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Dr.
William James
Holloway
Ye Old
Tyme Schoolemaster
(1925-1934) |
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The long odyssey that
would ultimately transform a cornfield a mile from the epicenter of
Salisbury into a university of national distinction was largely due to
the vision of Salisbury University’s first president, Dr. William J.
Holloway. When the Maryland State Normal School at Salisbury opened its
doors on September 7, 1925, the first students to enroll did so amid a
backdrop of local jubilation. Ever since the ground-breaking ceremonies
of two years earlier, the community had anticipated its opening; local
businesses took out ads welcoming the incoming students and members of
the local press were on hand to mark the occasion. Those first 105
students were greeted by the sight of a large open field punctuated by a
partially completed three-story colonial structure. Although incomplete
according to design, the environment was one that seemed filled with
possibility. On that day, Dr. Holloway surely felt a solemn pride in
having seen his idea come to fruition, and from then on Salisbury had an
institution of higher education that it could truly call its own.
In those days, the sole function
of “normal schools” was to train elementary level
schoolteachers; the school at Salisbury was to be primarily
focused on training teachers for rural classrooms. As early as
1914, state officials realized that the earlier established
normal schools in Towson and Frostburg were unable to provide
the necessary number of schoolteachers to fill much-needed
vacancies. By 1922, the Maryland legislature passed Joint
Resolution No. 21, which authorized the formation of a
commission to investigate the feasibility of establishing a new
school for teachers on the Eastern Shore. While working as the
Assistant State Superintendent, Dr. Holloway served on the
planning commission and the site that came immediately to mind
for just such a school was his hometown of Salisbury. By placing
the school in Salisbury, it would be centrally located in an
area that would have benefited most from a curriculum geared
toward producing teachers for rural areas. Holloway’s
combination of experience and education would make him as
natural a choice to lead the school as placing it at the
crossroads of Delmarva.
Dr. William James Holloway was
born in Salisbury on January 29, 1873. As a child he was
educated in the public schools of Wicomico County. He graduated
from Salisbury High School at the age of sixteen in 1889. After
graduation, Holloway took up work as a railroad and commercial
telegraph operator with various local railroads. In 1893, he
finally realized his true calling and entered the teaching
profession. He began his career as an instructor at the
elementary level and then progressed to teaching high school. In
1901, he was made principal of Salisbury High School, a position
he held for two years. After accumulating nearly a decade of
hands-on
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Above: Signing the bill
authorizing the Maryland State Normal School at Salisbury (1922)
Below: Groundbreaking of the first building (Oct. 17, 1923)
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experience, Holloway was offered a
position as an instructor in 1903 at the Maryland State Normal School in
Towson. While there, he began his collegiate studies at Johns Hopkins
University in 1904. In 1908, Holloway left Towson to return home
as the Wicomico County Superintendent of Schools, during which period he
also earned his Masters Degree in Education from Columbia University. By
1917, he was named the State Supervisor of Rural Schools, a position
from which he was later promoted to the Assistant State Superintendent
of Schools in 1922, thus making him the number two ranking education
official in the state. This combination of hands-on experience in rural
classrooms, and as an administrator made him the obvious choice to head
the school he proposed years before.
First Student Body (1925-1926)
William Holloway’s influence over the
school extended into the everyday life of the student body. It was his
vision to create a welcoming environment with a family like atmosphere
where students could learn the principles of effective teaching through
a combination of classroom instruction and supervised practical
experience. Classes officially began on September 8, 1925. That morning
Holloway introduced the faculty and unveiled a model of what the school
would eventually resemble.
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Later on, Holloway would insist that a
decorative pineapple be placed atop the main entrance. During the
colonial period the pineapple had been a symbol of hospitality, but at
Salisbury it represented a physical manifestation of the kind of
learning environment Holloway sought to create. The campus included an
elementary school for students to practice teaching. When it opened,
sixty-one students from first to sixth grade were divided into two
classrooms in a building adjoining the north wing of modern-day Holloway
Hall. It was there under the watchful gaze of instructors, Salisbury
Normal School students practiced their newly-acquired skills. The campus
demonstration school was quickly recognized as providing a superior
level of education and parents eagerly began signing their children up
years in advance to attend. While the early curriculum would have been
similar to that found at other normal schools around the state, it was
nonetheless heavily influenced by principles being taught at the
Teachers College of Columbia
University.
Holloway’s vision for Salisbury Normal School would have been
more difficult to achieve were
he not surrounded by a group of
like-minded people; out of the eight original faculty, six
received their teaching degrees from |
Dr. Holloway at his desk in 1928 |
Columbia
University. In fact Dr. William C. Bagley, a
professor of education at the Teachers College, was instrumental in
helping devise Salisbury’s curriculum. Bagley’s involvement was so
extensive that he even reviewed the school’s architectural plans; in
essence Salisbury Normal School seemed akin to a colony of Columbia
University. The first issue of the school newspaper, Holly Leaf,
appeared in September 1926. In it, Holloway wrote an editorial, which
clearly established the school’s mission.
