My role in Janice’s story began with newspaper clippings and the discovery of Mark Wilborn, Janice’s classmate (pictured with Janice and Genee Parr in the 1960 News-Review story.) After creating a Newspapers.com subscription, I began collecting any and all newspaper clippings I could find in Oregon and across the country about our story’s main characters.
Janice Boyle herself saved me plenty of leg work with her own compilation of familial research, and as I read through articles written in Roseburg that sparked stories in Salem, Portland, New York and Moscow, I realized that Roseburg was only the tip of the iceberg (or the tip of the towering Douglas fir).
I learned that Riverside Elementary School Classroom 15 had inspired an editorial in the New Jersey Courier News titled “Pink Pens,” which highlighted the public’s concern about government interference and propaganda in what was becoming a national dialogue. As I read through stories in local newspapers and publications across the country, my excitement grew about the impact that Mr. McFetridge’s class exerted on 1960s America.
The experience of Janice and her classmates eventually made its way to newspapers in Russia. The results were the absolute opposite of what the United States government wanted: the Eisenhower administration’s actions led to an amplified focus on Classroom 15’s pen pal efforts, and ultimately helped them achieve at least a part of their dream (even if the schoolchildren did not know it at the time).
The news coverage led to Soviet children writing letters to Mr. McFetridge’s class. As I reflect on this experience, I welcome the reminder that forever will ring true: the power is the people.
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March 21, 2021 at 08:00PM
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UO students dig into the archives to unearth forgotten story of Classroom 15 - NRToday.com
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