The Powrie family papers have been divided into three series: Emerson F. Powrie papers; Gwendolyn Sutton Powrie papers; and Visual Materials.
The Emerson F. Powrie's papers represent the bulk of the collection. The collection follows Powrie's career as an educator and Ann Arbor Public Schools Principal, and reflects on challenges and developments that took place in Ann Arbor Public Schools system in 1950s-early 1970s. Materials shed light on process of racial desegregation in schools among students as well as faculty; important demographic, social and economic changes in the area, and their effect on the student body, (i.e., school enrollment, racial and socio-economic composition of classes, etc.). Topics of teachers' education and training, and religion in public schools are prominent in correspondence.
The Gwendolyn Sutton Powrie's papers include her writings and research materials on the subject of teaching the hearing-impaired children.
Emerson F. Powrie's career with the Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) began in 1945, when he was hired to teach Social Studies and coach football at Slauson Jr. High School. At the same time he became active in a statewide initiative for drivers' education and in 1947 became the first AAPS driving instructor. In 1948 he directed the drivers' education program at the Ann Arbor High School. In 1950 Powrie became Principal of Jones School. He spent the 1956/1957 academic year at the Burns Park Elementary School. In Fall 1957 he became the Wines School Principal. During his tenure at Wines, Powrie served as chair of the Jones School Reassignment Committee, charged with devising plans to implement a Board decision to close Jones School because of de facto segregation. In the early 1960s, Wines was one of about 20 schools in a six-state region participating in the experimental project, the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instructions (MPATI), bringing televised lessons to Ann Arbor public schools for the first time. Powrie transferred to Dicken School in 1969 where he served as a Principal until the 1970/1971 academic year. In 1972 he transferred to the Central Administration and subsequently became Deputy Superintendent for Administration. Powrie was active in the Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor; and was member of the Ann Arbor Principals Association, and Michigan Association of Elementary Schools Principals. Emerson F. Powrie died in 1977.
Gwendolyn Sutton Powrie taught at both the Michigan School for the Deaf (ca. 1934-1940) and the Rackham School at Michigan State Normal College (ca. 1950-1953). While in this last position, she also earned a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan School of Education (1953). She later taught at Tappan Jr. high School in Ann Arbor, Mich. Gwendolyn Sutton Powrie died in 1972.