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This school engages in no fatuous desire to furnish its students merely a general, unspecialized education. It has a two-year course for graduates of approved high schools, but they are not the first two years of the traditional American College. And yet, while different in content, and we hope, too, in method, from the non- professional, general College, its two years of work are just as valuable, just as educative, just as cultural, and liberalizing as the first two years of any liberal arts institution. Normal school graduates must know how to teach the “three R’s” successfully to all grades of children; to train in and for citizenship; to foster the habits and ideals of living that will be consistent with the laws of health; to inculcate the new conception of culture which is demanded by democracy; to show how leisure may be rightly used; and to do their full part in the development of character. |
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Shortly after its inception, The Holly
Leaf staff joined the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, thus
constituting further evidence of the close working relationship
between both institutions. Student organizations also served to
establish a sense of loyalty for the school among the undergraduate
population, something which in Holloway‘s view was essential.
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Mickey, the Bagleans' mascot bulldog, and Pep, the Carneans' mascot rooster
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Salisbury students were required to belong to at least one
student organization, but no more than two. Incoming students
were automatically placed in either the Baglean or Carnean
societies. The selection process consisted of a new student
reaching into a hat and selecting a piece of paper with the name
of the group to which she was assigned. The Bagleans and
Carneans routinely engaged in competitions ranging from spelling
bees to basketball games, the aim of which was to foster a sense
of school loyalty by generating a friendly internal rivalry.
With the graduation of the first class in 1926, Holloway saw to
the establishment of an Alumni Association complete with a
well-articulated induction ceremony at the conclusion of
commencement. Other important early organizations were the Glee
Club, the Citizenship Club, and the Student Grange (which was
among the earliest of its kind ever established at a school).
Many of these student organizations were conceived with dual
purposes in mind. For
instance
working on the student newspaper provided pupils with an opportunity to
learn about aspects of journalism and
hone their writing skills; this obvious benefit though was not
the primary goal of the exercise. The primary focus of the
newspaper was to teach students how to run a student newspaper in the rural schools. The
elementary students in the campus school even took part by publishing
their own section of The Holly Leaf, known as The Holly
Leaflet. Many of the early student organizations were oriented
toward the pupils of the campus school with activities which
would be similar to those they would encounter in a rural school setting; thus
most organizations functioned as an extension of the classroom.
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Fostering a sense of loyalty
through extracurricular activities was pivotal, but Holloway
also sought other ways to rally the students behind the infant
academy. He understood the unifying effect that school anthems
and symbols could have on a student body, thus by the end of the
first year the school song “Salisbury Normal Here’s to Thee” had
been composed by music instructor
Gladys Feidler. In 1926,
Holloway decided to hold a student art competition to design the
school’s crest. Though many school crests included cliché
designs involving open books and scrolls, Holloway wanted a
design whose imagery depicted the uniqueness of the Eastern
Shore. Ultimately ten designs were submitted, and from five
finalists Grace Hallam’s submission was declared the winner.
Hallam was herself an Eastern Shore woman from Parsonsburg, and
her winning design encapsulated the most numerous depictions of
life on the shore. Her inclusion of a schooner emphasized the
fishing industry, the plow and farm signified the importance of
agriculture, and a Loblolly Pine was included due to their
plenteousness in the area. |
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No matter how jovial those early years may have
been, as students and faculty prepared for the upcoming 1929 fall
semester there was no way of anticipating the troubled times which lay
ahead for Salisbury Normal School. Though the impact of the stock market
crash was not immediately apparent, in time, dwindling state funds would
require creative measures on the part of Dr. Holloway and the rest of
the Salisbury staff to ensure the school’s survival. Every meeting of
the State Legislature brought the gloomy specter of closure. In
response, Holloway crafted a series of arguments to stave off what would
have seemed inevitable at the time. Dr. Holloway argued that even with
Salisbury Normal School closed the state would still have to pay to
protect the building from vandalism and decay. The two other state
Normal Schools would require greater capital to absorb those students
turned away by the closure of Salisbury. In addition, Wicomico County
public schools would require greater funding to take in those students
turned away by the campus school. Holloway went on to argue that one
third of Salisbury Normal School’s students were commuters and that
closing the school would mean depriving them of an education. By the
early 1930’s, Salisbury was attracting students from seventeen counties
and Baltimore City; in addition graduates from the school had found
teaching positions in nearly every county in the state, thus closing the
institution would mean the state would be losing a real service. But
ultimately the argument that succeeded in convincing the Legislature was
that rural teachers for the Eastern Shore could not be trained anywhere
else in the state as cost effectively as at Salisbury.
