Reference Books.
Two very useful books to which constant reference will be made during the coming months are Beard’s “Introduction to the English Historians” (MacMillan), and Cheyney’s “Readings in English History” (Ginn & Co.). Both of these volumes give well-selected quotations from many sources inaccessible to many of us, and with one or both of them in our possession we shall be tolerably well equipped for the year’s work. Then there are two old “standards” which most of us possess or may easily get at. First of all, in my opinion, is Green’s “Short History of the English People” (Harper’s one volume edition); and second, Gardiner’s “Student’s History of England” (Longmans, Green & Co.) is not only a good one-volume history, but is particularly rich in pictures of value and interest.
In explaining the missionary efforts of the Irish church, the fascinating career of St. Patrick should not be neglected. See “Ireland” in the “Stories of the Nations,” series, by Lawless, Chapter IV.
Anglo-Saxon government is an important subject. Gardiner has a good brief explanation of terms, pp. 29-33, and 72-75 of the “Students’ History.” Beard and Cheyney may be read quickly and with helpful results on this subject.
Alfred the Great, the noblest figure, shall we not say in all English history—certainly in this period, should be sympathetically studied. Of course Green paints him vividly, pp. 48-52, but if possible get Walter Besant’s “Story of King Alfred,” in the “Library of Useful Stories” (D. Appleton & Co.).
The colossus of the tenth century was Dunstan. Some text-books slight him. See Green, pp. 55-58 for his remarkable many sidedness.
Of course Freeman’s “Norman Conquest” is full of meat on this period before the Normans, as well as on the Normans themselves. A judicious use of the index will make these volumes of Freeman very useful if you have time for the search. The rise of Normandy and the wonderful career of Duke William should of course be made sunlight clear.
[MISSOURI SOCIETY OF TEACHERS OF HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT.]
This society was organized out of the Department of History of the Missouri State Teachers’ Association at the Christmas meeting of that body in 1908. It is also affiliated with the State Historical Society, and a number of its members belong to the North Central History Teachers’ Association. The object of the society is to promote and improve the study and teaching of history in the State of Missouri through semi-annual meetings, with papers and discussions, of history teachers, investigations into the condition of history in the State schools, and the publication in the “Missouri Historical Review,” in which space is officially reserved for the society, of papers on the study and teaching of history, reports of meetings, and notes and news of interest to history teachers.
The society has held three successful meetings since its organization, the most recent being the spring meeting of 1909, held May 1, at the State University. At this meeting valuable papers were read by Professor E. M. Violette, of the State Normal School at Kirksville, on “Setting the Problem,” and by Professor C. A. Ellwood, of the Department of Sociology of the University of Missouri, on “How History Can be Taught from a Sociological Point of View.” The meetings ended by the election of the following officers: President, Mr. H. R. Tucker, McKinley High School, St. Louis; vice-president, Mr. J. L. Shouse, Westport High School, Kansas City; secretary-treasurer, Professor Eugene Fair, Normal School, Kirksville, and editor, Professor N. M. Trenholme, University of Missouri, Columbia. The next meeting of the society will be held at Christmas time in St. Louis in connection with the State Teachers’ Association meeting.
[THE MEETING OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION AT ST. LOUIS, JUNE 17-19.]
The semi-annual meeting of this organization was held in the rooms of the Missouri Historical Society at St. Louis, June 17-19.
The general subject of discussion was the historical importance of the physiography and ethnology of the Mississippi Valley, and the papers, presented by well-known middle western scholars, served to bring out the great importance of physical and racial factors in American development. This association is affiliated with the American Historical Association in an unofficial way, and is doing excellent work for the history of the region in which it is specially interested. The secretary-treasurer is Clarence S. Paine, of Lincoln, Neb.
Alive to the Student’s Need
For stirring, gripping work in American history look to Professor Mace. He comes to the task with every sense alert for the student’s help, and with every means in hand to give the truest and most intelligent conception of history. The impression he makes is unforgettable.
In
Mace’s Primary History Stories of Heroism
the author takes our great men in every line of life by periods—men who fought for the good against the bad; he shows them living, throbbing with power, doing. He cuts them into the child’s memory. And when the student comes to the later grades, he knows his people, chooses his leaders, and follows them.
In
Mace’s School History of the United States
the treatment of periods broadens, and the men the child now knows live their big stirring lives through the family, social and industrial development, through the religious, educational and governmental progress. They thrill and move the child, steady his thought and build up his respect for the greatness gone before—they teach him to know his own responsibility in the affairs of the world to-day.
Illustrated with pen-drawings that mean something
Rand McNally & Company
CHICAGO NEW YORK
[History in the Grades]
ARMAND J. GERSON, Editor.
The “Type Lesson” in History.
