Cornelia Storrs Adair (November 9, 1884–April 14, 1962) was an educator and the first classroom teacher elected to serve as president (1927–1928) of the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college st ...

Early life and education

Adair was born in

Red Sulphur Springs, West Virginia Red Sulphur Springs is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Monroe County, West Virginia, Monroe County, West Virginia, United States. It once boasted the Red Sulphur Springs Hotel. Red Sulphur Springs is located on West Virginia Ro ...

, the daughter of Lewis Cass Adair and Rebecca Sidney Taylor Adair. Adair graduated from Richmond (Virginia) High School. For 15 years beginning in 1904 she taught at Elba, Nicholson, Robert Fulton, and Bellevue elementary schools. She enrolled in the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

in 1921 and graduated with an A.B. degree in 1923. She was later awarded a doctor of pedagogy from the New York State Teachers College.

Career

Adair taught at Bainbridge Junior High School, and then moved to Franklin Elementary School as their principal in 1931. Outside the classroom Adair served on a variety of state and national educational organizations. including leading the committee on teacher retirement of the Virginia Education Association. In 1925 she was a delegate to the first biennial conference of the World Federation of Education Associations in Edinburgh, Scotland. Adair was the head of the teacher's association in Richmond, served as chair of the education program at the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

, and started volunteering in the National Education Association first at the state level. CorneliaStorrsAdair1926

In 1927, Adair was named president of the National Education Association, thereby becoming the first classroom teacher to be named president. She took a leave of absence from her teaching duties in the year she was serving as president. Adair also served as the lead for the federal government's

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

Emergency Education Program in Richmond, Virginia. She retired in 1954, and she died on April 14, 1962.

Honors and awards

The College of William and Mary awarded her their Alumni Medallion in 1934, making her the first woman to receive this honor; in 1963 they further honored Adair by naming the gymnasium the Cornelia Storrs Adair Gymnasium.

References

External links

Cornelia Storrs Adair Papers
William and Mary Special Collections Research Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Adair, Cornelia Storrs 1884 births 1962 deaths College of William & Mary alumni Educators from West Virginia People from Monroe County, West Virginia 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators University at Albany, SUNY alumni