ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGES Gerald W. Smith discusses his work in Illinois education and Illinois community colleges: Moline High School and Moline Community College 1946-53; Elmwood Park Community High School district 1953-60; Executive Director of the Illinois Association of School Administrators at the Illinois Education Association in Springfield 1960-66; the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Junior College Act of 1965; Executive Secretary of the Illinois Junior College Board from its founding in 1965 to 1970. Also discusses establishment of a state system of junior colleges: reorganization of existing junior college districts and creation of new districts; problem areas and failures; interim and permanent buildings and campuses; programs and curricula. Also recalls growing up in Arlington and Zearing, Illinois; family, schools, and German immigrants; education at Knox College; teaching in the towns of Media and Alexis; and military service during WWII.

26 tapes, 1560 mins., 4 vols., 488 pp. Interview by G. Ernst Giesecke, 1976 OPEN See collateral file: interviewer's notes, correspondence, and Illinois Junior Community College Development 1946-1980 by Gerald W. Smith.