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Holloway with the Student Body in the
Great Hall (1933) |
Holloway made various attempts to raise funds for the school. In
1934 he applied for a New Deal program called the Federal
Emergency Relief Fund. This was in essence a work-study program
whereby students received a monthly check for services they
provided to the school. New courses were added and made
available to the public in the hopes of attracting local
applicants who sought to increase their knowledge on a
particular subject. Salisbury Normal School also began holding
catered events for such local civic groups as the Eastern Shore
Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Eastern Shore Rural Mail
Carriers Association, at which students volunteered their time.
During this period, the school year was organized into
trimesters, accompanied by a summer break. Holloway submitted a
proposal to incorporate a winter break, which was aimed at
reducing heating costs during the coldest time of the year.
However, despite these efforts the funds raised still fell
tragically short of what was required. |
Good
community relations were crucial as well, since its inception, the
students not only practiced teaching at the campus school, but were also
bused out into the surrounding areas to practice teach in schools all
around Wicomico County. During the depression Holloway even solicited
local businessmen to provide sponsorship to students lacking the
necessary funds to complete their studies. Dr. Holloway served as
Director-General of the Salisbury Bi-Centennial celebration, which was
held from August 8-13, 1932. The three-day event stirred a
preservationist sentiment among the community. After the festivities had
ceased, a local meeting was held, at which Dr. Holloway “recommended
that we form a Wicomico Society for the preservation of antiquities and
that those present constitute themselves charter members with provision
for adding others.” His recommendation marked the beginning of the
Wicomico Historical Society. But regardless of how much local affinity
he could generate, or alternative means of funding he sought, the Normal
School at Salisbury needed something more fundamental; namely a ready
supply of applicants.
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In order for the Normal School
at Salisbury to survive enrollment would have to be maintained
at a level that justified the state’s expenditure. Dr. Holloway
began taking aggressive recruiting trips throughout Maryland,
and began writing letters to various high schools around the
state inquiring about potential candidates. During this period
social restrictions in the school’s dormitory were eased to
allow for greater freedom on the weekends and later studying
hours during the week before lights out. The 1933-1934 school
year witnessed the advent of the first student financial fund,
known as the Student Loan Fund. In that same year the Edna
Marshall Student Loan was established in memory of the recently
departed English instructor. Evidence of the
family atmosphere pervading the campus during this time was
readily apparent by the $500 gift the class of '35 gave to the
Student Loan Fund. Most of the funds were doled out to seniors
to ensure that they could complete their studies. Despite such
enticements enrollment continued to dip lower. A changing
curriculum, which required increasing years of study to acquire
a degree, bespoke of a wider changing paradigm that would alter
Salisbury Normal School forever. |
Dedication of the
lily pond (June 9, 1930) |
In the years prior to the Great
Depression women tended to teach in rural schools for a few years prior
to finding a husband and raising a family. In most cases, married women
left the teaching profession to focus on raising their children. This
turnover created a continuous need for fresh teachers, and it was just
such a need that Salisbury Normal School was founded to address. Once
the economy began to slow, women who were employed as teachers tended to
retain their positions, in large part because of the uncertainty of the
times. This situation created a surplus of teachers; in response to the
increasing numbers of unemployed teachers, the state decided to extend
the required years of study from two to three years. In part this was
done to stem the flow of teachers pouring out of Maryland’s normal
schools, but it also provided the state with the opportunity and
incentive to bring its normal school curricula up to par with those of
surrounding states. The three years of course studies that had been
mandated by the General Assembly were extended to four years in 1934.
The first two years would be dedicated to studying liberal arts, while
the last two would focus on teaching techniques; this was done so that
those who wished to transfer to another college could do so without loss
of credits. Those who attended under the three-year system would be
allowed to return for a fourth year with emphasis on the social
sciences. While this constituted an increased financial commitment from
students during the harshest of economic times, Holloway believed that
the change from a normal school to a state teachers college would enable
him to attract potential candidates who would have otherwise been
reluctant to attend a school that did not have the word college in its
title. In the spring of 1935, Governor Harry Nice signed senate Bill #
448, which ultimately legalized the school's official transition from
Maryland State Normal School to Maryland State Teachers College.
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Sadly, Dr.
William J. Holloway would have to witness the transition from
afar as he resigned as president on October 5, 1934, just short
of seeing the small normal school he helped found blossom into a
fully- accredited college. The strain of navigating such an
institution through those early tumultuous times took its toll,
and on Saturday March 14, 1936, Dr. Holloway passed away in a
Baltimore hospital. Both the Salisbury Times and
Salisbury Advertiser respectfully described the titanic lose
the education community of Maryland suffered with his passing.
The Advertiser obituary is particularly revealing in terms of
the legacy he left behind, "The State Teachers College here is
regarded as a monument to his efficient and untiring efforts
towards the establishment of such an institution." Today
Holloway Hall is named in honor of Salisbury University’s first
president without which the modern university would likely never
have come into being.
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