Henry D. Sheldon was one of the Northwest’s foremost educators during the first half of this century, helping to build Oregon’s public high school system, the school of education at the University of Oregon and the university itself.
Sheldon came to Oregon at a time when education as a curriculum was just beginning to emerge from a group of courses that included psychology, philosophy, and pedagogy (teaching). He was a pioneer in child psychology and educational inquiry. Sheldon’s attempts to broaden the professional education curriculum, and raise the standards of teacher education form a major theme of his earlier letters.
Dr. Sheldon immediately understood that improved teacher training in Oregon was a useless effort unless the condition of secondary schools underwent a concurrent major improvement.