University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1982 Thomas Bulfinch, The gea of fable, and the continuity of the classics in American education. Marie Sally Cleary University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Cleary, Marie Sally, "Thomas Bulfinch, Theg a e of fable, and the continuity of the classics in American education." (1982). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 3779. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/3779 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THOMAS BULFINCH, THE AGE OF FABLE , AND THE CONTINUITY OF THE CLASSICS IN AMERICAN EDUCATION A Dissertation Presented By MARIE CLEARY Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September 1982 School of Education Marie Cleary 1982 All Rights Reserved THOMAS BULFINCH, THE AGE OF FABLE , AND THE CONTINUITY OF THE CLASSICS IN AMERICAN EDUCATION A Dissertation Presented By MARIE CLEARY Approved as to style and content by: Professor Richard 0. Ulin, Chairperson of Committee Professor William G. Kornegay, Member / L-t^\ II' ^IA Professor Elizabeth Lyding>' Will , Member Dr. Mario D. Fantini, Dean School of Education DEDICATION In loving memory of Mary Gertrude Sullivan, who taught me about teaching, and much else besides. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks are due to several people and groups who have played a significant part in the development of this dissertation. Among these are the officials or trustees, and staff members, of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library; Special Collections, the Library, Bowdoin College; Harvard University Library and Archives; the Massachu- setts Historical Society; and the University Library, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In the course of my work Peter Drummey, Assis- tant Librarian, Massachusetts Historical Society, became a valued asso- ciate, as did Marjorie Karlson, Head, Reference Department, and Richard Morrill, Education Reference Librarian, of the University Library, Uni- versity of Massachusetts, Amherst. Headmaster Michael Contompasis of the Boston Latin School provided useful information as did Edouard L. Desrochers, Periodicals and Archives Librarian, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Helen Mazareas, Librarian, New England Merchants National Bank, and I thank all of them for their help. For the generosity of Charles Bul- finch of Yarmouth, Maine, in giving me access to the family documents in his collection, and for his hospitality and that of his wife Lorraine, I am deeply grateful. The underlying subject of this dissertation is the role of the teacher, and the members of the last group I will mention here are peo- ple who by working in that role give a luster to the title. I thank Professor Philip Eddy of the University of Massachusetts for his never- ending store of Deweyan knowledge. Professor Harold Kirker of the Uni- V versity of California, Santa Barbara, for helping me to locate Charles Bulfinch, Professor Meyer Reinhold of Boston University for his unique insights into the American classical tradition, and Professor Seymour Sarason of Yale University for his view on how to approach psychological aspects of this study. I have benefited greatly from the wide sweep of academic concentrations which the members of my dissertation committee represent, and am grateful for all they have shared with me. I par- ticularly thank Professor Richard Ulin, my chairperson, for his sustain- ing conviction of the interrelatedness of the humanities and education. Professor William Kornegay for his helpful guidance in historical mat- ters, Professor Elizabeth Will for her advanced views of the contempo- rary role of the Classics, and Professor Judithe Speidel for her keen sense of how best to transform the results of research into a readable work. I thank, last but not least, another teacher worthy of the name, my husband Professor Vincent Cleary of the University of Massachusetts, for the constancy of his personal support throughout this endeavor. Marie Cleary University of Massachusetts Amherst VI ABSTRACT THOMAS BULFINCH, THE AGE OF FABLE . AND THE CONTINUITY OF THE CLASSICS IN AMERICAN EDUCATION September, 1982 Marie Cleary, B.A., Emmanuel College M.A., Boston College, Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Richard 0. Ulin Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867) provided in his book The Age of Fable (1855) a model for curricular experimentation in Classical Studies. Such experimentation is also needed today, in order to assure the con- tinued use of the ancient Classics as educational resources. In The Age of Fable Bulfinch combined classical mythology with con- temporary allusions to myths. The book, a best seller, also became a standard manual in American schools. Bulfinch was able to effectively combine the old with the new for instructional purposes, because he was