About This Collection
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction was established under the Constitution of 1874. It replaced the Office of Superintendent of Common Schools, which had been created in 1857 to assume the duties relating to the administration of public schools originally lodged with the Secretary of the Commonwealth by the Free School Act of 1834. By 1876, the officials working under the Superintendent were commonly known as the Department of Public Instruction. The powers and duties of this Department were greatly increased in 1923 when the State Library and Museum, the State Board of Censors, the Public School Employees' Retirement Board, the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, and the various State professional examining boards were made administrative units of Public Instruction. In keeping with its responsibility for administering the State's educational policies, the Department of Public Instruction supervised the public school system, distributed State subsidies to school districts, administered teachers' colleges and vocational-education programs, issued licenses for certain professions, and operated the State Library. Several administrative units were eventually separated from the Department. In 1945 the Historical Commission, the Museum and the State Archives were merged to form an independent agency, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The State Board of Censors was abolished in 1956 when the act creating it was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court, and in 1963 the professional examining boards were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Department of State. In 1969 the name of the Department of Public Instruction was changed to the Department of Education. The Bureau of Statistics became the Bureau of Information Systems. This collection contains correspondence, arranged alphabetically by subject, received and sent by the Board of Censors chairman and members. Also included are a few legal briefs, press releases and movie reviews. The correspondence were received by or sent to Abraham Levy, Special Deputy Attorney General, citizens, clergy, motion picture companies, officials from Pennsylvania state government agencies, and officials from agencies in other states such as Ohio, New York and Maryland. Subjects included are the films "The Birth of a Baby" and "She Shoulda Said No"; censorship; news clippings; clergyman and women's clubs; television censorship; condemned motion pictures; complaints; and soviet films. Correspondence discuss the review of motion picture films by the board, revisions to make the movie appropriate for release, denial for release of the film, opinions from agency officials and other states regarding the film's content.
