Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Beschrijvingsniveau
Collectie
Titel
Ruston Academy Records
Datum(s)
- 1928-2012 (Vervaardig)
Omvang
5 Boxes
Naam van de archiefvormer
Biografie
Opened in September 1920 in Havana by educator Hiram Ruston, The Ruston Academy was considered the premiere American school in Latin America. Originally focused on providing an English college-preparatory education for the children of American expatriates in Cuba, it quickly grew into a bilingual academy with a multinational student body. In the 1940s, Ruston expanded to include an elementary school, business preparatory program, basic English classes for Cuban students, and a boarding school, with enrollment measuring at roughly 750 students. In 1955 Ruston moved to a new, larger campus in Havana.
The school was founded by retired English teacher Hiram Hall Ruston and his sister Martha Ruston, of Princeton, Indiana. Mr. Ruston served as headmaster from 1920 to his death in 1946, after which James Baker took over the school's administration. James and his wife Sibyl inherited ownership of the school and converted it into an educational non-profit foundation.
Ruston Academy was closed down by the Castro government in 1961. Its former location was used as a public school, storage facility, homeless shelter, and military intelligence facility by the Cuban government.
The Ruston-Baker Educational Institution (RBEI) was founded in 1992 by James Baker and former members of the Ruston Academy Board of Directors, with the goal of reopening Ruston Academy following the collapse of the Castro government. The RBEI maintains a network of alumni located across the globe. Sibyl Baker died in 1993 and James Baker died in 2001. Their sons, Dennis and Chris, remain active in RBEI activities and organizing alumni reunions.
Content and structure elements
Bereik en inhoud
The Ruston Academy Records contain materials related to the Ruston Academy, a bilingual American school founded in Havana, Cuba, in 1920. It also contains the administrative files of the Ruston-Baker Educational Institution, Inc., a group of alumni and friends organized to plan for a possible re-opening of the school in a post-Revolutionary Cuba. Other materials include photographs, programs, directories and correspondence documenting the history of Ruston Academy alumni reunions held in the United States from 1975 to 2012.
The Ruston Academy records are arranged into three series. Series 1, Ruston Academy, contains ephemera, publications, correspondence and alumni directories; Series 2, Ruston-Baker Educational Institution, Inc. administrative files documents the administrative history of the organization with correspondence, meeting minutes and subject files related to RBEI, Inc. projects; and Series 3, James and Sibyl Baker papers, contain personal papers related to Ruston Academy directors, James and Sibyl Baker, including anniversary and memorial tributes and the manuscripts for James Baker's book on the history of Ruston Academy, Ruston: From Dreams to Reality (2007).
Ruston Academy yearbooks from 1940 to 1960, ephemera and photographs of the school and school functions, school publications, and photographs from alumni reunions have been digitized and are availabe via the University of Miami Digital Collections.
Ordeningstelsel
The Ruston Academy records are arranged into three series. Series 1, Ruston Academy; Series 2, Ruston-Baker Educational Institution, Inc. administrative files; Series 3, James and Sibyl Baker papers.
Conditions of access and use elements
Voorwaarden voor raadpleging
The collection is open for research.
Physical access
Technical access
Voorwaarden voor reproductie
Requests to publish or display materials from this collection require written permission from the rights owner. Please contact chc@miami.edu for more information.
Preferred citation: Ruston Academy Records, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida.
Languages of the material
- Engels
- Spaans
Scripts of the material
Taal en schrift aantekeningen
Toegangen
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Geschiedenis beheer
Chris Baker donated 1 box of materials, October 2012. Chris Baker donated 4 more boxes of the Ruston Academy and Ruston Academy Foundation/Ruston-Baker Educational Institution, Inc. records in March 2013.
Directe bron van verwerving
Gift of Chris Baker, President of Ruston-Baker Educational Institution, October 2012 and March 2013.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Aanvullingen
Related materials elements
Bestaan en verblifplaats van originelen
Bestaan en verblijfplaats van kopieën
Selected materials from this collection have been digitized.
https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/chc5293
Related archival materials
Baker, Sibyl Evans. In Gay Havana, operetta in three acts for mixed voices. Willis Music, 1942.
CHC5212 Luis J. Botifoll Oral History Project interview with Chris and Dennis Baker:
https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/chc5212/id/757
Alumni and former faculty of the Ruston Academy maintain a website that contains digital copies of yearbooks and a copy of James Baker's history of the school, Ruston: From Dreams to Reality, published by the Ruston-Baker Educational Institution in 2007.
Information about related materials is available at http://www.rustonacademy.net/
Related descriptions
Notes element
Algemene aantekening
Other Information:
Rights Statement:
The text of this webpage is available for modification and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Regels of conventies
Sources used
Aantekeningen van de archivaris
Collection level record added by Amanda Moreno, October, 2012. Fully processed by Natalie Baur, April 2013 with the assistance of Chris Baker, Dennis Baker, and Amanda Moreno. Container list and updated finding aid by Natalie Baur, April 2013. Biographical note by Fernando Espino, April 2013. Updated by Rebeca Gonzalez, May 2021.