
Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Trustees of school section #72, Lower East Chezzetcook fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
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Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
4 folders of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
In 1864 the Government of Nova Scotia introduced a new Education Act, which established Nova Scotia's "free" school system, meaning that public schools would no longer charge tuition or attendance fees to students, but would be supported by compulsory local assessment and provincial government grants. Jurisdictions of Nova Scotia’s regional Boards of School Commissioners were laid out and confirmed. These jurisdictions, known as “school districts”, were largely based on county boundaries. The districts were then divided into school sections. Each section was responsible for establishing and maintaining its own school, with a board of trustees elected to oversee its operation. The board of trustees was the smallest unit of school administration, below district boards of school commissioners and the provincial government’s Council of Public Instruction and Superintendent of Education. Annual meetings of the school section’s ratepayers were held to elect trustees who would serve for a period of three years. The elected trustees were responsible for holding all school property, employing and maintaining teachers, making regular visits to the school, maintaining school facilities and equipment, calling regular meetings of the school section’s ratepayers, filing returns with the divisional inspector, arranging for the conveyance of pupils, and later, enforcing the Public Health Act.
The school in Lower East Chezzetcook was located near Christ Church at Conrod Road and likely built between 1867 and 1869 as costs associated with raising the schoolhouse were paid in 1868 and costs for a teacher and school supplies were first paid in 1869. The first school secretary may have been Joseph Ferguson, possibly Joseph John A. Ferguson, of Lower East Chezzetcook who was an Anglican farmer and fisherman, died June 13, 1906 and is buried at Christ Church cemetery.
Custodial history
The four account and secretary books from Lower East Chezzetcook School were found in the home of Murielle (Conrod) Stevens in Lower East Chezzetcook. It is probable that her father’s family were among the Conrods who served as school trustees. The records were donated to the Eastern Shore Archives by Linda C. MacPhee of Lower East Chezzetcook, November 19, 2009.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of records from Lower East Chezzetcook School, specifically secretary and account books documenting the assessments and expenditures of the school including teachers’ salaries and the initial construction of the schoolhouse.
Notes area
Physical condition
Some torn and loose pages and one book has a missing cover.
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
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Associated materials
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
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Control area
Sources
Stevens, Robert Kim (2002). Eastern Shore families: Genealogical notes on Porter’s
Lake, Middle Porter’s Lake, East Chezzetcook, Lower East Chezzetcook, West
Chezzetcook, Head of Chezzetcook, Conrod Settlement, Gaetz Brook. Lake
Charlotte: Maritime Imprints