Collection inventory

Special Collections home page

Junius Woods Stevens Papers

An inventory of his papers at the Syracuse University Archives


Finding aid created by: Steffi Chappell
Date: 2014

Biography

Junius Woods Stevens

Junius Woods Stevens was born on April 27, 1873 in Camden, New York. He grew up in Central New York and eventually moved to Syracuse, where he graduated from high school in 1890. Stevens enrolled at Syracuse University in 1891 and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in English in 1895. While a student at Syracuse, Stevens was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and the honorary society Phi Beta Kappa. He also served as the editor-in-chief of the University Herald in 1893 and was designated as class poet for his freshmen year.

In 1893, while still a student at Syracuse University, Stevens wrote a song that would eventually become the school’s alma mater. Members of the University’s Glee Club asked him to write an original song about Syracuse which they could perform at an upcoming city concert. In a letter written to a Syracuse University staff member in 1939, Stevens described how an evening walk across campus inspired his lyrics. He wrote, “I had often noticed how the setting sun lighted up the walls of Crouse College long after dusk has fallen over the city and the valley. As I walked through the empty streets the words of a song took shape in my mind.” Stevens originally titled his composition the “Syracuse University Song” and wrote the lyrics to the tune of “Annie Lisle,” a popular Irish melody to which many other universities also set their alma maters.

The Glee Club first performed the song on March 15, 1893 at the Wieting Opera House as part of a city concert, and its lyrics struck a chord with Syracuse students. According to Stevens’ letter, many of the male students “used to gather each morning outside the door of the old chapel on the third floor of the Hall of Languages” to sing the song. Throughout the 1890s other songs were submitted to the University as possible alma maters, but Stevens’ composition was the most popular with students and alumni alike, and eventually it received the distinction of being named the school’s official alma mater.

After graduating from Syracuse University in 1895, Stevens began teaching at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania. He taught rhetoric, Latin, and physiology and wrote the curriculum for the school’s first English course. Two years into his employment at Wyoming Seminary Stevens married Fannie Sarah Ford, on June 22, 1897. The couple eventually had two children, Helen Ford and Ford Woods.

In 1909 Stevens left Wyoming Seminary to teach in the public school district of Newark, New Jersey. He began teaching English at Barringer High School and at the same time worked towards obtaining his master’s degree in English from Columbia University, which he received in 1912. From Barringer, Stevens transferred to South Side High School where he worked as Head Assistant of the English Department, and in 1921 he returned to Barringer, where he would stay until retirement. Eventually Stevens was named the head of Barringer’s English Department. For the district’s centennial celebration in 1938 he wrote and directed the play Cavalcade of Newark High, which told the story of how education in Newark had evolved over the previous one hundred years.

Stevens had a great impact on the English curriculum in Newark. In 1937 he was named chairman of a committee tasked with rewriting and developing an English course for all secondary schools in Newark. The committee worked on this project for two years, and in 1939 it released its curriculum, which was deemed an overwhelming success. Stevens retired in 1944 after forty-nine years of teaching.

Junius Stevens died in March 1947.

Scope and Content Note

The Junius Woods Stevens Papers contain materials dating from 1831 to 1947, but the bulk of the materials date from 1890 to 1945. The papers document all facets of Stevens’ life, personal and professional. A number of items in the collection pertain to his education and include work he produced in grade school, various diplomas, and a number of materials from his time as an undergraduate student at Syracuse University, including the original copy of the Syracuse University Alma Mater. Materials from Stevens’ teaching career include items from schools where he taught, such as yearbooks and records of special projects and committees he worked on. The collection also contains published and unpublished examples of Stevens’ writing, a small folder of correspondence, photographs, printed materials, and a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings and writings.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

For preservation and security reasons, the original Syracuse University Alma Mater, written by Junius Woods Stevens, is housed separately from the Stevens Papers. A facsimile is provided in the papers, and a digital image is provided in the inventory below. Researchers who wish to view the original must first obtain permission from the University Archivist.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from the Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

In addition to these papers, the Syracuse University Archives also holds a clippings file and a portrait file on Junius Woods Stevens.

Selected Search Terms

Names

Stevens, Junius W. (Junius Woods), 1873-1947.
Syracuse University -- Alumni and alumnae.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.

Subjects

Alma maters (Songs)
Higher education.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Junius Woods Stevens Papers,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

The original copy of the Syracuse Alma Mater was donated to the Archives by Ford Stevens in 1987, and the rest of the materials in the Junius Woods Stevens Papers were donated by Jim and Woodie Stevens in 2014.

Processing Information

The materials have been processed and placed in acid-free folders and boxes.

Arrangement

The items are arranged in alphabetical order.

Table of Contents

Papers

Inventory