Written works about Salisbury University History by Henrietta Purnell, Sylvia Bradley and other notable Salisbury University faculty members. They were created between 1925 and 2002.

In 1922, the Maryland Legislature established a commission to determine a location for a two-year college to train elementary teachers on the state’s Eastern Shore. A site in Salisbury was selected and the Maryland State Normal School at Salisbury opened in September 1925.

The school’s two-year course of study was increased to three years in 1931 and to four years in 1934. In 1935, the Legislature authorized the college to grant Bachelor of Science degrees. The school was first accredited by the American Association of Teachers Colleges (later the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) in 1942 and by the Middle States Association in 1956.

Today, Salisbury University is a nationally accredited, four-year comprehensive university within the University System of Maryland. It offers many distinct undergraduate and graduate degree programs within four endowed schools: the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology, the Charles R. and Martha N. Fulton School of Liberal Arts, the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, and the Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies. In 2016, the Honors College was created.

The school’s name has changed several times over the course of its history: Maryland State Normal School (1925-1935), Maryland State Teachers College (1935-1963), Salisbury State College (1963-1988), Salisbury State University (1988-2001), and Salisbury University (2001-present).

The collection includes documents containing research on Salisbury University’s origins since its founding in 1925 up until the year 2001, with most of the published works between 1954 and 2002. A lot of the research is done by Henrietta Purnell and Sylvia Bradley. Written works range from “Salisbury State: Fifty Years of Growth”, “Salisbury: From Normal School to University 1925-2001” by Sylvia Bradley, “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – A chronology of events from 1924-1954”, “History of the College May Day Program, 1930-1959” by Henrietta Purnell and “Maryland State’s Teachers College at Salisbury, 1925-1949” by Ida Belle Wilson Thomas. Also included are miscellaneous summaries, chronologies and an exhibit, and an article from Little Journeys in 1926. These works chronicle Salisbury University’s history since 1925, such as its presidents, the university’s traditions, speeches, and original writings that extend into issues such as integration and Maryland’s role in helping improve the school.

The materials were organized chronologically. The earliest document is a short history of Salisbury University written in 1925 and the most recent published work in 2002.