Dates

• Majority of material found within 1863 - 2015

Extent

12 boxes Linear Feet (Elinor Reinhardt Gordon Blair (June 29, 1913-April 17, 2015) was born at Indiana State Normal School (ISNS) in Indiana, Pennsylvania. She was the only child of McClellan C. Gordon (1863-1937) and Emma Elizabeth Reinhardt Gordon (1887- 1984). From 1913 until her father retired from ISNS in 1927, Elinor Gordon grew up on campus. Elinor’s father, McClellan C. Gordon, was born in Snow Hill on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and he was an 1885 and 1888 graduate of Indiana State Normal School (ISNS). After graduating from Indiana State Normal School, McClellan Gordon served as a principal in West Newton and Irwin, Pennsylvania, before returning to teach at ISNS in 1892. He continued his education at the ISNS Summer School in 1891, and attended summer programs at Princeton University and Columbia University. McClellan Gordon was a faculty member in the Mathematics Department of ISNS for 35 years from 1892 until his retirement in 1927. During his tenure at Indiana, Gordon had been described as “more than a teacher.” He supervised the bookstore, the student loan fund, and assisted recent graduates in finding teaching positions. Gordon coached several sports teams including baseball and women's tennis and field hockey. McClellan Gordon married Emma Elizabeth Reinhardt Gordon, who was from Titusville, Pennsylvania. She was a teacher and a 1907 graduate of ISNS. Elinor Gordon Blair’s parents were married in 1910. McClellan Gordon was a Freemason, and he and his wife were active in the Indiana community. At a time when faculty lived as well as worked on campus, the activities of the Indiana State Normal School were a major part of Elinor Gordon Blair’s childhood, which she described in Growing up on a college campus, 1913-1927 (2004). The Gordon family lived in the Smith Mansion near campus where they supervised 12 student boarders. For nine years, Elinor attended the Model School in Wilson Hall at ISNS through the ninth grade in 1927. She lived at Indiana State Normal School until her father’s retirement in 1927. The 1927 ISNS Instano Yearbook was dedicated to her father “To McClellan C. Gordon, our beloved teacher, who has taught us that the Road to Perseverance, with an occasional touch of humor, leads us to the Realization of our Ideals.” Gordon was an active participant in numerous organizations throughout Indiana including the First Presbyterian Church, the Masonic Lodge, and the Indiana Hospital Board. Upon retiring, Gordon continued to serve Indiana State Teachers College as treasurer of the Jane E. Leonard Loan Fund until 1931. Three decades after his death in 1937, Gordon Hall was named for McClellan C. Gordon. Elinor Gordon was a 1934 graduate of Vassar College, and she married David Hall Blair (June 30, 1906-October 23, 1986) on July 12, 1935. They raised their three children in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Elinor Gordon Blair taught English at the Indiana Area High School from 1956 until her retirement in 1975. A long-time resident of Indiana, she was a member of Calvary Presbyterian Church, founding president of the New Century Club, and a member of the Ingleside Club. On June 29, 2013, Elinor Gordon Blair celebrated her 100th birthday at St. Andrew’s Village. For more information about McClellan C. Gordon and Elinor Gordon Blair, please visit the Elinor Gordon Blair digital project and read her book Growing up on a college campus, 1913-1927 (2004). Learn more about the Elinor Gordon Blair Scholarship offered by the Robert E. Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). The collection includes correspondence, papers, photographs, and publications from the personal and professional activities of McClellan C. Gordon and his daughter Elinor Gordon Blair. The collection contains information about civic organizations including Freemasonry in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Prominent in this collection are photographs and papers pertaining to the Model School and Indiana State Normal School (ISNS) during the early 20th Century, and later Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Elinor Gordon Blair also knew Jane Leonard, first Preceptress of Indiana State Normal School (Manuscript Group 24).)

Language of Materials

English