Hi everyone, I have a collection of items from the late Charles Dison Koch. I'd like to sell it through eBay but I'd like to hear your thoughts and any advice you may have.
Dr. Koch was a pivotal figure in Pennsylvania’s education system in the early 20th century.
Dr. Charles Dison Koch was a Pennsylvanian educator, farmer, and author who co-authored The Weber-Koch-Moran series of arithmetic in 1925, with Katherine Ellen Moran Samuel Edwin Weber as well as an autobiography of another then-popular educator. This series became an important part of American education.
I inherited a box from my grandfather's estate, which he inherited from his father.
It contains photos, correspondence from many people, many pages of writing as well as rough drafts and research done on one of the
autobiographies that he had written, bills, rent receipts from 1908-1911, PA driver license from '31, '35, '42, '54, war rations, Military photos, a 1947 tax bill in an envelope marked 1917, and other stuff down to the well-used rubber stamp with his name on it. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
There are a lot of items in this collection, with over 440 images showing most, but not all of the items. These items span many lifetimes.
Everything from postcards to rough draft papers and research papers. When my grandfather passed away I discovered a box with all of these things that had been saved since the 1700s including a couple of hand-painted bibles that are really big and heavy with the largest
one dating to 1729. Among the collection of items was also a framed sampler that says "Anna Marie Bitner work Washington 1830" and a large framed charcoal portrait from
1836 in beautiful condition. Also found were pocket watches and some other miscellaneous items.
His Obituary from The Luminary October 14th, 1954 - Front page reads.
"Dr. Charles Dison Koch, one of the foremost educators in the state of Pennsylvania's long history and a native of the equally famous Muncy Hills, died Tues- day evening, Oct. 12, at the Muncy Valley hospital after an illness of several months. His age was 84.
Now retired, Dr. Koch had been an educator all his life, and during his long years of public service instituted many teaching ideas which still are used, wrote several great books on educational procedures, and brought fame to Muncy with his interesting accomplishments.
He served under five different state superintendents of education as their deputy, beginning in 1925. First was Dr. Nathaniel C. Schaeffer, about whom he just recently completed a biography which is considered a gem in educational circles.
Noted foremost for his revolutionary ideas about education. Dr. Koch was the first man to advocate junior high schools in the state, doing so at Philipsburg in 1915, when he was school principal there.
He was the first director of the Penn State University summer school, an idea he developed in 1910; and just prior to that he wrote the first course of study for Pennsylvania schools.
He was equally proud of his
teaching career which spanned a period from 1888, in Moreland township, to 1925, when he entered the state education service. He taught in Ontario, N. Y., in 1889, then in Muncy township, Tioga county, Curwensville, Philipsburg, Brooklyn, Old Muncy Normal, and Penn State. It was near his old homestead in the Muncy Hills that his brilliant career began, seven years after his birth on Sept. 7, 1870, at Clarkstown. He attended Moreland township
schools and graduated from Normal School in 1891.
Three years later he finished his preparatory training at Bucknell
Academy, and got his bachelor's degree from Bucknell in 1898. Bucknell also awarded his doctor's degree in Pedagogy
in 1918, and he later was to receive honorary degrees from Columbia University and Franklin and Marshall college.
While in Harrisburg in state work, he became associated with the University club and the Torch club, and also joined the Grace Methodist church, in which he always retained membership. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State
Education Association (of which another illustrious Muncy educator, E. P. Bertin, is now assistant executive secretary),
and also was a member of the National Education Association.
The Encyclopedia of Biography says this about Dr. Koch: "The record of his educational
activities covers a very wide range, and he is the author of a number of addresses and papers that reveal his breadth of
thought and progressive ideas on educational advance.
In the leading state and national organizations of his profession,
he enjoyed very high standing, and during his residence in Harrisburg he lent both his influence and cooperation to
the forward movements of the city." Author of many books and papers, he is cited as a "worthy exemplar of the 20th century
American educational methods, winning laurels in his sphere, in which he continues to achieve distinction."
Dr. Koch was married June 19, 1901 at Curwensville, to Fannie Bell Carlisle, and she predeceased him. Surviving are their one son, John, of Harrisburg; one grand- son; a brother, John, of Muncy; and two sisters, Mrs. Ross Mohr, of near Muncy, and Mrs. William
Dildine, of Dushore.
Funeral services will be conducted at 10 a.m. Friday at the Wallis funeral home, and further services will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at Harrisburg, with inter- ment in the nearby Paxtang cemetery. Friends may call at the Wallis funeral home Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m."
You can view a large collection of photos I've taken at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HBiEaVkFMjwsDCgk8
Thanks for reading!
