Cyrus Hall Adams, III, papers, 1874-1968, bulk 1964-1968

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These papers were donated to Chicago Historical Society by Cyrus Hall Adams III in January and February 1967, and in January and May 1968 (accession #: 1967.0631, 1967.0643, 1968.0706, 1968.0739). Sound recordings were a gift of his widow, Harriet Adams (accession #: 1985.0030).

Cyrus Hall Adams, III, papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and series/box/folder/call number of a specific item.

The papers of Cyrus Hall Adams III date from 1874 to 1968 (mainly 1964 to 1968) and consist of correspondence, minutes, financial and other reports, transcripts of board hearings and meetings, news clippings, and other printed materials related to the Chicago Board of Education and Adams' service as a member of the board (from 1964-1968). Adams corresponded with other members of the board, with the General Superintendents Benjamin Willis and James Redmond, and with citizens and civic associations in Chicago regarding the policies and plans of the board. The papers reflect the major issues facing the board during the 1960s, especially racial integration of the public schools and related topics such as the Hauser and Havighurst reports and the various methods for achieving integration including the use of mobile classrooms, voluntary transfer plans, and busing. Other topics covered, though not as extensively, include labor relations with public school teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union, a shared-time plan with the Chicago Catholic Archdiocesan school system, the performance of Benjamin Willis as superintendent of schools and the educational, physical, and financial status of the Chicago public schools. Statistical information on individual public schools and on the Chicago school system as a whole is found in reports in the collection. Personal or business-related papers of Cyrus H. Adams III are limited to two scrapbooks, two publications on the history of Carson Pirie Scott and Company, a prayer book, and certificates. There are no other personal or business-related papers of Adams in this collection.

Cyrus Hall Adams, III, a Chicago business executive, civic leader and member of the Chicago Board of Education, was born on October 24, 1909. The son of Cyrus Hall Adams, Jr. (1881-1968) and Mary Shumway Adams (1882-1962), Cyrus Adams III grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois. He attended the Hill School (a preparatory school) in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and in 1931, he received his A.B. degree from Princeton University.

Adams began his business career in 1932 as a salesman for Carson Pirie Scott and Company in Chicago. He remained in their employ for 36 years, holding positions such as merchandise manager, assistant to the treasurer, controller, and assistant to the president. Adams was vice president for civic affairs when he retired from Carson's in 1968.

Adams participated actively in various organizations in the Chicago community including the Chicago Historical Society, of which he served as treasurer and trustee, and the Better Government Association, of which he was trustee and president. Adams was also a director of the Chicago Area Project at one time and a director and president of the board of North Side Boys Club. Adams' interests in education was evident in this service as a trustee of Glenwood School for Boys, and as a trustee (for 15 years) and chairman of the board (for 3 years) of the Chicago Latin School. Adams was also a trustee for over 19 years of The Hill School.

In December 1963, Adams was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education by Mayor Richard J. Daley. Adams joined the 11 member school board at a time when it was experiencing some of its deepest controversies. One especially volatile topic was racial integration. Benjamin C. Willis, who had been superintendent of the Chicago public schools since 1953, came under attack in the 1960s for allowing de facto segregation of Chicago schools to continue. His critics charged that Willis' opposition to integration was manifested in the use of mobile classrooms to alleviate overcrowding at schools in Black neighborhoods instead of transferring pupils to schools with space in white neighborhoods, and also in his lack of response to the important reports on the school system. These reports were (1) a survey done by Dr. Philip M. Hauser and a panel of four other educators who concluded that Black children were receiving an inferior education; and (2) a survey released in November 1964 by the chairman of the survey committee, Dr. Robert J. Havighurst, which also argued that Chicago was not doing an adequate job of educating its children.

A rift between Superintendent Willis and board members grew over this increasing pressure to desegregate the schools and over conflicts about the respective areas of responsibility of the General Superintendent and of the board. In May 1965, the board voted (with Adams concurring) not to renew Willis' contract when it expired in August 1965. However, a few weeks later, against much opposition, the board agreed to grant Willis a four year contract with the provision he retire in December 1966 when he reached the age of 65.

Funding for Chicago schools was always a major problem faced by the Board of Education and one that was of special concern to Adams during his tenure. Both the Hauser and Havighurst reports focused on the school system's need to obtain more money, especially for compensatory education in underserved areas. In October 1965, the situation became even more tense when the U.S. Commissioner of Education withheld federal funds from Chicago schools because of the many charges of "enforced" segregation there. Adams was one of the board members who was particularly active in pressing for state as well as federal aid to finance the school system. At his reappointment hearing in May 1966, Adams designated lack of money as the number one problem facing the school system; the other major problem was prejudice, he said.

The last two years of Adams' service on the school board were also ones of controversy for the board. James F. Redmond succeeded Benjamin Willis as General Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools in October 1966, and in August 1967, he released a report which called for busing as the means to achieve a better racial balance in the schools. Discussion and protest over this plan continued into early 1968 when open hearings were held. Adams was one of the two board members who refused to serve on the board's busing committee because he said hearings would serve no useful purpose. Instead, Adams supported a busing plan based on voluntary participation; this plan was approved by the board in March 1968.

