Samuel L. Smith

Samuel Leonard Smith was an American educator, academic administrator, lawyer, author, and architect. He was involved in the supervision and school design for Rosenwald Schools, particularly in the rural Southern states. He was also a provost emeritus for George Peabody College for Teachers.

Biography

Samuel Leonard Smith was born on October 10, 1875, in Humphreys County, Tennessee. He was educated in a one-room schoolhouse, and attended Pinewood Academy; the Waverly Training School; McEwen and Dickson Normal School.
He graduated from Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee, and earned a master's of art degree in rural school education from George Peabody College for Teachers. Smith also studied at the University of Chicago and at Harvard University.
Smith was a student of health education professor Fletcher B. Dresslar who conducted an important initial survey for Rosenwald Schools. In 1902, Smith passed the Tennessee state bar examination.
Smith was a rural school agent in Tennessee of the Rosenwald School program, then General Field Agent. From 1920 until 1938, he served as the director of the Southern Offices for the Julius Rosenwald Fund. Smith created a series of school plans, for one-teacher, one-room, two-room, and six-room and other sized schools, in various orientations suited for the weather and light of rural schools in the U.S. south. These designs were issued in a booklet entitled Community School Plans, which also included contractor specifications and other guidance.
In 1938, he worked as a director of public relations for the George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1946 he was promoted to provost where he remained for one year.
Smith died of a heart attack on September 9, 1956, in Nashville.

Numerous works associated with him survive and are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Works credited to him include :