John Crossett Papers

John M. Crossett served as an associate professor of classics at Grinnell College from 1963-1970, and a small portion of this collection is material related to that experience.  Parsons College in Fairfield, IA, where Crossett taught from 1962-63, is the subject of the bulk of this collection, which includes clippings, published work, information on campus groups, and a documentation of the conditions at the school from 1962 until it closed in 1973.

Scope and content: The collection consists of personal and professional correspondence primarily covering 1962 through 1970. The bulk of the materials are concerned with conditions at Parsons College, beginning with the summer of 1962 and carrying through to its closing in 1973. Newspaper clippings document final years of parsons College. Three boxes contain official material published by Parsons, minutes from various organizations on campus, and student records. One box contains the reports on parsons from various agencies. A small amount of material is related to Dr. Crossett’s tenure on the faculty at Grinnell College

Quantity: 9 Archival boxes, 11 volumes of notes

Provenance: Judith Crossett, 1982

Copyright: Grinnell College hold copyright to Dr. Crossett’s writings in this collection.

Suggested citation: John M. Crossett papers, Grinnell College Libraries, Department of Special Collections, Grinnell, Iowa. Ms.01.17.

Biographical notes:
(Information for the biographical notes was taken from Arieti, James A. “John M. Crossett: a Memoir,” in Stump, Donald V., et al., eds. Hamartia: The Concept of Error in the Western Tradition. Essays in Honor of John M. Crossett. NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1983.)

1941 Graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York

1947 Graduated fro Columbia College, Phi Beta Kappa, with ‘honors and special distinction in English, Latin and Greek, and history

Taught in a high school in Enosberg Falls, Vermont

Went into insurance business as an insurance adjuster.

Accepted to English Department of the graduate program at Harvard University

1954-57 Teaching Fellow, Harvard University
Doctoral Dissertation on English translation of Homer’s Iliad

1957-58 Taught at Boston University

1958 Received Doctorate from Harvard University

1958-1962 Assistant Professor of English at Hamilton College
While at Hamilton he prepared a Handbook of Composition, Breviary of English Grammar, used at Grinnell and Cornell Colleges. He designed books and set type on his own press, The Virgil Press, for his own poetry and that of others. Principal publications at The Virgil Press included Two Voices, written with his sister, Barbara Crossett Manosh, Adam and Eve Poems, and The Wreath of Seasons, both by John Crossett.

1962-62 Associate Professor of English an Acting Head of the Department of Humanities at Parsons College, Fairfield, Iowa.

1963-70 Associate Professor of Classics at Grinnell College

1970-1981 Professor of Classics at Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa until his death in 1981.

1977 Founded Hesperis Institute for Humanitistic Studies. This institute was intended by Crossett to be the foundation of a future college taught on the model of Plato‘s Academy. Taught at the Hesperis Institute during the summers of 1977-1980.

1979 Received the American Philological Association’s prize for excellence in teaching. 1979 was the first year such an award was given.

Contents:
Box 1
Folder 1: Parson’s low grade, Dean’s list, conditional student list, enrollment reports, adds and drops. Summer and fall 1962.
Folder 2: Student Reports (demographics, etc.)
Folder 3: Materials distributed to all faculty members by Parsons College. 1962-63 (memos, fliers, lists, grading instructions, etc.)
Folder 4: Materials for public distribution from Parsons College (calendars, advertising)

