Butte County
Biographies
ELMER I. MILLER, A. M., Ph. D.
ELMER I. MILLER, A. M. Ph. D.—One of
the most prominent educators of the Golden State, whose exceptional efficiency
in matters educational has been a potent factor in the advancement of the standards
of the Chico State Normal School, is Doctor Elmer I. Miller, the honored
vice-president of this institution and for a time acting president. He is a
native of Troy, Ohio, and a
descendant of an old Virginia
family. His early life was spent on the farm and his early education was
received in the public and high school of his community, after which he entered
the National Normal
University, at Lebanon, Ohio,
and later the Ohio Normal
University at Ada,
Ohio. From the latter institution he was
graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1890; and three years later he received
the master’s degree, from his alma mater. In the interim he gained experience
in teaching, having been engaged as a professor of science at the Abingdon
Normal College,
at Abingdon, Ill.,
where later he occupied the chair of psychology and pedagogy. In 1893 he
resigned his position and migrated to San Diego,
Cal., where he was
engaged for one year in teaching. He then entered Stanford
University, from which institution
in 1896 he received the degree of A. B., on completion of courses of study in
the department of history. The next year he received the degree of Master of
Arts from the same institution.
Thereafter, for one year he was teacher of history at Palo
Alto High School
then succeeded to the principalship of that institution. In 1898 he accepted the professorship of
history and political science at the Chico State Normal; for twenty years he
has been vice-president of this modern and progressive educational institution.
The
Chico State Normal graduated its first class in 1891. Since then it has trained and set to work in
the schools of California nearly
eighteen hundred graduates. One of the
significant factors in the development of teachers by this up-to-date school,
and one that makes for efficiency in the young teacher’s initial engagement, is
the fact that every student is tested by actual experience in the class room,
both as a teacher of children and in the management of classes in general. The Normal School has as an adjunct the
Training School, with an attendance of four hundred fifty children.
Professor
Miller continued his studies and research at the summer sessions of the University
of California. However, desiring a still further study, he
was granted a leave of absence in 1903-1904, during which time he attended Columbia
University, New York City. After completing his special course he
received his degree of Ph. D. from that university in 1907.
Doctor
Elmer I. Miller was united in marriage with June Clevenger, a native of Ohio. Mrs. Miller is a graduate of Lebanon Normal,
the University of Minnesota
and the University of California,
from which latter institution she received her degree of A. M. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of two
children: Holmes Clevenger; and Esther.
Professor
Miller has been greatly interested in civic matters that pertain particularly
to state and county, especially the latter.
He was a member of the City Board of Freeholders that framed a charter
for the city of Chico, as well as a member of the County
Board of Freeholders that framed the present
charter of Butte County. He has always been active and prominent in
all movements that have as their aim the upbuilding and improving of the city
of Chico. Mr. Miller has been a liberal contributor to
educational and scientific publications, and is the author of “Legislature of
Colonial Virginia; Its Internal Development.”
He is a member of the California State Teachers’ Association and is
ex-president of the Northern California Teachers’ Association, and also holds
membership in the National Educational Association and American Historical
Association, as well as the American Academy
of Political and Social Science. To all
that pertains to the upbuilding and advancement of the educational interests of
his community, and of the state in general, he is keenly alive.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 574-575, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Sande Beach.
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