This 32 page hand-made book was created by by Elizabeth Dougherty in 1938. The Twins contains a dozen vignettes centered on the idealized life of twins “Mary” and “Bob” who live in a house with their parents and new pet dog. In terms of spirit and introduction of basic vocabulary, this booklet is patterned after the Elson-Gray Reader series that included “Dick and Jane" stories in the 1930's before they became separate primers. Each of the 12 chapters contains a hand drawn, ink and colored pencil illustrations depicting their house, dog, car, etc. The tan cover features a drawing of a tiny dog.
An inscription on the title page indicates that Dougherty was awarded an “A” for creating this original work while attending the Wheelock School. This school assignment was most likely created for a class at Wheelock College of Boston, Massachusetts. The school was founded in 1888 by Lucy Wheelock as Miss Wheelock's Kindergarten Training School. The college offered undergraduate and graduate programs focusing on the liberal arts, education, and social work to fulfill its mission of improving the lives of children and families. The college merged with Boston University’s School of Education in June 2018 and was renamed Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.
The Society of Friends (or Quakers) set forth the principles of their faith and an historical summary of their founding in this book. It also contains guidelines for the conduct and frequency of church business meetings and educational principles. It was adopted by the Society at their Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1927.
This copy was used as a reference by the donor, Dr. Richard Lodish, who was headmaster of the Sidwell Friends Lower School, a Quaker institution. The previous owner was a William R. Gawthorp, Jr. whose name was written on the inside front cover page on July 17, 1940.
The Walter Jenkins publishing house was based in Philadelphia.
The translation of Kurzgefasste Geographie fur Deutsche Schulen is A Brief Geography for German Schools. It was written in 1864 exclusively for students attending German language schools in North America. The majority of the text is devoted to topographical features of the North American continent, with a section for each of the 50 states. It also includes short, descriptive chapters on each continent. The cover is illustrated with a drawing of Atlas holding up the world.
It should be noted that St. Louis, Missouri, where it was published, had a very large German immigrant community and numerous bilingual German-English schools during the 19th Century. Author Bernard Neumann (1828-1901) was born in Bavaria and immigrated to what is now the city of St. Louis with his family. He taught in the local common or public schools.
This 28 page booklet is a compendium of the Connecticut state statutes in force relative to the common or public schools and the establishment of new schools. The text was assembled as a result of a resolution by the Connecticut general assembly in May 1843 and authorized by the state’s Secretary of State. This 1843 version was published 10 years after the “Black Law” was passed in Canterbury, Connecticut which made it illegal for Prudence Crandall’s school to teach African American students from states other than Connecticut. Several students were from nearby Rhode Island. While the law was repealed in 1838, Crandall’s school was closed for student safety after being vandalized in September 1834. This 1843 list of Connecticut school legislation was followed by a later 1866 version.
Noah A. Phelps (1788-1872) was a New Haven, Connecticut lawyer, judge, and member of the Connecticut State Legislature. While serving as the Secretary of State during the 1840s, he compiled this compendium of Connecticut statutes.
J. Gaylord Wells was a Hartford-based printing company active in the mid-19th Century.
This 19th Century spelling book contains short reading selections on a variety of topics, accompanied by spelling exercises of key vocabulary words. Black and white illustrations appear at the beginning of each section, and there is an animal depicted for each letter of the alphabet. The front cover is illustrated with a border of flowers and ribbons. The back cover contains an illustration of a male schoolteacher with a class of five young pupils. This 128 page book is a revised version of the 1838 text.
The American Sunday-School Union had as its mission the promotion of Sunday schools and early literacy and the spiritual development of children. It was a significant publisher and provider of books and periodicals for children and played a role in shaping the direction of 19th Century children's literature in America. It was formed in 1817 as the Sunday and Adult School Union but officially changed its name to American Sunday School Union in 1824 with an official founding in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The literature published by the Union primarily focused on non-fiction topics such as history and biography, along with poetry, hymns, and didactic teachings. Many authors and artists contributed their efforts at no cost. The Union in turn provided their literature at cost or, when possible, for free. Eventually, it began to produce “libraries” of books that could be purchased at a reduced rate by schools. The American Sunday-School Union continued to publish until 1960. In 1974, it became the American Missionary Fellowship, an organization that remains active today under the name of InFaith, a name it acquired in September 2011.
