Sidney Clarence Garrison

Sidney Clarence Garrison was born on October 17, 1885, in Lincolnton, North Carolina.[1][2] His father was Rufus J. Garrison and his mother, Susie Elizabeth Mooney.[2] He had a brother, Karl C. Garrison, who became a psychologist.[3]

Garrison was educated at the Salem School in Lincolnton and South Fork Institute in Marion.[2] He graduated from Wake Forest University in 1911, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree, and he went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in 1913.[1][2] During that time, he was also a schoolteacher and superintendent in Crouse, North Carolina, in the early 1910s.[2] Planning to study medicine,[1] Garrison enrolled at the Peabody College, where he changed his mind and received another master's degree in educational psychology in 1916 instead. During World War I, Garrison served as a captain in the United States Army.[1] He served in the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. and helped create the Alpha Intelligence Test.[2] After his service, he returned to Peabody College, where he received a PhD in Psychology in 1919.[3][1][2]

Garrison was professor of Educational Psychology at Peabody College from 1919 to 1934.[1][2][4] He served as Dean of the Graduate School from 1934 to 1938.[1][2][4] A few months after the 1937 death of President Bruce Ryburn Payne, Garrison was appointed President of Peabody College, serving from 1938 to 1945, in the midst of World War II.[1][2][4] During his tenure as president, he expanded the Departments of Business Education, Home Economics, and Music.[2] He helped establish the Joint University Library, which enabled faculty and students at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, and Scarritt Bennett to borrow books from either library.[2] Furthermore, he encouraged a closer collaboration between Peabody College and Vanderbilt University.[3][2]

Garrison published several books. His 1919 PhD thesis, Variation in Achievement and Ability within the Grades, was published in 1922. Additionally, he co-authored two books of psychology with his brother, Karl C. Garrison.[1] He also wrote spelling books with Bruce Ryburn Payne and Beatrice Irene Bryan.

Garrison was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[3] He was also a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Association of Psychology and Philosophy, and the American Educational Research Association.[1] Moreover, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Kappa, and Kappa Delta Pi.[1]

Garrison served on the boards of directors of the Guaranty Trust Company and the Nashville Trust Company. Additionally, he served on the board of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.[3]

Garrison served on the Tennessee State Board of Education, the Nashville Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Board of Trustees of Meharry Medical College, a historically black medical school in Nashville.[3] He served on the board of directors of the Southern Education Foundation, a non-profit organization which supports African-American education in the South.[1]

Garrison married Sara Elizabeth McMurry of Guthrie, Kentucky, on October 16, 1918.[1] They had four sons, Sidney Clarence Garrison Jr., William Louis Garrison, Frank McMurry Garrison, and Rufus James Garrison, and a daughter, Lucy Fuqua Garrison Crabb.[3]

Garrison was a Southern Baptist. He was a member of the Baptist Sunday School Board, and a deacon of the First Baptist Church of Nashville.[3]

Garrison died of a heart attack on January 18, 1945, in Nashville, Tennessee. His funeral took place in the Social-Religious Building of Peabody College, and he was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery.[2] On May 9, 1946, Horace Greeley Hill Jr. donated a portrait of Garrison painted by Max Westfield to Peabody College.[4] Several decades later, in 1979, Peabody College was acquired by Vanderbilt University. His portrait can be seen in the Wyatt Center on the Peabody campus of Vanderbilt University.[4]

• Garrison, S. C. (1922). Variation in Achievement and Ability within the Grades. Nashville, Tennessee: George Peabody College for Teachers. OCLC 1878946.
• Garrison, S. C.; Garrison, Karl C. (1929). The Psychology of Elementary School Subjects. Richmond, Virginia: Johnson Publishing Company. OCLC 1616526.
• Garrison, S. C.; Payne, Bruce Ryburn (1931). The Payne-Garrison Speller. New York: Chicago Rand, McNally & Co. OCLC 613009403.
• Garrison, S. C.; Bryan, Beatrice Irene (1932). A Language Speller for Junior High Schools. New York: Rand, McNally & Co. OCLC 679541904.
• Garrison, S. C.; Garrison, Karl C. (1936). Fundamentals of Psychology in Secondary Education. New York: Prentice-Hall. OCLC 764635.