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Proquest Dissertations UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Creating Young Citizens: Education in the Borderlands of Alberta and Montana: 1895-1914 by Susan Kwiatkowski A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2009 © SUSAN KWIATKOWSKI 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de ("edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54406-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54406-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduce, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondares ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada iii Abstract This thesis compares rural education in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Alberta and Montana in an effort to define how Canadian and American identities were created. It employs the dual concept of social and political borderlands to explore national differences and similarities as both the province and state sought to educate diverse children to be good citizens. Governments on both sides of the forty-ninth parallel created organizational and attendance regulations, mandated curricula, and implemented supervisory roles. Experiences at the grassroots level indicated that settlers created schools before governments established a presence in rural areas. The rural schoolhouses on both sides of the national border were a meeting-ground for children, one where they learned social differences based on ethnicity, gender, and age. Memoirs indicated that the education children received attempted to create citizens by imposing strong discipline, developing a respect for authority, and by making the schoolhouse a place with strong community ties. The schoolyard brought rural children together within the natural environment. The target of government regulations contradicted the lived reality of borderland children. It was where children played and learned a sense of place and linked their schoolroom lessons to the environment. in iv Acknowledgements Everywhere I went in Alberta and Montana my research questions were answered with a great deal of enthusiasm. Of course, my travel would not have been possible without the Thesis Travel Grant provided by Research Services at the University of Calgary and the financial assistance provided by the Department of History and the Faculty of Graduate Studies throughout my graduate work. I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the staff at the Provincial Archives of Alberta; the Marias Museum in Shelby, Montana; the Cardston Courthouse Museum and Archives; the Glenbow Museum and Archives; and the Montana Historical Society Research Center. Farley Wuth, of the Pincher Creek and District Historical Society in Pincher Creek, Alberta went above and beyond in assisting my research, as did Gil Jordon and his team of volunteers at the Northwest Montana Historical Society Museum at Central School in Kalispell, Montana. Their encouragement and advice kept me on track. I would never have started this project without the prompting and encouragement of Betsy Jameson. Her patience has led me to believe in myself and my work. Similarly, the quiet support of R. Douglas Francis assisted me in pursuing this project to completion. I also thank Dr. Tamara Seiler and Dr. Max Foran for their thoughtful input and suggestions. Most of all, I wish to acknowledge the unflagging support of my husband, Marv. He travelled with me, helped me gather documents, critiqued my writing, and made me think about biases and anger when I thought about sunshine and roses. I could not have accomplished this without him. iv V Dedication To the children who never had a chance, to those who were indifferent to the chance, and to all those who never even knew there was a chance. With love to my husband Marv and our son Kris: Thank you for believing in me and agreeing that the chance was worth taking. v VI Table of Contents Approval Page ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Dedication v Table of Contents vi Epigraph vii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 - Locating the Borderland: Situating Children and Education in Montana and Alberta 8 CHAPTER 2 - "Ready for School before School Was Ready for Them": Building Schools from the Top Down and from the Grass Roots 35 CHAPTER 3 - The Meeting-Ground of Children: The Rural Schoolhouse as Social Borderland 73 CHAPTER 4 - The Environment as Classroom: The Social Borderland Extended 117 CONCLUSION 159 BIBLIOGRAPHY 164 APPENDIX A: Statistics Of Attendance By Standard/Grade For Alberta Pubic Schools, 1905-1913 182 APPENDIX B: Third And Fourth Grade Attendance At Central School, Kalispell, Montana 1895-1896 183 APPENDIX C: Eighth Grade School Register - Central School, 1901-02, Teacher: Cecil Clapp. Pupils Who Left School Before The Close Of The School Year 184 APPENDIX D: Characteristics Of The Children Of The Second Grade, 1901-1902.... 185 vi Vll Epigraph A strong influence in making Canadian citizens of the strangers who are coming to join us, is that of the public school. In the schools their children are learning to speak and read English. The English language will open to them Canadian books and newspapers, in reading which they will come to think and feel as Canadians do. But, fortunately, school life exerts a much more immediate and powerful influence upon the children of foreigners, namely, the influence of association. The classroom and the playground are the meeting-place of children of all nationalities, where those who are strangers to Canada quickly pick up Canadian habits of speech and manner. D.M. Duncan, A History of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, Gage's 20th Century Series (Toronto: W.J. Gage & Co. Limited, 1903), 119-120. Soon after we arrived back at school the assembly began. I remember the speech this real honest-to-goodness Yankee, the Superintendent, made. He spoke warmly and simply of the great achievements of these young people, especially the few who had been born in the Old Country. This was the category in which my sister and I belonged; perhaps that's why I remember his speech after all these many years. He pointed out how these foreign-born children had excelled to the point where one of them was the Valedictorian. He spoke of the parents who had made a home in a new, strange land and had adapted so well, and of the sons and brothers who had gone off to fight for their adopted land. He made us feel very proud and important. The program progressed very well. My sister gave the valedictory speech in her clear, soft voice, without a trace of a foreign accent. Later, I sang my lullaby accompanied on the piano by my new friend Dorothy. Sophia Trupin, Dakota Diaspora: Memoirs of a Jewish Homesteader (Berkeley: Alternative Press, 1984), 136-137. Vll 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis developed from my own desire to understand the differences between Canadians and Americans, focusing on the history of childhood. Since children are future citizens, imperative to the growth and development of the nation-state, they are an obvious starting point in trying to locate differences. The borders that define nations claim children as citizens. Education is a place to explore divergence since it is a site where differences might be taught given the state's concern with educating children for citizenship. Montana became an American territory in 1864, while Alberta became a part of the North-West Territories in 1875. Montana attained statehood in 1889 and Alberta became a Canadian province in 1905. The years 1895 through 1914 were important in northern Montana and southern Alberta because they were a time when settlement grew substantially. The almost parallel transition from territories to province and state make 1895 to 1914 an ideal time to explore developing government policy and the reaction of incoming settlers. Since Alberta and Montana were responsible for their provincial and state educational policies, how they did so begins
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