Alice’s Alphabet is a richly illustrated booklet designed to instruct young readers in the alphabet. Each letter is followed by a rhyming stanza of about five lines. The references are made primarily to animals and children’s names. The animals and children described in each stanza are portrayed in detailed, colored illustrations. The front and back covers feature illustrations of children learning their ABCs through the use of building blocks and/or a reader. Both the cover and pages are made of heavy stock, linen-quality paper.
Author Fannie E. Ostrander was prolific author and editor of children’s story books. She graduated from Wisconsin State Normal School and also studied under private tutors. In addition to teaching in public schools, Ostrander contributed verse and prose to magazines. In 1899, Ostrander went to work as an editor and writer for Chicago publishing house W.B. Conkey. Ostrander died in May 1921 in New Haven, Connecticut.
The W. B. Conkey Company was formed in Chicago in 1877. It later built a plant in 1897 at 617 Conkey Street, Hammond, Indiana. At the time, it was one of the most modern, largest, and best equipped printing plants in the world. Conkey won the coveted commission to print the Official Directory of the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. The firm also published the very first Sears Roebuck catalog in 1898. After the original owner and president died in 1923, his son Henry P. Conkey took over controlling interest of the company. Numerous types of catalogs and books were printed at the plant, including textbooks, biographies, encyclopedias, fiction, and Bibles. The publishing house was sold to Rand McNally in 1949.
Lessons on Manners for School and Home Use is a detailed guidebook on proper behavior for children to follow at school, in the home, and in public places. It contains 12 lessons designed as suggestions for teachers. Each contains a short summary of popular principles from the 1880s that can be written on the blackboard. A school label in front of the book indicates this book was used in Detroit, MI.
Author and educator Edith E. Wiggin was born in New York in 1846. Her celebrated book Lessons on Manners for School and Home Use was originally published in 1884 and is still in print. Wiggin also published “Vacation Song” in the Journal of Education, Vol. 49, Issue 24, (June 1, 1899).
Lee & Shepard was a leading publishing and bookselling firm in Boston, Massachusetts, established by William Lee (1826-1906) and Charles Augustus Billings Shepard (1829-1889). Lee & Shepard bought the Boston-based Lothrop Publishing Company in August 1904 and renamed it Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. This firm was eventually acquired by William Morrow and Company, which was subsequently acquired by HarperCollins in 1999. Lothrop shut down its children's division soon after the acquisition. Lothrop continues to be an imprint of HarperCollins.
Rollo’s Tour in Europe: Rollo In Switzerland is the third novel in a series of 10 travel adventures designed to entertain and instruct. The main character, Rollo, is a twelve-year old boy who accompanies his family on an extended holiday to Switzerland. Other titles in the series appear to follow the “Grand Tour” theme for upper class young men’s travel in the 17th and 18th Centuries and include excursions to Paris, Holland, and Rome. This 221 page volume contains black and white engravings of detailed Swiss scenery and sights. The inside cover page features a handwritten inscription indicating that the book was a prize awarded in 1864 to a student at Great Falls High School (likely in Massachusetts) for excellence in Latin grammar.
Jacob Abbott (1803-1879) was a prominent educator, author, and advocate of equal education for women. He graduated from Bowdoin College, Maine in 1829 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1824. He was a professor of mathematics and philosophy at Amherst College. In 1830, Abbott founded the Mount Vernon School for young women in Boston, with the aim of giving women an education equal to that of men. In 1834, he became pastor of the Eliot Congregational Church of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and began to write books for young people. He wrote over 200 volumes, some of which were republished in Western Europe. Among his popular works were The Young Christian Series and the Rollo Books.
The Boston publishing house of Frederick A. Brown and B.W. Taggard was succeeded by the firm of Brown, Taggard, and Chase in 1860. In 1863, the name was changed to Taggard and Thompson.
Butler’s Elementary Geography is a textbook from Butler’s Geographical Series. This is a richly illustrated review of all the continents, with an emphasis on North America and the United States. It contains a special section in the back with relief and political maps of Pennsylvania. The book was designed for use in the public schools of Reading, Pennsylvania, according to the label on the inside front cover.
Jacques Wardlaw Redway was an early American geographer and author of text books. He emigrated from Tennessee to the American West and worked in mining and engineering from 1870-1881. He studied chemistry at the University of California, where he became an instructor. Redway traveled widely in South America, Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa and conducted extensive geographical research. In 1898, he became a lecturer on geography and the political economy at the University of the State of New York. In addition to Butler’s Elementary Geography (1888), he authored other books including A Commercial Geography (1902) and Stories in New York History (1903).