learned in his subject matter, knowledgeable about the concerns of his contemporaries, and interested in pedagogy. He was also a devotee of science and invention, and a believer in a favorite cause of his day, the democratization of knowledge. Thus, The Age of Fable may appropri- ately be called a curricular invention for democratizing Classical Stud- ies. Bulfinch intuitively anticipated two pedagogical concepts of John Dewey (1859-1952): "indirect interest" and the laboratory teacher. The concept of "indirect interest" explains the process through which learn- connections ers are guided to see in seemingly remote subject matter the to their own interests. A laboratory teacher is an intermediary who experimentally puts into operation with a particular branch of subject matter the principles of educational theory such as "indirect interest." Using Bui finch as a model of the laboratory teacher and The Age of Fable as an example of curriculum based on "indirect interest," I rec- ommend that a new role, Classical Studies Specialist, be an option in the field of Classics, that those working in such a role invent and try out new curriculum linking Classical Studies to contemporary interests, and that a center be established to coordinate these activities. Because of the lasting success of his work and its value as a peda- gogical model, Bulfinch deserves to be widely recognized as having been an innovative teacher of a traditional subject matter. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Chapter I. INTRODUCTION Thomas Bui finch's Contribution to Education 1 Curricular Experimentation in Classical Studies 5 The Age of Fable : An Example of Curricular Experimentation Relating Classics to Other Subject Matter 15 Bui finch's Process in Light of Dewey's Philosophy of Education 21 Summary 26 II. BULFINCH AND THE AGE OF FABLE 34 Democratization of Learning in Bui finch's Era 34 Bui finch's Scheme for Spreading Knowledge of Classical Mythology 39 The Age of Fable 51 Recognition of The Age of Fable as Pedagogical 56 Summary 61 III. ASPECTS OF BULFINCH 'S BIOGRAPHY 67 Bui finch As Family Man and Businessman 68 Bui finch As Humanist 77 Bui finch As Teacher 85 Bui finch As a Devotee of Science and Invention 93 Bui finch As His Friends Saw Him 97 Summary 103 IV. TWO DEWEYAN CONCEPTS WHICH BULFINCH ANTICIPATED 113 Dewey's Concept of "Indirect Interest" 118 Dewey's Concept of the Laboratory Teacher 134 Summary 147 V. BULFINCH AS A MODEL IN CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION 154 The Role of Classical Studies Specialist 155 The Classical Studies Specialist: Qualifications .... 161 Examples of Experimental Outreach and Curriculum .... 166 A Center for Curricular Experimentation 173 Recommendations for Further Research 174 Conclusion 1^^ IX SOURCES CONSULTED 179 APPENDIX 192 X CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Climbing the slope of Bell wort Path in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, one catches sight of an urn high on a pedestal. Its ancient Mediterranean shape and classical decorations contrast with its signi- ficance in American intellectual history. The urn marks the grave of Charles Bulfinch, the architect, and his family, including his son Thomas, the author of The Age of Fable . Before it was placed on the grave site in about 1858, the urn had stood for over sixty years in the middle of a park on Franklin Place in Boston. Charles Bulfinch had it set there in 1795 as a memorial to Benjamin Franklin for whom Franklin Place was named and who had died five years earlier.^ On the Bulfinch grave the urn once dedicated to Franklin is an apt symbol of the in- ventive genius of the architect and the author, both of whom, in the spirit of Franklin, used their imaginations for the common good. Of the two, the father is more widely known. Yet the son's achievement deserves renown. In The Age of Fable Thomas Bulfinch made an important contribution to education, which, like the urn, contains a modern mean- ing within a classical form. Thomas Bui finch's Contribution to Education in 1855, is educa- Thomas Bulfinch's The Age of Fable , published tionally important for two reasons, one historical and the other cur- ricular.^ Viewed historically, Bulfinch is significant because educa- 1 2 tors hav6 considered The Age of Fable a standard manual of mythology for over one hundred years. From a curricular standpoint, Bulfinch's process for selecting and presenting traditional subject matter in a new societal situation makes him a model for teachers of the humanities. There is no doubt that Bulfinch's purpose in writing The Age of Fable was primarily educational. For example, he says in the Preface, "Thus we hope to teach mythology ... to impart knowledge of an important 3 branch of education." Yet in spite of Americans' widespread acceptance of Bulfinch's book as a dependable reference, he himself has gone unnoticed.