Before 'Fun with Dick and Jane' and 'Run Spot Run' there were McGuffey Readers #snsd #oldwesthistory

McGuffey Readers—these two words immediately bring to my mind the ubiquitous Old West one-room schoolhouse

 I have a set of these Readers. While they aren’t first editions, they are true-to-the-original reprints. My maternal grandmother used McGuffey Readers in her first years of teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in northeastern Colorado (c. 1925).

McGuffey Readers are a set of six student textbooks leveled for grades first through sixth. The set also includes a spelling book and a Primer (for the emerging reader). These textbooks were popular in America from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century. McGuffey Readers and the 18th century textbooks, the New England Primer, provided the educational foundation for countless numbers of students. The McGuffey Readers were so successful that they sold more than 120 million copies between 1836 and 1960.

The man who created the Readers was William Holmes McGuffey. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1800 to Scottish emigrant parents, and he died in 1873.

McGuffey took a job as a teacher in a one-room school house when he was fourteen. He had few resources. The Bible was the primary reading material, since textbooks were not common.

Over the years, and in between his teaching jobs, he attended two colleges, earned his degrees, and eventually gained a position as a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  While he was at Miami University, he began working on the first four Readers. Some of the content was of his own invention. Other content came from outside sources.

He would gather neighborhood children for reading classes and he tested his theories about teaching children to read. He paid attention to the reading material they liked best, and paid particular attention to their pronunciations and how best to teach them to decipher words.

William McGuffey put together the first four books, and his brother Alexander completed the fifth and sixth books. The books were designed to become increasingly challenging as the student advanced through the levels. Slate work enhanced the readings. Family lore has it that Mrs. McGuffey authored the Primer, but her husband received the credit.

The Readers were first published in 1836-1837 and the next edition came out in 1879. This was when they underwent revisions in content and approach to stay current with the mores and societal beliefs of the time. This meant that the original editions reflected McGuffey’s Calvinist values, whereas the 1879 editions reflected a more secularized slant on morality and values. It is interesting to note that by 1879, the Readers still carried McGuffey’s name, but he didn’t approve the content, and he didn’t contribute to the revisions.

Two contributing reasons for the decline in popularity of the McGuffey Readers was public schools needed textbooks of less overtly religious content at about the time consumable workbooks caught on. However, McGuffey Readers didn’t disappear completely. They still have a following in the private school setting and homeschooling environment.

The reason McGuffey Readers are on my mind is because I’m currently writing a series of novellas about teachers who begin teaching jobs "out West" c. 1880, and they each have a new set of set of McGuffey Readers with them. The title of each story is the name of the teacher.

Until next time,
Kaye Spencer