E.H. Butler & Company was a successful publishing firm based in Philadelphia. It was founded in 1846 by Elijah Hunt Butler. Upon his death in 1868, the firm was managed by his son, Edgar Hunt Butler. In 1898, there was a merger of E.H. Butler & Company and E.B. Sheldon & Company, resulting in the formation of the publishing house of Butler, Sheldon & Company. This firm was acquired by the American Book Company in 1903.
Sherman & Co. was a Philadelphia printer established in 1855 as C. Sherman, Son & Co. In 1865, the name was changed to Sherman & Co.
The Common School Question Book and Review was a collection of questions and answers designed for use by candidates preparing for state and local teacher’s examinations, as well as students. Subjects covered include reading, arithmetic, penmanship, geography, and grammar.
Issac Hinton Brown was an early American educator and author with expertise in reading and elocution. He was born in Fayette County, Ohio on August 17, 1842. Brown authored and compiled several important works used by both candidates preparing for teachers’ examinations and students. In addition to the Common School Question Book and Review, he created Brown’s Standard Elocution and Speaker.
F.A. Owen Publishing Company was a pioneering publishing house that raised standards of the teaching profession. Frederick Augustus Owen was born on March 22, 1867 near South Dansville, New York. He was educated at the Rogersville Seminary. In 1889, he started a correspondence school for teachers, the Empire States Teachers Class (later renamed the American Correspondence Normal). At that time, it was still a common practice for teachers to assume their new profession straight out of high school, with no education in such things as child psychology and teaching methods.
In 1891, Owen introduced a magazine, Normal Instructor. It was intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas and methods of teaching children of elementary school age. Owen moved the business from South Dansville to Dansville in 1892. The Instructor Publishing Company was later renamed the F.A. Owen Publishing Company. For most of the 20th Century, F. A. Owen’s company was one of Dansville’s largest industries. In addition, Owen served as vice-president of the Worden Brothers Manufacturing Company, and as president of the Dansville Board of Trade. Owen died on July 18, 1935 in Geneseo, NY.
Dame Curtsey’s Book of Games for Children is a “how-to” collection of indoor and outdoor games for children aged 3 – 15. It was designed as a guide for teachers and parents for use in a variety of occasions, from classroom to birthday parties.
Ellye Howell Glover (1868-1933) was an editor of children’s books designed for upper middle class families in the early 20th Century. These guides were meant to impart proper etiquette, entertaining, and cookery skills to the “aspiring classes”. Titles in the series include "Dame Curtsey's" Book of Games for Children and "Dame Curtsey's" Book of Etiquette.
A.C. McClurg & Co. was one of oldest and largest book stores/publishing houses in the United States. It traces its origins to Chicago’s oldest book and stationery store which was founded in 1844. Alexander Caldwell McClurg (1834-1901) went to work for the company, then known as S. C. Griggs, in 1859. McClurg resumed working for Griggs after returning from the Civil War with the rank of General. When the store was completely destroyed in the great Chicago Fire of 1871, Griggs decided to sell his share of the company to E. L. Jansen, A. C. McClurg and F. B. Smith.
Jansen, McClurg & Co. was established in 1872. By 1880, McClurg’s ranked as one of the country’s largest book distributors and publishers. In 1886, the company changed its name to A.C. McClurg & Co. When the firm’s premises were destroyed by fire in 1899, General McClurg decided to reorganize as a corporation with shares sold to employees. In 1914, the firm began publishing the Tarzan of the Apes series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1923, A. C. McClurg chose to focus its entire efforts on its wholesale business and sold its bookstore to Brentano’s. The remainder of the company was liquidated in 1962.
Essentials of Teaching Reading is a comprehensive manual on the theories, mechanics, and methods of teaching reading. It also contains selections from British and American literary giants, as well as speeches from Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. There are handwritten poems on the inside cover pages. It’s interesting to note that the Morse Code for each letter of the alphabet was written on the back inside cover.
Co-author Eugene Buren. Sherman (1872-1963) was a prominent educator. He became the Superintendent of Schools in Columbus, Nebraska in 1901 and later served on the Nebraska State Board of Examiners for Education. Sherman went on to become the Mayor of Boise, Idaho in 1921.
Co-author Albert A. Reed (1866-1947) was an innovative educator and teacher. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.A. (1898) and an M.A. (1912). After teaching in the public schools, Reed served as Superintendent of Schools in Superior, Nebraska from 1903-1907. He also served as a professor of secondary education at the University of Nebraska from 1908-1943. Reed introduced three courses that were unique to a state university at the time: adult-elementary work, high school correspondence work, and a program for disabled children.
