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Title
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Sue Spayth Riley oral history interview, 2005 September 13
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Interviewee
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Riley, Sue Spayth, 1920-2006
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Interviewer
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Wright, Christina
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Place of Publication
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Charlotte, North Carolina
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Publisher
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J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
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Date of Interview
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2005-09-13
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Physical Description
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11 audio file (1:03:26) : digital, MP3
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Object Type
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sound recording-nonmusical
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Genre
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spoken word
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Language
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eng
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Interviewee Biography
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Sue Spayth Riley was an 85-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Houston, Texas in 1920. She was educated at Black Mountain College, Goddard College, and University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and was employed as a preschool teacher, an early childhood educator, and a consultant.
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Abstract
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Sue Spayth Riley describes her experiences as the founder and director of Charlotte's first integrated and open preschool, the Open Door School. Ms. Riley attributes her decision to establish the Open Door School to a combination of influences, including her parents' pedagogical beliefs and her own educational experiences at the Modern School in Stelton, New Jersey and at Black Mountain College. Ms. Riley discusses the close affiliation of the Open Door School with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte, and describes the differences between Open Door and other church affiliated preschools. Ms. Riley defines open education as being "child centered," and stresses the importance of integration for fulfilling the open school mission. She discusses her role as a spokesperson for the "People for Open Education" and explains her part in the establishment of Irwin Avenue Open Elementary. The interview closes with a conversation about the current education system and the decline of open education in the United States and in Charlotte.
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Digital Object Notes
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MP3 access copy created on ingest from WAV preservation master file. Interview originally recorded on minidisc and digitized using Digidesign 003 rack.
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Interviewee Occupations
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Consultants
Preschool teachers
Early childhood educators
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Subjects--Names
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Riley, Sue Spayth, 1920-2006
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Subjects--Organizations
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Modern School (Stelton, N.J.)
Central Piedmont Community College (Charlotte, N.C.)
Unitarian Church of Charlotte (Charlotte, N.C.)
Open Door School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Irwin Avenue Elementary School (Charlotte, N.C.)
West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Project Head Start (U.S.)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
People for Open Education
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Subjects--Topics
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Unitarian Universalist churches--Education
Open plan schools
Education, Preschool--Curricula
Preschool teachers
School integration
Progressive education--Philosophy
Teacher-student relationships
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Subjects--Geographic
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North Carolina--Charlotte
New Jersey--Stelton
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Subjects--Genre
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Interviews
Oral histories
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Coverage--Dates
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1960-2010
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Digital Collection Title
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Open schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg
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Digital Project Title
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Living Charlotte : the postwar development of a New South city
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Rights
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The materials included on this web site are freely available for private study, scholarship or non-commercial research under the fair use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, United States Code). Any use beyond the provisions of fair use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication, broadcast, redistribution or mounting on another web site always require prior written permission and may also be subject to additional restrictions and fees. UNC Charlotte does not hold literary rights to all materials in its collections and the researcher is responsible for securing those rights when needed. Copyright information for specific collections is available upon request.
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Grant Information
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Digitization made possible by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.
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Internet Media Type
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audio/mpeg
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Related Materials
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Irwin Avenue Open School records, J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Charlotte (https://findingaids.uncc.edu/repositories/4/resources/287)
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Identifier
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OH-RI0363