OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 36 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 April 19, 2005 ************************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West. Know Your Ohio. by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits- Part 36 notes by S. Kelly +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 36. Cleveland's Library The beginnings may be traced back to the year 1811, at which time Cleveland was a village of fifty seven people, eighteen families. In this pioneer community were sixteen men ready to form a library association and thus the beginning was made. They were, William Gaylord, Abijah Hewit, James Kingsbury, Alfred Kelley, John Lanterman, David Long, Daniel Mosher, Elias Murray, Harvey Murrary, Nathan Perry, James Root, George Wallace, John Walworth, Samuel Williamson, Mathew Williams, and Stephen King. The years following were hard ones, and there were breaks in the continuity, but in various forms a library society of lyceum continued and in 1848 when the Cleveland Library Association was chartered a considerable collection of books had accumulated. This charter was amended in 1867 to provide for the organization of the Western Reserve Historical Society, and it was formed as the Historical Department of the Cleveland Library Association. Lyceums were very popular form of adult education that spread across the United States beween 1830's and the Civil War. By the 1830's, a number of communities in Ohio created their own Lyceums. In 1831, the National American Lyceum was founded. Lyceums provided both education and entertainment for its audiences. Speakers gave lectures on a variety of topics, from history to literature to scientific theories. There were concerts and plays. A lyceum might scedule a public debate on a subject of interest to the community, and often members were divided into smaller groups who met to discuss assigned readings. Lyceums often fostered social reform movements, such as abolitionism to temperance. After the Civil War, Lyceums began to disappear. A new educational effort was created by the opening of libraries as books were procured. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ William Holmes McGuffey William Holmes McGuffey, was born September 23, 1800, near Claysville, Pennsylvania, and movd to Youngstown, Ohio with his parents in 1802. McGuffey's family had emigrated to America from Scotland in 1774, and brought with them strong opinions on religion and a belief in education. Educating the young mind and praching the gospel were McGuffey's passions. He had a remarkable ability to memorize, and commit to mind entire books of the Bible. McGuffey became a " roving " teacher at the age of 14, beginning with 48 students in a one room school in Calcutta, Ohio. The size of the class was just one of several challeges faced by the young McGuffey. In many one teacher schools, children's ages varied from six to twenty-one. He often worked 11 hours a day, 6 days a week in a succession of frontier schools, primarily in the State of Kentucky. Students brought their own books, most frquently the Bible, since few textbooks existed. Between teaching jobs, William received an excellent classical education at the Old Stone Academy in Darlington, Pennsylvania and graduated from Washington College in 1826. The same year he was apointed to a position as Professor of Languages at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In 1827, William McGuffey married Harriet Spinning, and the couple eventually had five children. Very little is known about the early lives of these children, although one daughter's diary reveals that perfect obedience and submission were expected. He spent his life striving to instill his strong convictions in the next generation. He believing that religion and education to be interrelated and essential to a healthy society. While McGuffey was teaching at Oxford, he established a reputation as a lecturer on moral and biblical subjects. In 1835, the small Cincinnati publishing firm of Truman and Smith asked McGuffey to create a series of four graded Readers for primary level students. McGuffey was recommended for the job by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a lifetime friend. He completed the first two Readers within a year of signing a contract, receiving a fee of $1,000. While he compiled the first four Readers ( 1836-1837 edition ), the fifth and sixth were created by his brother Alexander during the 1840s. The series consisted of stories, poems, essays and speeches. The advanced Readers contained works of the great writers such as John Milton, Daniel Webster, and Lord Byron. The McGuffey Readers reflect their author's personal philosophies, as well as his rough and tumble early years as a frontier schoolteacher. The finished works represented far more than a group of textbooks; they helped frame the country's morals and tastes, and shaped American character. The lessons in the Readers encouraged an alligiance to country, and an understanding of the importance of religious values. The Readers were filled with stories of strength, character, goodness, and truth. The books presented a variety of contrasting viewpoints on many issues and topics, and drew moral conclusions about lying, stealing, cheating, poverty, teasing, alcohol, overeating, skipping school, and foul language. The books taught children to seek an education and continue to learn throughout their lives. Even though there were originally four Readers, most schools of the 19th century used only the first two. The first Reader taught reading by using the phonics method, the identification of letters and their arrangement into words, and aided with slate work. The second Reader come into play once the student could read, and helped them to understand the meaning of sentences while providing vivid stories which children could remember. The third Reader taught the definations of words, and was written at a level equivalent to the modern 5th or 6th grade. The fourth Reader was written for the highest lvels of ability on the grammer school level, which students completed with this book. McGuffey Readers were among the first textbooks in America that were designed to become progressively more challenging with each volume. They used word repetition in the text as a learning tool, which built strong reading skills through challenging reading. Sounding-out, enunciation and accents were emphasized. Colonial-era texts had offered dull lists of 20 to 100 new words per page for memorization. In contrast, McGuffey used new vocabulary words in the context of real literature, gradually introducing new words and carefully repeating the old. McGuffey believed that teachers should study the lessons as well as their students, and suggested they read aloud to their classes . He also listed questions after each story, for he believed in order for a teacher to give instruction they must ask questions. McGuffey desired to improve students' spelling, sharpen their vocabulary and redevelop the lost art of public speaking. In the 19th century, elocution was part of every public occasion and he was responsible for creating a generation of gifted orators and readers. Although famous as the author of the Readers, McGuffey wrote very few other works. He was athletic, loved children, had a sparkling sense of humor, and enjoyed a good joke. McGuffey left Miami University for positions of successively greater responsibility at Cincinnati College, Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and Woodward college in Cincinnati (where he served as President ). He ended his career as a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Virginia. Through the hard times of the Civil War and following, he was known fo his philanthropy and generosity among the poor and African-Americans. Wiliam McGuffey died in 1873, a success as an educator, lecturer and author. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits continued in part 37.