Box 2
Folder 5: News releases from Parsons College, December 1, 1962 – February 6, 1963 (some undated).
Folder 6: Minutes from Humanities Division, June 20, 1962-Septenber 21, 1962.
Folder 7: Minutes of the Meeting of the Faculty Senate, May 21, 1962-october 15, 1962
Folder 8: Minutes of the Council of Deans, June 16, 1962 – January 15, 1963
Folder 9: AAUP minutes, reports, constitution, bylaws, 1962-63
Folder 10: Fairfield news clippings 1966-1967
Folder 11: Better Education for Less Money, transcript of speech given by President Millard Roberts, May 15, 1963
Folder 12: “Institutional Climate at Parsons College,” January 20, 1967. Office of Institutional Research, Parsons College.
Folder 13: “Tutorial Assistance in College Core Courses, “, by E. Martin Etters, Director of Institutional Research, Parsons College. Handwritten note states that it is to be published in Journal for Educational Research.
Folder 14: “Instructional and Low Grade Comparison,” Occasional Report #2. Office of Institutional Research, Parsons College, August 25, 1965.
Folder 15: “Attrition at Parsons College 1950-1965 (Preliminary Data),” Office of Institutional Research, Parsons College, April 12, 1966.
Folder 16: “Profile of Parsons Graduates February 1965-February 1966 (Preliminary Data),” Office of Institutional Research, April 11, 1966.
Folder 17: “Enrollment Trends During the Trimester period 1960-1965,” Occasional Report #5. Office of Institutional Research, Parsons College, January 5, 1966.
Folder 18: “Bivariate tables, Parsons profile Fall 1964-Fall 1965 (June 24, 1966)
Folder 19: Office of the President. “The Planning Phase/Reorganization/Results of the Reorganization.” Probably compiled in 1958 or 1958.

Box 3 Official Parsons Material
The Eighty-Fifth Commencement, June 6, 1964, program
Parsons College Student List Fall Trimester 1962
Parsons College Student List Summer Trimester 1962
“Scholars Who Teach: a profile of the Parsons College Faculty 1966-67” Photographs and biographical information about the professors, preceptors, and tutors.
The Parsons College Bulletin, Vol. 51, no. 1, July 1962 a journalistic supplement to the College Catalogue.
Parsons College Bulletin, Vol. 51, no. 1 1962-63

Box 4 Evaluations of Parsons College
Folder 1: “Conditions at Parsons College under the Administration of President Millard G. Roberts,” A statement prepared by John c. Moore, Robert M. Stern, John M. Crossett, Walter M. Hewitson, Elmer R. Rusco, Ernest C. Thompson (all members of the Faculty at Parsons College at the time the report was made). Prepared March 1, 1963. Also referred to as “The Dissidents’ Report”
Folder 2: Duplicate of “Conditions” report
Folder 3: Letters, statements, memos, etc. to faculty and organization, and committees about the “conditions” report
(Outside of folder) “A Preliminary Report” prepared for the Personnel and Education Committee of the Parsons College Board of Trustees, March 22, 1963. And “Appendices to the Preliminary Report” prepared for the Personnel and Education Committee of the Parsons College Board of Trustees, march 22, 1963. These are the College’s official rebuttal to the “conditions” report
Folder 4: Crossett’s notes from “A Preliminary Report,’ and correspondence concerning it.
Folder 5: Follow up notes to “conditions” and a close look at Parsons’ post “conditions” catalog.
(Outside of folder) The North Central Association Quarterly vol. 37, no. 1, Summer 1962
Folder 6: Excerpt from the report of the Board of College Visitors to the Iowa Synod, United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., June 24-27, 1963.
Folder 7 NCA Report, February 23, 24, 1967.

Box 5: Versions of “The Parsons Story”
(Preceeding folders) “The Parsons Story” reprinted from the Des Moines Sunday Register May 15 and May 22, 1966
Hall, John O. Parsons College: the Years of Change, 1965. Mimeographed.
Folder 1: The notes, correspondence, and manuscripts for Eugene K. Garber’s article “The Rise an Fall of Parsons College. ‘ Intended to be published in the Atlantic Monthly. Also correspondence with G. Michael Curtis, editor oat the Atlantic Monthly.
Folder 2: Garber, cont.
Folder 3: Millard G. Roberts’ speech before the National Conference of State Legislative Leaders, November 11, 1965,