Whatever may be said as to the evil effects of the present overcrowding of the elementary school curriculum, this condition has brought about at least one lasting benefit in that it has led through sheer stress of need to the invention of numerous pedagogic devices for the saving of time. As subject after subject has been added to the work required to be covered in the grades, stern necessity has developed in the grade teacher a wonderful faculty of class-room economy. While it is true that many of the time-saving devices which have thus found their way into our public schools have been unquestionably harmful, there are some among them which have proved themselves efficacious and which may be said to have constituted a permanent advance in educational practice. Among this class we must include the “type lesson” idea.
The idea of the type lesson is based upon the principle that since the increasing complexity of the modern elementary curriculum precludes the possibility of teaching with proper thoroughness all the details of the various subjects laid down in our courses of study, it behooves the teacher to select a few typical phases of his subject, teach these thoroughly, and use them as the basis for the rest of the work. Instead of a superficial survey of the entire field, which at best can leave but a hazy resultant in the child’s mind, let the teacher lead the pupil to evolve a certain number of consistent and intensive “type-ideas” to serve as the nuclei of the year’s instruction. To express this pedagogic principle in terms of psychology, this method will develop in the child’s mind certain fundamental concepts to which all later reading and instruction will naturally relate and in the light of which he may interpret all subsequent mental experiences.
In recent years the type lesson idea has found its chief exponents in the field of geography. Possibly the overwhelming mass of detail of which elementary geography is composed and the apparent separateness of the facts which constitute its subject matter have led educators to seek for their “short cuts” in this subject first. Be the reason for this activity what it may, teachers of geography have evolved an effective type lesson system for the teaching of their subject. The geographer has asked, “Why burden the minds of our young pupils with description of ALL the great rivers of the world, of ALL the great mountain systems, of ALL the great cities? Why not carefully select one or two typical rivers, two or three typical cities? In these we can interest the children without any difficulty. Moreover we can then require and expect a definite amount of definite information to be retained. For the rest, let us teach our pupils to read widely, let us cultivate a broad geographical interest, and trust to the seeds we have planted so carefully to yield in the course of time a plenteous harvest.” And the geographer’s forecast has not been far amiss.
Why should not the teacher of history apply the same mode of thinking? At first glance it is evident that the subject matter of history lends itself most admirably to the type lesson method of development. The average grade teacher is frankly dissatisfied with his results in history. In spite of his best efforts to string historical facts along the chain of cause and effect, in spite of his most carefully prepared topical outlines, the teacher of history in the grades is too often obliged at the end of his year’s work to acknowledge that his efforts to make the facts of history a real part of the child’s mental content have been largely futile. Let us see to what extent the type lesson might simplify the problem.
Let the teacher of a particular grade make a selection of a series of type lessons which shall constitute the core of the year’s work in history. Ten or a dozen such lesson units can be carefully planned in such a way that the rest of the work may be grouped about them. These type lessons are to be used throughout as bases for comparisons, relations and generalizations; in other words, they will constitute the framework of the history instruction for the year.
To take a specific instance, the teacher of a certain grade finds by reference to the course of study that his pupils are supposed to cover in more or less detail the period of American history from 1492 to 1763. This period falls naturally into three divisions: (1) the period of exploration, (2) the period of colonization, (3) the period of intercolonial wars. In teaching the period of exploration the various explorers naturally group themselves according to nationalities. One or two type lessons should suffice for each group.
Columbus might be chosen as the typical Spanish explorer. In that case his explorations should be taught with considerable detail, bringing out particularly those phases of his life and work which form the basis for the teaching of other Spaniards who took an active part in opening up the New World. This type lesson should furnish the pupils with definite notions of Spanish life, Spanish policies, Spanish motives, Spanish methods of navigation, etc. With this basis the subsequent Spanish explorations could be gone over very rapidly, the matter of results alone being emphasized.
Similarly the teacher might give a type lesson on Sir Francis Drake to form the basis for the English explorations of the sixteenth century. Marquette might be selected to represent the French missionary activity.
For the period of colonization one typical colony in each of the three groups could easily be selected. Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts at once suggest themselves. For the period of the intercolonial wars a typical battle or two might be taught intensively and realistically. Maps, pictures, literary descriptions will all help to vivify the picture so that the resulting concept may form a type or pattern for the comprehension of all other battles to which reference may subsequently be made.
The instance just cited will indicate the way in which the teacher of history in any particular grade may make a choice of topics for type lessons. More important, however, than the choosing of the topics will be the actual planning of the lessons so that they may be type lessons indeed. This department of the History Teacher’s Magazine will from time to time publish illustrative type lessons in history which it is hoped may be found of practical value. While the method is not put forward as something entirely novel, nor as by any means a panacea for all the troubles of the history teacher, it is our earnest hope that the lessons to be outlined in subsequent issues may contain some suggestions which teachers of history in the grades may find applicable in their daily work.
A LIBRARY OF
History and Exploration
Invaluable for Every School.
