Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts & Archives
User Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Inventory
Cataloguing Information
Processed by
Charles Latham
May 1989
Karen Larson
June 1994
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 3 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize folder; and visual materials
COLLECTION DATES: 1881-1967
PROVENANCE: A gift from R. Donald Tyler, Indianapolis, IN and Forrest B. Tyler, College Park, MD, 25 July 1984
RESTRICTIONS: none
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society.
ALTERNATE FORMATS: none
OTHER FINDING AIDS: none
RELATED HOLDINGS: None
ACCESSION NUMBER: 84.0707
NOTES: Booklets were transferred to Printed Collections.
Pleasant Jenkins (1869-c1930) was born in Georgetown, Indiana, outside New Albany, the son of Leroy and Charlotte (Baylor) Jenkins. He was educated in local one-room schools, and in 1888, after completing work at No. 9, took courses at Central Normal School in Danville, Indiana.
He began teaching at Lanesville in 1889, then moved to Corydon, where in 1903 he became Harrison County Superintendent of Schools. By 1907, when he transferred his certificate back to Floyd County, Jenkins had attended six terms of normal school. He continued to teach there into the 1920s, and at the same time managed the farm inherited from his father.
In 1896 Jenkins married Lizzie K. Johnson, daughter of Harvey and Nancy (Byerly) Johnson of Georgetown. Their daughter, Velsie Jenkins Tyler (1904-c1970), was educated in the local one-room schools, and graduated from Georgetown High School in 1920. After attending one summer term of college, she taught for three years, then married.
From 1929 to 1935 Mrs. Tyler worked as saleswoman in a department store. In 1937 she worked on the Federal Writers Project of WPA as an historical writer supervised by Ross Lockridge. After a period as a social worker (the first in Floyd County), she joined the Indiana State Employment Office in 1943, and served there more than 25 years. Beginning in 1954, she was active in the local organization of Business and Professional Women. She married Wallace Tyler and had two sons, R. Donald Tyler, an executive at the Allison engine plant in Indianapolis, and Forrest B. Tyler, a psychologist.
This collection, filling three manuscript boxes, contains letters, papers and licenses, short historical articles, and programs. It is arranged by correspondent, and chronologically within correspondent.
Box 1 contains the papers of Pleasant Jenkins, covering the period 1881-1923. The bulk of the correspondence is from the years 1888-1896, and 1902-1907. The personal correspondence (1888-1896) relates to Jenkin's long courtship (1888-1898) of Lizzie Johnson, descriptions of life at Central Normal School, arrangements for meetings, and occasional misunderstandings. All this gives a picture both of the beginnings of a rural teaching career and of the restrictions of a rural courtship at a time when a 'date' consisted of a long walk home from church. The correspondence from 1902-1907 involves Jenkins' position as Superintendent. This material includes bills and advertisements for school supplies as well as professional correspondence between Jenkins and others concerning school matters. Also included are a number of Jenkins's teacher's licenses, and some of his notebooks.
The next two boxes contain the papers of Velsie Jenkins Tyler. Box 2 contains some correspondence, along with material from her involvement with the Indiana Employment Office and with the Business and Professional Women; also medical notes from her period of service as a social worker. Box 3 contains the short historical sketches which she wrote for the Federal Writers Project: material on Floyd County and New Albany and has material topically arranged under such headings as Customs, Morgan's Raid, Tales and Legends, and Underground Railroad.
Box 3 also contains material on R. Donald Tyler and his work at Allison; two psychological monographs of which Forrest B. Tyler is a co-author; and a number of programs, especially of dramatic productions at Speedway High School in the 1960s in which Donald Tyler's son took part.
I. PLEASANT JENKINS
Box 1: Correspondence--Personal
Folder
1: 1881
2: 1887
3: January-April 1888
4: May-December 1888
5: January-June 1889
6: July-December 1889
7: 1890
8: 1891
9: 1892
10: 1893
11: 1894
12: 1895-1896
13: 1897-1898
14: 1903
15: 1906-1908
16: 1921-1924
17: n.d.
Correspondence--Professional:
18: Programs (Commencement and Teachers Association) 1890, 1893, 1896, 1897, 1900
19: 1902
20: Publishers/supplies 1902
21: January-July 1903
22: August-December 1903
23: Publishers/supplies, January-June 1903
24: Publishers/supplies, July-August 1903
25: Publishers/supplies, September-December 1903
26: 1904
27: Publishers/supplies 1904
28: January-August 1905
29: September-December 1905
Box 2 Correspondence--Professional
Folder:
1: Publishers/supplies 1905 (see also OM 122)
2: January-April 1906
3: May-December 1906
4: Publishers/supplies, January-July 1906
5: Publishers/supplies, August 1906
6: Publishers/supplies, September-December 1906
7: 1907
8: Publishers/supplies, 1907
9: Miscellaneous/undated material
10: Clippings
11: Teacher's licenses 1891 - 1923
12: Cards 1919, 1926 & n.d.
13: Notebooks
14-21: (VC) Photographs (stored OVA), 1906 and n.d.
Box 2: II. VELSIE JENKINS TYLER
Folder:
22: Biographical
23: Correspondence-- 1921 - 1936
24: 1960 - 1970
25: Organizations-- New Albany Business and Professional Women
26: Indiana State Employment Office
27-31: Medical and Physiological notes
Box 3:
Folder :
1: Diary of auto trip 1955
2: Historical and folklore sketches written for Federal Writers Project Floyd County I
3: Floyd County II
4: Floyd County Flora and Fauna
5: Floyd County General Topography
6: New Albany-- Places of Interest
7: New Albany
8: New Albany-- Distinguished People
9: Harrison County
10: Scott County
11: Customs
12: Early settlements and trails
13: Family history
14: Morgan's Raid
15: Quakers
16: Songs
17: Tales and legends
18: Tall tales
19: Underground Railroad
20: Miscellaneous
21: Notes from published sources
22: (VC) Photographs Velsie Jenkins Tyler Banquets & Award Presentations ca. 1957-62
BOX 3: III. TYLER FAMILY
Folder:
23: R. Donald Tyler
24: Forrest B. and Bonnie Tyler
25: (VC) Photo album Pleasant Jenkins family photograph album (stored with albums)
BOX 3: IV. OTHER
26: Georgetown High School "Broadcast" 1940
27: Speedway High School dramatics 1963-1967
28: Miscellaneous programs
MAIN ETNRY: Jenkins, Pleasant, 1869-ca. 1930
SUBJECT ENTRIES: Jenkins, Pleasant, 1869-ca. 1930--Photographs
Tyler, Velsie Jenkins, 1904-ca. 1970
Tyler, R. Donald
Tyler, Forrest B.
Central Normal College (Danville, Ind.)
New Albany Business and Professional Women's Club
Indiana. Employment Security Division
General Motors Corporation. Allison Division
Federal Writers' Project
Teachers colleges--Indiana--Danville
Teachers--Training of--Indiana--Danville
Teachers--Indiana--Harrison County
School superintendents--Indiana--Harrison County
Education--Indiana--Harrison County
Social workers--Indiana--Floyd County
Courtship--Indiana--Floyd County
Textbooks--Indiana--Harrison County
Folklore--Indiana
Women in business--Indiana--New Albany--Societies and clubs
Employment tests--Indiana
Travelers--United States--Diaries
Theater programs--Indiana--Speedway
Underground railroad--Indiana
Floyd County (Ind.)--History
Floyd County (Ind.)--Folklore
Indiana--Folklore
New Albany (Ind.)--Description and travel
Harrison County (Ind.)
Georgetown (Ind.)
END