The University Publishing Co. was a prominent publishing house from the last quarter of the 19th Century through the first quarter of the 20th Century. It specialized in children’s textbooks on reading, arithmetic, geography, and Latin grammar. Ezra D. Barker (1824-1903) was the President and General Manager of the University Publishing Company for 30 years. It was based in New York City, with offices in Chicago and Baltimore.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a seminal American literary work that was included in a series known as “The Reader’s Library.” In the words of the editor: “The series contains romances and stories of adventure, poetry and essays, biography and travel, philosophy and science, for the entertainment and instruction of old and young.” The burgundy front cover has stamped gold ornamental motifs and a medieval shield that invokes Gothic architecture. The book would have been displayed in a parlor as well as read, which accounts of the decorative cover similar to that on the first editions of the novel. On the inside front cover is a handwritten inscription: “To the girls, Mrs. Patterson Jan. 22, 1924.”
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Lucas Lexow was the editor of a famous series of abridged classics published for children by J.H. Sears and Company called “The Reader’s Library.” Joseph H. Sears (1865-1946) founded his original publishing company in New York City in 1922. The firm was reincorporated as J.H. Sears Publishing Company in 1929. Sears was purchased by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1934, which continued in business until 1990.
The McGuffey Readers were a series of language arts textbooks that included a primer, a speller, and readers for grade levels 1-6, each successively building on the student's skills. They were widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th Century to the early to mid-20th Century, extremely popular in multi-age rural schools. While they reached their peak about 1925 with more than 122 million copies, they are still used today in some private schools and in homeschooling. William Holmes McGuffey(1800-1873), the trailblazing American educator, was the author/editor of the first 5 books of the series beginning with the primer, and the 1st and 2nd readers in 1836, and the 3rd and 4th reader in 1837 all published originally by Truman and Smith publishers along with the original speller. His brother Alexander Hamilton McGuffey (1816-1896) created the speller in 1846, the 5th reader in 1844, and the 6th reader in 1857. The series was revised in 1857 and later in 1879.
McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader - Revised Edition (1920) is a secularized continuation and extension of the First Reader, published in 1879. New words are introduced at the beginning of each lesson. There are 71 lessons, each of which contains a short selection in prose or poetry. Lessons are generally moral in tone and feature an artistic black and white illustration designed to explain and embellish the text. The multi-colored front cover includes a foliage design within a rectangle. There is also a depiction of an ancient sailing vessel. The back cover repeats the foliage design and includes an image of a cat. This reader is 160 pages in length.
William Holmes McGuffey was an American educator and clergyman known for his series of elementary school readers, known as the “McGuffey Readers.” He was taught in an Ohio country school and began teaching in rural Ohio schools and tutoring at the age of 14. His family encouraged a love of learning, so he expanded in own education at church schools, Greersburg Academy in Darlington, Pa and eventually graduating Washington College, Pa in 1826. While on the faculty of Miami University, Ohio, as a teacher of philosophy and classical languages, he assisted teachers at local elementary schools and established a small school for neighborhood children. He was encouraged by his friends Harriet Beecher Stowe and her husband Calvin Ellis Stowe, and developed the curriculum for the “McGuffey Readers.” He became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1829, and the original versions of the readers incorporated Calvinist values and principles, morality driven tales, excerpts from great books, phonics, controlled vocabularies, woodcut illustrations, and exercises. He also became involved in the common school movement. In his later years he taught at the University of Virginia. While William Holmes McGuffey is identified most frequently as the creator of the Eclectic McGuffey Readers, he worked closely with his brother on the series, and Alexander Hamilton McGuffey created the final three books in the series.
In May 1890, the American Book Company purchased all the copyrights and plates formerly owned by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. including those for the McGuffey Reader Series. ABC was based in New York City and specialized in elementary school, secondary school and collegiate-level textbooks. The company was absorbed into D. C. Heath in 1981. Any remaining K-12 assets of the American Book Company were acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 1995.
Greenleaf’s New Primary Arithmetic, Embracing Mental and Written Exercises, For Beginners is designed to introduce analytical reasoning and the fundamentals of arithmetic to primary school students. Each lesson plan is centered on everyday objects and activities and incorporates related illustrations. The book has 104 pages. The green front cover depicts a 19th Century schoolboy reclining in a meadow while practicing his arithmetic lessons. The pastoral scene includes a house and church steeple in the background. The rear cover lists the names of other texts in the Greenleaf’s Series. The inside front cover page contains a handwritten inscription by the owner: “Grace M. Hackett,/ Shurborough,/ Vermont,/ 1889.”