Adams had announced as early as Sept. 1967 that he would not serve out his five-year term (until 1971), but would retire from the board in spring 1968. His resignation became official in May 1968. At the same time, Adams retired from his position as vice president for civic affairs at Carson Pirie Scott and Company. After retirement, Adams and his wife Harriet divided their time between their residence in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and their home in Chicago. Adams died in 1985.

Related materials in the library include the Chicago Public School Report (1963-1965), Highlights (1965), Chicago Board of Education Study Report 1964 Series, the Chicago Teachers Union records, and other publications.

• Subject
  • Adams, Cyrus Hall III -- 1909-1985 -- Archives
  • Busing for school integration -- Illinois
  • Community organization -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 20th century
  • Discrimination in education -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 20th century
  • Public schools -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 20th century
  • Teachers’ unions -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 20th century
• NamesChicago (Ill.) -- Board of Education
• Geographic Coverage
  • Chicago (Ill.) -- Politics and government -- 20th century
  • Chicago (Ill.) -- Race relations -- 20th century

This collection is arranged in two series.

Series 1. Board of Education files, 1874-1968 (Boxes 1-42)

Series 1 contains Cyrus H. Adams III's Board of Education files. These files consist of correspondence, minutes, financial and other reports, transcripts of board hearings and meetings, speeches, news clippings, and other printed materials. The correspondence is composed of both incoming letters and copies of Adams' outgoing ones. It includes letters exchanged between Adams and other board members (especially James Clements) and with General Superintendents Benjamin Willis and James Redmond sometimes frankly discussing the course of the board's actions. The correspondence also includes administrative letters and memos from Superintendent Willis, letters from the Chicago Teachers Union, and an exchange of letters with R. Sargent Shriver (in Sept. 1966) discussing the philosophy behind the War on Poverty programs, especially Head Start.

The issue of integration of the schools is reflected in many documents throughout the collection, including the correspondence among board members and the General Superintendents and numerous letters from Chicago citizens and civic organizations including the Citizens School Committee. Other documents include reports of the board committees, transcripts of community committee hearings including those of the 1968 committee on Transferring Students at which both board members and citizens spoke, press releases, and news clippings. There is also material concerning the Hauser report (released in March 1964) and the Havighurst survey (released in November 1964), both of which were designed to guide the board's plans with regard to the elimination of segregation in the schools. There are transcripts of meetings (ca. June-August 1964) of the Committee to Study and Make Recommendations to Implement Sections I, II, and III of the Hauser Report. Adams was chairman of this committee whose purpose was to consider student enrollment patterns, the utilization of space, and the location of schools and school boundaries.

The suggestions and plans of the school board with regard to school boundaries, student transfer plans, etc., caused a great deal of reaction within the community. Adams' papers contain many letters that he received from individual citizens and community organizations such as the Lincoln Kenwood Community Conference and the coordinating Council of Community Organizations, both opposing and supporting various board proposals. Most letters from these organizations can be found in chronological groups in the collection, including those received in late 1964 and early 1965 regarding the modified open enrollment plan (known as the "cluster" plan), those received in the summer of 1966 about a student transfer plan, and another lot in June 1967 concerning boundary changes for Nash and May Elementary schools among other things. Also, in August 1967, Superintendent James Redmond released a plan to decrease segregation through busing. Most of Adams' letters from citizens in 1967-1968 protest this busing plan.

Items which document the physical, financial, and educational condition of the public schools, both individually and as a whole, include statements from Parent-Teacher Associations to the Board of Education at the board's annual budget hearings. These statements (which appear in the December preceding the budget years of 1965 to 1968.) outline the specific needs of the individual schools; they were usually requests for supplies and the repair or construction of facilities at the schools. There are also a number of statements given by PTAs and civic associations at November 1964 and April 13, 1957 policy meetings of the board; most of the statements in November 1964 are in support of the neighborhood school policy, while many in April 1967 call for more board attention to furthering and stabilizing integration of the schools. The series also includes annual financial reports, and reports with statistical information about the Chicago public schools including figures on racial distribution of pupils and faculty and on class and faculty size. Adams annotated many of the reports in the collection, as well as the correspondence providing information and comments about their contents.

Letters, reports, legal memos, and statements by involved parties discuss (especially during April 1964) a proposed time-sharing plan between the public and Catholic school systems in Chicago through which pupils would attend classes in both school systems.

Copies of speeches given by Adams, mostly to local groups, on the topic of the school system, and the transcript of Adams' reappointment hearing (in May 1966) appear here and are useful for determining Adams' position on many of the issues which the board faced.

Miscellaneous material includes some reports from Booz, Allen and Hamilton about administratively reorganizing the Board of Education and the school system, some minutes and reports (Nov. 1964, Spring 1965, and Fall 1966) from the Research Council of the Great Cities for School Improvement of which Dr. Willis was president, and some publications by the state concerning education in Illinois. This series is arranged chronologically.

Series 2. Carson Pirie Scott and Company materials, 1932-1968 (Boxes 43-44)

Series 2 contains printed material on the history of Carson Pirie Scott and Company and one scrapbook. This series is arranged chronologically.