Box 6 Correspondence
Folder 1: Crossett’s personal correspondence May 10, 1947-May 20, 1965.
Folder 2: Crossett’s contract and correspondence regarding employment at Parsons, April/May 1962
Folder 3: Crossett’s correspondence with parsons Administration, September 29. 1962-April 18, 1966
Folder 4: Correspondence to and from “Dissident” group members (including Crossett) to outsiders after the “conditions” statement was released. One letter dated December 7 was not sent. December 7, 1962-June 18, 1968.
Folder 5 Crossett’s post-resignation employment search, November 28, 1962 – February 6, 1963.
Folder 5: Crossett’s letters of recommendation- and some return mail.- for resigning Parsons faculty (dissident group), January 22, 1963 – April 18, 1966
Folder 6: Crossett's letters of recommendation - and some return mail - for resigning Parsons faculty (dissident group), January 22, 1963-March 18, 1963
Folder 7: Personal correspondence from dissidents to Grossett, February 1963 - April 18, 1966.
Folder 8: Crossett’s correspondence and circulars to “Dissidents,” October 1963-November 25, 1964. All concerning conditions at Parsons
Folder 9: Parsons College Faculty Constitution and By Laws (written after April 24, 1963) and Crossett’s correspondence regarding the new By Laws.
Folder 120. Letters to and from Crossett, also from dissidents concerning parsons’ non-payment of TIAA-CREF annuities November 13, 1963 – December 19. 1963.
Folder 11: Signe West Affair Correspondence December 1963 – March 1966. Possibly hired to spy on dissidents by Millard G. Roberts.
Folder 12: Student protest letter to Newsweek. Undated
Folder 13: Crossett’s correspondence with Grinnell Administration, November 22, 1965 – May 26, 1970.

Box 7 Crossett’s papers, Parsons documentation, Grinnell Classics and Humanities division material
Folder 1: Crossett’s “Some Suggestions for Administering a College Designed to Teach Below Average Students” draft, unfinished.
Folder 2: Crossett’s, write up on Associate program at Parsons College
Folder 3: Writing on Ovid: typed copy of Giovanni Pansa’s Ovidio…; unsigned, unfinished typescript of a paper entitled “The earliest printed commentary on Ovid’s Amores”; unsigned, unfinished typescript of a paper entitled “The Exile of Ovid”’ typed copy of “a paper read before the Classical Association at Sheffield, January 3, 1913: ‘Ovid the Artist' " a few miscellaneous papers.
Folder 3:. Crossett’s and McKibben’s translation of the prefaces to Liber Decem Missarum and Contrapunctus with letter fro David Sutherland.
Folder 3b: Studies on Greek Drama, script for dramatic presentation of Lysis by Nada Mangialetti (Grinnell ‘72)
Folder 4: Miscellaneous undated memos, facetiae, etc. by Crossett
Folder 4a: Crossett’s statement for Iowa Republicans, November 1965.
Folder 5: Crossett’s advisees (Parsons)
Folder 6: Newspaper clippings regarding Parsons 1962-1975
Folder 7: More clippings regarding Parsons.
Folder 8: Crossett’s notes about conditions at Parsons.
Folder 9: Crossett’s requests for Low Grade percentages and Responses to those requests, Crossett’s grade sheets, two class record book (all from Parsons)
Folder 10: Material on colleges designed on the Parsons model.
Folder 11: Papers from Humanities Division Education policy Division Grinnell College 1967-1969
Folder 12: Grinnell Classics Majors 1965-1968
Folder 13: Grinnell Classics Majors - comprehensive exam, reading syllabus.

Box 8 Student Papers from Parsons, 1962-1963

Box. 9 Student blue books with exams form parsons, 1962-63

11 volumes of notes undated, most notebooks have the name F. M. Carey, with the address of Academia Americani or university of California, Los Angeles or Paris, written in the cover.

Items discarded: copies of the Scarlet and Black; New York play bills; commercial pamphlets; dissertation of Millard G. Roberts, available through UMI; two copies of the Grinnell publication Nous; various Xeroxed texts; a few issues of the Des Moines Register. Student newspaper, Portfolio, 1962-64 donated to State Historical Society, Iowa City July, 1996.

Prepared by: Rebecca Stuhr-Rommereim, 1989