Edward Conradi was born February 20, 1869 in the small village of New Bremen, Ohio. His parents, Charles F. Conradi and wife Gertrude (Breutsch) Conradi, owned a family farm. From the time he was old enough to attend school in New Bremen, Edward divided his time between the work on the farm and his school work.

After completing elementary school, Edward attended high school in New Bremen. After his freshman year, he worked for a neighboring farmer for three years to support his secondary school work. At the age of nineteen he was offered a position as teacher in a county school. He participated in the work of the church where he sang in the choir, and helped form a community orchestra.

Because of his strong interest in obtaining a college education, he saved enough money to enter Indiana University in the fall of 1893. He completed his required courses and received the A.B. degree in 1897. After graduating, he borrowed money with which to continue his work at this institution. In 1898, he was awarded the M.A. degree.

In 1898, he also married Miss Augusta D.E. Grothaus. Dr. Conradi's family included two daughters, Elizabeth (Mrs. J. Lunsford Boone) and Louise ("Liepe," Mrs. Ernest W. Ekermeyer). That year, the couple moved to Carlisle, Indiana, where he served until 1902 as superintendent of schools. Upon the recommendation of two of his professors at Indiana, he was awarded a fellowship at Clark University.

Influenced by Dr. Granley Stanley Hall, a pioneer in American psychology, and by other scholars in this field who instructed Conradi at Clark University, he was awarded the Ph. D. degree in 1904. His doctoral thesis was "Psychology and Pathology of Language Development in the Child." Against the advice of many of his friends, who thought his opportunities for advancement were better in the North, he accepted in 1905, on the recommendation of Dr. Hall, the principalship of the Normal and Industrial School of St. Petersburg, Florida. It was also in that same year that the Buckman Act established the present system of higher education in Florida.

In 1909, Dr. A.A. Murphree, President of the Florida State College for Women (FSCW), appointed Dr. Conradi as Dean. In that same year, Dr. Murphree became President of the University of Florida, succeeding President Andrew Sledd. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Conradi was named President of Florida State College for Women.

From 1909 until his retirement as President on October 1, 1941, Dr. Conradi had many noted accomplishments. Shortly after he took office, he helped raise educational standards at FSCW. By 1915 he had succeeded in developing a program that was recognized by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and he also taught the first Experimental Psychology course. Each year of his administration, he added personnel and equipment to the growing institution.

The collection also documents Conradi's struggles with the Florida Purity League in the late 1920s. Aided by several deacons from Tallahassee's First Baptist Church, L.A. Tatum, an elder in that church, mounted a campaign against evolution, which dovetailed into the religious fundamentalist movement that took place during that time. Tatum created and headed the Florida Purity League, dedicated to ridding all state libraries of objectionable publications and all state schools of "dangerous teachers." In August 1927, Tatum requested that FSCW and the University of Florida remove such works as Freud's General Introduction to Psychology and H.G. Wells's Outline of History. Conradi and University of Florida President A.A. Murphree refused to remove the books completely, but agreed to restrict their use to faculty members and certain students. The Florida Board of Control and the Board of Education formally approved the presidents' actions and endorsed their positions.

After his retirement, Dr. Conradi was given the title of President Emeritus by the Florida Board of Control. He remained in contact with the campus and continued to participate in all of its activities. In June 1942, Indiana University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. After a brief illness, Dr. Conradi passed away at his home in Tallahassee on December 1, 1944.

Dr. Conradi's contributions as an educator resulted not only in his name being given to a Florida State University biology building but also to the College of Arts and Sciences' first Endowed Chair in the Psychology Department in 1991.