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Creator
Wadleigh High School Alumni Association
Call number
Sc Photo Wadleigh High School collection
Physical description
0.67 linear feet (2 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Wadleigh High School photographs, Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library
Repository
Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The Wadleigh High School photographs depict the students, teachers, and alumni of the New York City school. Originally an all-girls school, it reopened in 1956 as a co-educational school to a majority Black student body after white flight from Harlem. The photographs document the growth of Harlem as a Black community and youth fashion from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Biographical/historical information

This Biographical note was originally written by Janice Quinter in February 2008, with some edits by Emily P. Dunne in 2024.

Wadleigh High School opened in 1897 as a high school for girls, its current landmark site was established in Harlem in 1902. Beginning in the 1920s, Wadleigh High School began to accept Black students and hire Black faculty. By 1945, the student body was predominantly Black and by 1948, all the students were Black.

Reflecting the general shift in learning, Wadleigh was converted to a co-educational junior high school in 1954. The school underwent some renovation and reopened in 1956 as Wadleigh Junior High School 88.

Scope and arrangement

The Wadleigh High School photographs date from 1938 through 2008. Photographs depict Wadleigh High School, its students, teachers, and staff. Most photographs were taken when the school's students and staff were predominately Black. There are some photographs of the school from the 1930s, when it was called the Wadleigh High School for Girls, and the student body was predominately white.

Photographs are arranged chronologically, with the largest representation of the school in the 1960s and 1980s. The photographs of the school in the 1960s are of student and faculty events and often have written identification on the back of photographs.

Materials from the 1980s are primarily photographs that were used in the publication of the 1984 yearbook. These images are individual portraits of the students and more candid moments in the classroom.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of the Wadleigh High School Archives Committee, 2004-2008.

Processing information

Processed by Emily P. Dunnein 2024.

Separated material

Photographs transferred from the Wadleigh High School collection in Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, Schomburg Center. Separated in 2008.

Using the collection

Location

Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Photographs and Prints Division Reading Room