Albert Shaw Collection of Martha Berry Schools Material

Dr. Albert Shaw (1857 – 1947) was an early-twentieth-century journalist and scholar, best known for his work as editor of the American Review of Reviews from 1890 through 1937. Dr. Shaw earned his PhD in history and political economy from Johns Hopkins University, and his entrance into the academic workforce dovetailed with the progressive movement in the United States. Using his education and position as editor for Review of Reviews, Dr. Shaw advocated for widespread reform of problems stemming from the American Industrial Revolution. In 1898, Dr. Shaw attended one of the early conferences on educational reform in the South at the Capon Springs Hotel in West Virginia as a guest of George Foster Peabody, which led to his involvement in the reform of public education in the South. It is likely that Dr. Shaw first became acquainted with Martha Berry through this involvement, as the group of men that would become the Southern Education Board often toured southern schools as part of the trip to the conference. Dr. Shaw became a member of The Berry Schools Board of Trustees in 1909 and served in this position until his death in 1947.

In the late 1890s, Martha Berry (1865-1942) began teaching an impromptu Sunday school class to some of the children near Rome, Georgia, after learning that they did not have knowledge of the most basic Bible stories. As the popularity of her classes increased, Ms. Berry’s improvised Sunday school expanded into several abandoned churches and a newly constructed building, all of which became a day school for children. In 1902 and 1909, she established the Boys' Industrial School (later known as the Martha Berry School for Boys) and the Martha Berry School for Girls, respectively, seeking to provide an education to children that were “academically able but economically poor.” (New Georgia Encyclopedia). These schools “became models for vocational, agricultural, and mechanical schools throughout the world because they showed how the needs of people in poor rural areas could be met,” (New Georgia Encyclopedia) and became the foundation for Berry College—a four-year liberal arts college in Mount Berry, Georgia.