Kidess, Attallah A. (MS 528)

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Dr. Attallah Alexander “Ted” Kidess was born in Jerusalem, Palestine on December 25, 1910. Before coming to United States, he earned degrees from American University in Cairo and Queens College in Oxford. At Springfield College, he earned a Master’s Degree (1935) and a Doctor of Physical Education Degree (1958). Kidess went back to Jerusalem to serve at the director of physical education at the Jerusalem YMCA from 1937 to 1947. He returned to Springfield College as a faculty member in 1947 and was named Foreign Student Advisor in 1955. In 1965, Kidess was appointed Director of the newly established International Center at Springfield College, a position he held until he retired in 1978. Quite the athlete, Kidess was the Palestine Soccer team captain in the 1936 Olympics and the coach of the men’s varsity tennis team at Springfield College. He passed away on May 26, 1999.

The Attallah A. Kidess Papers contains, newspaper articles, news releases, correspondence, postcards, notes, magazines, printed materials, photographs, audio tape, records, DVDs, and manuscripts both published and unpublished. Within the materials are many biographical documents that speak of his life, newspaper articles and new releases that describe events in Kidess’s career and life and/or International students and events on campus from 1940 mostly through the early ‘70s, photographs of Kidess, International students and visitors, and a number of unpublished manuscripts written by Kidess, including two copies of his doctoral dissertation, “A study of the work and contributions of Dr. James Huff McCurdy to physical education.”