmes in all types of schools throughout the province.

The report forms varied over the years, but in most instances they contain information on teachers' qualifications, teaching methods and classroom discipline, pupils' progress, and the availability and condition of teaching equipment. Early reports on provincial elementary schools also contain information on the size and condition of the school buildings and grounds.

As a rule, the inspectors' reports were arranged alphabetically, by name of school inspected, and filed chronologically under various categories. During the years 1918-1937, the main categories were "Elementary Schools," "High Schools and Superior Schools," and "Manual Training and Domestic Science."

There were, however, frequent exceptions and alterations to this filing system. For example, during the years 1929-1931 Vancouver schools (i.e. those administered by the Vancouver School Board) were filed separately from other municipal schools; during the years 1934-1938 the Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and the Blind was accorded a separate file. Between 1928 and 1937 files pertaining to certain "private schools" were also kept separately. "Private schools" in this instance included some independent schools such as Crofton House, Vancouver, several religious colleges, and a number of Indian residential schools.

In addition, rural elementary schools were listed separately from other provincial elementary schools during the years 1928-1937. The "Rural Schools" reports were prepared by Miss Lottie Bowron, Rural Teachers' Welfare Officer (Women's). Her reports often contain detailed accounts of the conditions faced by teachers in small, isolated communities.

The Department of Education adopted a new filing system in 1938. From that year until 1957, when this series ends, all public school inspectors' reports, irrespective of school categories, were filed alphabetically under the names of individual teachers.

A copy of this 47 pp. typescript by Elizabeth Berry Lightfoot and Margaret Maynard will also be found in GR-1030.