The collection includes the organizational records of SAESG, including Correspondence; Lists of Members; Reports; and related materials including, Reports and Newspapers Clippings (copies), 1954, 1987, undated. The collection includes MASA Committee Materials and Correspondence, 1954, 1995, undated, and MASA general Correspondence, 1961, 1975, undated. Robert Hall’s Personal and Professional Correspondence, 1953, 1972, undated; Speeches, 1960, 1971, undated; and Biographical Information, 1971, 1995, undated, complete the collection.
Organizational History:
Robert Gray Hall was born in Thessolon (Ontario, Canada). He grew up in Mancelona, Michigan. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Mancelona. After graduating from high school, Hall attended Central Michigan Teacher’s College, now Central Michigan University (CMU), from which he graduated in 1941. At CMU he was a member of the YMCA, the Masquers, and the Alchymist Club. Hall later earned a M.A. in School Administration from the University of Arkansas (1951), and took advanced graduate courses at Michigan State University, 1951-1959.
Hall taught one year each at Comstock Park and Alba, Michigan, schools. In between, he served four years in the U.S. Army during World War II.
After teaching, Hall became a Michigan school administrator. He served as the high school principal in Kalkaska for three years, as a superintendent for three years at Fife Lake, five years at Cement City, one year at Almont, and eight years at St. Charles, Michigan.
Except for a one year break in 1960-1961, Hall served continuously as a member of the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA) since 1952. He was also active on the MASA Legislative Committee, Cost Quality Committee, and numerous other state and regional school finance study committees. From 1963 to 1971, Hall also served as a member of the MASA Board of Directors.
Hall was involved with the State Aid Equalization Study Group (SAESG) from 1953 to 1975. According to his letter of 1995 to then Clarke Archivist Craig Wright, the SAESG was more a concept title than organizational title. There were no defined membership lists or formal officers. When a particular effort was needed, to try to get more money for the public schools, Hall contacted known sympathetic superintendents and discussed courses of action. He issued reports and bulletins under the organization’s name as needed.
On September 23, 1975, Hall retired after a thirty-three year career in education.
Hall was married to Della, with whom he had a daughter, Vickie, and two sons, Hank, and Bobby, Jr. The couple lived in Fife Lake, Michigan, in 1995. (This information is from the collection.)
