Dates

• Majority of material found within 1950 - 2010

Extent

6 boxes Linear Feet (Dr. John (Jack) William Larner, Jr. was born on April 20, 1938 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His parents were John William Larner, Sr. (1897-1978) and Emily Josephine Dugan Larner. From 1944 to 1952, John W. Larner, Jr. attended St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic School in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. In 1952-1953, he attended Mellon Junior High School for ninth grade. Larner attended Mt. Lebanon High School from 1953 to 1956, and graduated from high school in 1956. In 1960, Larner graduated from Rice Institute (Rice University) with a BA in History. In 1962, he was granted an MA in History from the University of Pittsburgh and accepted a teaching fellowship to pursue a history Ph.D. at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In 1963, he took a leave from the University of Alberta to accept the post of Instructor of History at the Altoona Campus of the Pennsylvania State University. In 1964, Larner taught world and Canadian history in summer session at the University of Alberta. In 1965, Larner took a leave from Penn State-Altoona to begin PhD studies anew at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. In 1967, he passed PhD history qualifying exams at West Virginia University and accepted a position as Instructor of History at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, teaching upper division Canadian, US, and Canadian-US comparative history. In 1968, Larner returned to teach summer session at the University of Alberta; this time only Canadian history. In 1970, he departed Memorial University of Newfoundland, taking a public school teaching job in German and History at the Clear Creek Independent School District, League City (Space Center near Houston), Texas. In 1971, he was appointed Aboriginal Treaty Rights Research Coordinator, Indian Association of Alberta, working from the Stony (Assiniboine) Reservation at Morley, Alberta, west of Calgary. In 1971, he was appointed Director of Aboriginal Treaty Rights Research by Canada’s National Indian Brotherhood, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, working especially on completion of Stony claims case, cases evolving from as yet non-treaty areas in the Northwest Territories, and in a variety of other cases. A major duty was to write a pamphlet on Canadian Indian Status and Claims to be distributed by National Indian Brotherhood representatives to the United Nation’s Fourth World Conference, Stockholm, Sweden in summer of 1973. Larner graduated with a PhD in History from West Virginia University in 1972. In 1972, he departed Canada’s National Indian Brotherhood, taking a public school teaching post at the Klein Independent School District in northwest Harris County, Texas, where he taught, US History, US and Texas Government, International Relations, Sociology, and Geography. Additionally, he served as Social Studies Department Chair and for one year as the District-Wide Social Studies Coordinator. Also, taught part-time evening courses for Houston Community College and North Harris County Community College. In 1973, Larner was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, sponsored by the United States National Archives and the University’s Center for Textual and Editorial Studies in Humanistic Sources. In 1978, under a grant from the National Archives’ National Historical Publications and Records Commission, took leave from Klein Independent School District to commence work on The Papers of Carlos Montezuma, M.D. at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. In 1979, Larner returned to teaching at Klein Independent School District with the National Historical and Publications grant transferred there toward completion of the Montezuma Papers project. Continued part-time evening teaching at North Harris County Community College. In 1982, he departed the Klein Independent School District, returning to Altoona, Pennsylvania, teaching part-time at Penn State-Altoona and substitute teaching in local public school. Also, he continued work toward completion of the Montezuma Papers project which was published by Scholarly Resources, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware in 1984. In 1982, he served as Project Director for the American Historical Association’s Constitutional History in the Schools project, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. In 1984, while continuing to work with the American Historical Association project, took a Visiting Associate Professor position in the Department of Learning and Instruction, State University of New York at Buffalo. In 1985, Larner returned to teaching history at Penn State-Altoona, becoming Assistant Professor of History in 1986. Received another National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant for The Papers of the Society of American Indians published by Scholarly Resources, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware in 1987. Under grants from Penn State, the American Philosophical Society and the Forest History Society began work on The Papers of Joseph Trimble Rothrock, M.D, an internationally known Pennsylvania forester. In 1989, he departed Penn State-Altoona, to accept a position as Associate Professor of History and Coordinator of Secondary Social Studies Teacher Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Under continuing grants, including a major one from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the Rothrock papers were published by Scholarly Resources, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, in 2000. In 1994, Larner was President of the Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies; later, chairing a committee in the National Council for the Social Studies House of Delegates, 1995-1997. The annual Friends of the Oklahoma Council for the Social Studies Award was presented to Larner in 1996 in recognition of his leadership in bringing IUP Social Studies students, the Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies, and the National Council for the Social Studies to the aid of Oklahoma Social Studies teachers in the aftermath of the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City the previous April. In 2000, Larner retired from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, after 11 years of service and became Professor Emeritus, and received the History Department’s Career Service Award. While working for IUP from 1989-2000, the Larner family lived in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and Larner commuted the fifty miles to Indiana, Pennsylvania. In 2003, Larner researched and published West Virginia Penitentiary Cell Wall Markings. Moundsville, WV: Moundsville Economic Development Council, 2003. In 2004, he researched and published Locked in Time: West Virginia Penitentiary, 1866-1995. Moundsville, WV: Moundsville Economic Development Council, 2004. In 2006, he and his wife left Pennsylvania, and moved to Richards, Texas. In July 2009, the Larner family returned to Altoona, Pennsylvania. The collection was donated to IUP Special Collections and University Archives by Dr. John W. Larner, Jr. in November 2008. This collection includes correspondence, teaching materials, newspaper articles, publications, and humor. Larner donated 29 reels of microfilm of the Papers of Joseph Trimble Rothrock, MD (1839-1922), which he wrote a research guide for which was published by Scholarly Resources, Inc. in 2001. The microfilm collection was donated to the Serials Department at the IUP Libraries. Dr. Larner also donated materials to the following collection housed in the IUP Special Collections and University Archives MG 88: Pennsylvania Council of the Social Studies (PCSS) Series IV boxes 4-15.)

Language of Materials

English