Benjamin Greenleaf (1786-1864) was a prominent American educator and author. He graduated from Dartmouth with an M.A. in 1813. He served as the Preceptor of Bradford Academy in Vermont. Greenleaf was a celebrated writer of early mathematics textbooks. He also served in the Massachusetts state legislature from 1837-1839.
Leech, Shewell and Sanborn, based in Boston, was a distinguished 19th Century publisher of textbooks, atlases, and literary works.
Barteau’s New and Improved Sunday-School Secretary’s Record is an 1877 record book with entries for students’ names and class numbers. It was designed for teachers to take attendance and keep track of assignments and grades. This ledger has entries up to page 68 and then is blank until page 152; entries continue on page 197. The cover is a mottled black and white pattern.
H.D. Barteau was an active member of the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Nelson & Phillips, based in New York City, was a publisher of books on church history, Christianity, and missionary journeys, as well as hymnals and record books. These materials were widely used in Sunday Schools during the latter part of the 19th Century.
Go Bob’s Little Reader is a mid-19th Century compilation of readings which emphasizes selections from American authors, both in prose and poetry. The editor’s goal was to correct the perceived imbalance in widely used readers of the time which emphasized British authors.
Lyman Cobb (1800-1864) was an influential author and editor of children’s readers and other textbooks. He attended the local public schools in Massachusetts and became a teacher upon graduation. After moving to New York City, he devoted himself to editing and publishing textbooks, chiefly in spelling, reading, and arithmetic. His widely used works included Go Bob’s Little Reader and Cobb’s Spelling Book. Besides children’s textbooks, he published The Evil Tendencies of Corporal Punishment in 1847. His arguments were adopted by leaders of the reform movement in American public schools.
The Children’s Primer is a reader for the primary grades and a forerunner to the “Dick and Jane” and similar easy reader series. Each chapter is illustrated with drawings of children playing at home or in a natural setting. The front cover contains an intricate, puzzle-like pattern, with a large scallop shell and a seaside scene.
Author Ellen M. Cyr (1860-1920) taught in the Holmes Primary School in the township of Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was a prolific author of a series of children’s readers for the elementary grades.
Edwin Ginn founded the publishing company Ginn Brothers in the City of Boston in 1867. The firm was reorganized under the name Ginn & Company in 1885 and became particularly known for its school texts. In 1895, the company built a new publishing factory, the Athenaeum Press, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ginn & Company continued to be a successful publisher of educational texts for 70 years.
This comprehensive textbook was part of the Gray’s Botanical series of 10 items. It is an introduction to the plants, shrubs, herbs, and trees of the United States. This revised edition was adapted for use as a handbook for field study. The 1887 Preface notes this is a revision of an earlier work (Civil War period) and was designed for “competent teachers” who are incorporating the topic into their lectures. Apparently, the book inspired its young owner because the inside front cover page contains two handwritten stanzas from an Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem extolling the beauty of trees and flowers.
The American Book Company was an educational book publisher formed in 1890 and based in New York City that specialized in elementary school, secondary school and collegiate-level textbooks. The company was absorbed into D. C. Heath in 1981. Any remaining K-12 assets of the American Book Company were acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 1995.
Closing Exercises For the Grades is designed to assist teachers tasked with developing and conducting commencement exercises for grammar schools. It contains inspirational poems, stories, short plays, and activities. There are some black and white illustrations of children in various dress and costumes. The front cover is illustrated with two large flowers. Both the front and back cover pages, and the back cover itself, contain lists of recommended patriotic songs, play, and exercises.
Harriette Wilbur was an editor and author of teachers’ guides for children. In addition to Closing Exercises For the Grades, she compiled and/or created other works to entertain and inspire a love of reading in children. These include Bird Gossip and A Dream of Mother Goose and other Entertainments. She also published original stories in The Youth’s Companion (1920), a family-oriented Reader’s Digest type magazine designed to appeal to the middle class and noted for their sponsorship of the creation of the Pledge of Allegiance as well as promoting a “flag over every schoolhouse” and images of patriotic figures in classrooms.
March Brothers publishing house was established in Lebanon, Ohio and was active in the Midwest. It specializing in teacher’s exercise books and educational materials.
