THE MCGUFFEY READERS by Kaylie Elizabeth Schunk
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ABSTRACT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CHILD?: THE MCGUFFEY READERS by Kaylie Elizabeth Schunk This essay and exhibit examines the shifting notion of childhood in the American West during the Progressive Era, from 1890 to 1920, by evaluating the power and limitations of The McGuffey Readers in forging American childhood. Responding to Viviana Zelizer’s work on children’s social worth, the exhibit places this change into historical context by using The Readers to examine visual representations of children, youth death rates, toys and literature, education, and child labor. Set at the McGuffey House and Museum, the exhibit enables the target audiences (the museum’s docents, homeschooling families, and a general audience) to interact with objects that evoke memory and identity. This project takes a scholarly argument and translates it into a public, visual medium. Evoking a somber but hopeful mood in a partially radial floor plan, patrons reflect on their childhood by reading labels that allow artifacts to speak and facilitate an individualized experience. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CHILD?: THE MCGUFFEY READERS A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Kaylie Elizabeth Schunk Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2019 Advisor: Dr. Andrew Offenburger Reader: Dr. Helen Sheumaker Reader: Dr. Elena Albarrán ©2019 Kaylie Elizabeth Schunk This Thesis titled WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CHILD?: THE MCGUFFEY READERS by Kaylie Elizabeth Schunk has been approved for publication by The College of Arts and Science and Department of History ____________________________________________________ Dr. Andrew Offenburger ______________________________________________________ Dr. Helen Sheumaker _______________________________________________________ Dr. Elena Albarrán Table of Contents Title………………………………………………………………………………………………...i Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………....iii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………….…..iv Note on Terminology and Periodization…………..………………………………………...….....v Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 Historiography ................................................................................................................................ 6 The Significance of the Exhibit .................................................................................................... 14 Museum Methodology .................................................................................................................. 15 Creating an Exhibit: A Reflection on the Process ........................................................................ 20 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 25 References .................................................................................................................................... 28 Appendix A: Exhibit Photographs ................................................................................................ 30 iii Acknowledgements Thank you to Miami University’s History Department for their support throughout my academic career. The Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts combined program was new and not yet explored. I appreciate the faculty’s guidance throughout the process. I would like to thank Dr. Elena Albarrán for her assistance as I learned a new historiography. I appreciated your book lists, kind words, and helpfulness during such a short time. The history of childhood will continue to fascinate me in the future and that is thanks to you. To Dr. Helen Sheumaker, you have been a lifesaver as I took the plunge to change my project to an exhibit. You helped me to learn the technical skills that were necessary to make my vision a reality. While our independent study was extremely helpful, your encouragement and understanding throughout this process was crucial to my success. I cannot express my thanks enough to Dr. Andrew Offenburger, my advisor and mentor. Since sophomore year, you have helped me to reach my potential as a scholar and individual. Your help has been invaluable, and I appreciate your support, especially when I decided to not pursue a thesis. Your dedication to student success is extraordinary. I would like to thank my family, friends, and Dr. Charlotte Goldy. To those who read drafts, carried my exhibit’s artifacts, and supported me throughout this process, I am truly grateful. Dr. Charlotte Goldy, a friend and mentor, I thank you for always having your office open, always being a phone call away, and for never letting me lose sight of myself during this process. Finally, I dedicate this project to Stephen Gordon, my mentor and the Administrator at The McGuffey House and Museum. Steve, you are the best boss I have ever had because you did not simply manage me; you inspired me. You took my interests and used the history of William Holmes McGuffey and The McGuffey Readers as an opportunity for me to grow and explore new opportunities as a scholar, public historian, and young professional. I will never forget the quiet afternoons we spent talking on the McGuffey porch. iv Note on Terminology and Periodization This study examines the shift in the conception of childhood between 1836 and the midtwentieth century in the American West. In doing so, I focus on the first period, from 1836 to 1880, which saw the rise of The McGuffey Readers and will be called “the McGuffey Era” or “the age of frontier schooling.” The second period, from 1890 to 1920, will be referred to as the “Progressive Era.” While my study does touch on ideas that expand to the mid-twentieth century, their genesis is in the Progressive era. v Introduction “The Honest Boy and the Thief” Charles was an honest boy, but his neighbor, Jack Pilfer, was a thief. Charles would never take anything for his own which did not belong to him; but Jack would take whatever he could get, and when he found any thing that was lost, he would never restore it to the owner… The orange [peddler]…put the bridle into Charles’ hand, and went into the house to eat his breakfast…As soon as Jack found there were oranges in the baskets, he was determined to have one, and going up to the basket, he slipped in his hand and took out one of the largest, and was making off with it… But Charles said, Jack, you shall not steal these oranges while I have the care of them… [Jack] stepped too near the [orange cart’s] horse’s heels, he received a violent kick, which sent him sprawling to the ground…Jack was rightly served; and the orange [merchant], taking Charles’ hat, filled it with oranges, as he said he had been so faithful in guarding them, he should have all of these for his honesty.1 -McGuffey’s Eclectic Second Reader This story, “The Honest Boy and the Thief,” is a classic example of the stories that Professor William Holmes McGuffey included in his textbooks, The McGuffey Readers. McGuffey was a Latin, Greek, and ethics professor at Miami University from 1826 to 1836, and he composed children’s textbooks called The McGuffey Readers. McGuffey’s emphasis on honesty is demonstrated by this story, as Charles was rewarded for his honesty while Jack was punished for his thievery and deception. Charles and Jack are presented in a binary relationship—truth versus deceit. Honesty prevails, and deception receives its just punishment. Framed in this idealized vision of morality, McGuffey promoted Christian ethics like honesty through short vignettes strewn throughout the textbooks. Charles is symbolic of the type of American citizen that McGuffey envisioned occupying the American frontier, or the regions of the Old Northwest Territory, during the nineteenth century.2 McGuffey found honesty so important that it is the most prevalent virtue throughout the works—surviving multiple editions and editors.3 The professor published the first four textbooks in Oxford, Ohio, in response to the inflow of immigrants to the region to provide what he deemed as proper pronunciation and a standardized set of moral standards associated with this newly formed vision of American citizenship in the American frontier. McGuffey had humble roots, but he and his brother, Alexander McGuffey, felt a strong compulsion to provide a standard form of public education that was accessible, one that could assimilate all residents of the American West into a unified culture centered in language pronunciation and a Protestant moral code. McGuffey’s educational ambitions are not surprising since he has been characterized as a natural teacher and scholar from childhood. Folklore amplified McGuffey’s early talents in education. In an early example, his mother once prayed for 1 Harvey Minnich, William Holmes McGuffey and his Readers (Cincinnati: American Book Company, 1936), 12- 13. 2 John H. Westerhoff III, McGuffey and His Readers: Piety, Morality, and Education in Nineteenth-Century America (Milford: Mott Media, 1982), 167. 3 Westerhoff III, 75. 1 God to bless her son with the opportunity to pursue higher learning.2 While an interesting and unverifiable tale, historians have confirmed young William’s educational ambitions and struggles; he worked for his tuition at Reverend Hughes’ Old Stone Academy in Darlington, Pennsylvania and copied “Hebrew text by hand” because he could not afford the textbook while attending Washington College, Pennsylvania.5 Years later, McGuffey was appointed