Teachers College Faculty and Emeriti Collections

Patty Smith Hill (27 March 1868 in Anchorage, Kentucky-25 May 1946 in New York, New York) was an American nursery school, kindergarten teacher, and key founder of the National Association Nursery Education (NANE), which now exists as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). She is perhaps most well known as the sister of Mildred J. Hill, with whom she is credited as co-writing the tune to the song “Good Morning to All,” which became popular as “Happy Birthday to You.”  Hill was appointed a full-time faculty position at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1906, where she established an experimental playroom at the Speyer School. During this time, she developed the Patty Smith Hill blocks, which allowed children to cooperatively play and learn.  She oversaw the Kindergarten Department at Teachers College, formulating new curricula for the Horace Mann Kindergarten. She became the head of the Department of Kindergarten Education in 1922 and in 1924, she helped create the Institute of Child Welfare Research at Teachers College.

Patty Smith Hill's Papers consist of typed manuscripts of articles authored by Hill or her associates, transcripts of interviews with Hill, and speeches given by Hill at educational conferences. The materials date from 1925 to 1929, and focus on Patty Smith Hill's kindergarten work, documenting her perspectives on early childhood education.

The Patty Smith Hill Papers have been digitized and are available in the Teachers College Digital Collections.

Collections Held by Teachers College
 

• Educational Manuscripts, Group 1
• James Earl Russell Papers, Series 4: Correspondence with the Faculty
• William F. Russell Papers (Please note that not all correspondence between Russell and Patty Smith Hill has been digitized)

Collections outside of Teachers College

• Records related to Patty Smith Hill at Columbia University's Archives
• Patty Smith Hill: papers, 1878-1942 at the Filson Historical Society
• Hill, Patty Smith (1868-1946) Additional Papers, 1897-1962 at the Filson Historical Society

See also the Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC) list of archival resources for Patty Smith Hill. 

This is a collection of materials relating to Patty Smith Hill, by various authors. The items in the collection were previously cataloged in the library as Manuscripts (MS) 101-106. They were probably acquired by the library close to their date of creation. The accession number assigned reflects the date on which this collection was determined to best be included into Record Group 28 (Faculty Papers). The items were formerly listed as MG (Manuscript Group) 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and later as MG 20 collectively.

The accession number for the Patty Smith Hill Papers 850917.