Frank Pierrepont Graves

Frank P. Graves
3rd Commissioner of Education of the State of New York
In office 1921–1940
Preceded by	John H. Finley
Succeeded by	Ernest E. Cole
Personal details
Born	(1869-07-23)July 23, 1869 Brooklyn, New York
Died	September 13, 1956(1956-09-13) (aged 87) Albany, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Helen Hope Wadsworth ​ ​ (m. 1895; died 1943)​ Jessie Chase Malcolm
Alma mater	Columbia University
Profession	Educator
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Frank Pierrepont Graves (July 23, 1869 – September 13, 1956) was Commissioner of the New York State Education Department from 1921 to 1940. Prior to assuming the commissionership, Graves was a noted historian of education, college administrator, and author.

Early life and education

The New York State Department of Education building, Albany

Graves was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 23, 1869. He was educated in the Brooklyn Public schools, and attended Columbia University, earning an A.B. in 1889 and a Ph.D. in Greek in 1892. He gained membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Kappa, and Phi Beta Phi. In 1895, he married Helen Hope Wadsworth.

Academic career

Graves taught Greek at Columbia for two years and at Tufts College for five. He later became president of the State University of Wyoming for two years, and president of the University of Washington for five years. Both institutions quadrupled their enrollment during his tenure.

This experience heightened Dr. Graves' interest in the history of education; and so he returned to Columbia and earned another Doctorate, this time in Education. Graves went on to become professor of the History of Education at the University of Missouri, Ohio State University, and the University of Pennsylvania, over a period from 1904 to 1921. During this time he also taught at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Chicago, and at Columbia.

Commissioner in New York

Graves became Commissioner of the New York State Education Department in 1921, and held that post under six governors, for nearly two decades. Under his tenure, the state took major steps in rural school consolidation, an important, if often very controversial, endeavor. Graves is the longest-serving commissioner in the history of the department to date. During his tenure, Graves was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1927. After his retirement, he passed the bar exam in 1943. By the end of his career, Graves held 43 academic degrees. In 1937, Graves ruled that Rose Freistater was ineligible to be issued a teaching license for being overweight.

His wife Helen died in 1943, and he remarried to Jessie Chase Malcolm.

Graves died in Albany on September 13, 1956.

Selected publications

Low Memorial Library at Graves' alma mater, Columbia University

• Burial Customs of the Greeks, (Columbia University)
• A History of Education Before the Middle Ages, (MacMillan)
• A History of Education During the Middle Ages, (MacMillan)
• A History of Education in Modern Times, (MacMillan)
• Great Educators of Three Centuries, (MacMillan)
• Peter Ramus and the Educational Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century, (MacMillan)
• A Student's History of Education, (MacMillan)
• What Did Jesus Teach?, (MacMillan)

See also

• Educational Review

Further reading

• TOBIN, JAMES BERGIN. "FRANK PIERREPONT GRAVES, AMERICAN SCHOOLMAN, 1869-1956: A STUDY OF THE SOCIAL IDEAS FOR EDUCATION CONTAINED IN THE PUBLISHED ADDRESSES AND PAPERS OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, STATE OF NEW YORK, 1921-1940" (PhD dissertation, New York University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1967. 6806187).