The Trail Makers
Prof. JOHN BACH McMASTER, Consulting Editor. Each Volume Small 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With Introductions, Illustrations and Maps. 17 volumes. Each $1.00 net.
The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, and his companions from Florida to the Pacific, 1528-1536.
Translated by Fanny Bandelier. Edited with an Introduction by Ad. F. Bandelier.
Narratives of the Career of Hernando De Soto in the Conquest of Florida, 1539-1542, as told by a gentleman of Elvas, by Luys Hernandez De Biedma and by Rodrigo Ranjel.
Edited with an Introduction by Professor Edward Gaylord Bourne, of Yale University. In two volumes.
The Journey of Coronado, 1540-42. From the City of Mexico to the Buffalo Plains of Kansas and Nebraska.
Translated and Edited with an Introduction by George Parker Winship.
Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain, narrated by himself.
Translated by Annie Nettleton Bourne. Edited with an Introduction by Edward Gaylord Bourne, Professor of History in Yale University. In two vols.
The Journeys of La Salle and His Companions, 1678-1687. As related by himself and his followers.
Edited with an Introduction by Prof. I. J. Cox, of the University of Cincinnati. In two volumes.
Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. By Alexander Mackenzie.
In two volumes.
History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark. With an account of the Louisiana Purchase, by Prof. John Bach McMaster, and an Introduction Identifying the Route.
In three volumes.
History of Five Indian Nations of Canada which are Dependent upon the Province of New York.
By Cadwallader Colden, Surveyor-General of the Colony of New York. In two volumes.
A Journal of Voyage and Travels in the Interior of North America.
By Daniel Williams Harmon, a partner in the Northwest Company (beginning in 1800).
The Wild Northland.
By Gen. Sir Wm. Francis Butler, K. C. B.
Descriptive Circular on Application to the Publishers
A. S. BARNES & CO.
11-15 East 24th Street, New York
[Stories of Heroism]
PROFESSOR MACE’S NEW BOOK REVIEW BY CHARLES A. COULOMB.
In spite of repeated attempts at producing a history suitable for class-room work in the fourth or fifth grades of the elementary school, the teaching public still awaits a satisfactory book. Children cannot be interested in a mere chronological narrative, nor are they capable of forming sound judgments from groups of facts. Since the days of “Peter Parley,” therefore, the most satisfactory histories of the United States for children have been biographical. In the present work Professor Mace has so far followed tradition. But in the endeavor to secure more continuity of narrative than would otherwise be possible, the stories have been gathered together in groups of two or three or more. Each man in the group appears in his proper historical perspective instead of being partially eclipsed by the fame of some great personage whose biography is used to cover a long period of time or several historical movements. The author has selected his stories from those in which he finds a certain element of heroism, the term being broad enough, however, to cover the lives of Penn and Samuel F. B. Morse, as well as those of Drake and John Paul Jones.
The heroism of some of our great men is shown by overcoming great obstacles just as that of others is indicated by fighting the enemies of their country. So we find William Penn and James Oglethorpe associated with Hudson, the explorer, and Stuyvesant, the fighting Dutch governor of New Amsterdam, in the chapter about “The Men Who Planted Colonies for Many Kinds of People.”
Out of the three hundred and ninety-six pages in the book, two hundred and twenty-nine are devoted to our history prior to 1789, leaving but one hundred and sixty-seven to our history under the Constitution. The division seems to give a disproportionate amount of space to our Colonial and Revolutionary history. This is justified to some extent by the plan of the author. There is no question as to the romance to be found in the voyages of Polo and Drake, and in the life of Captain Smith. At the same time there are other equally dramatic features of our later history that might have been included, and so have given a better distribution of space. More room is given to Washington’s activities before the Revolution than to the rest of his life, which did not, it is true, cover so many years, but is certainly of more importance. With the exception of the statement that Grant was twice elected president, and the story of Edison and his inventions, the history of our country from 1865 to the battle of Manila Bay contains nothing worth recording, so far as this book is concerned. Out of the sixty-six names we do not find one jurist; one feels that Chief Justice Marshall’s name is certainly not sixty-seventh in our history.
The attempt to fix the facts of each chapter by a list of questions for study is to be commended, as is the unusually satisfactory index. Professor Mace has, besides, done what few scholars succeed in doing. He has written his book in such simple, clear English that the pupils for whom it is intended will have little difficulty in understanding it.
Most of the pictures have been selected for their dramatic value, but many portraits and pictures of places and things of historic interest are included in the book. On the whole, the book is a step forward, and the inequalities in it are no greater than those of other books that have otherwise less to commend them. In classes where the course of study in history does not extend beyond the Revolution, the book should have a wide use.
[A Primary History: Stories of Heroism. By William H. Mace, Professor of History in Syracuse University. Cloth, 8vo. xxv+ 396 pp. Rand, McNally & Co. Chicago, New York.]
Translations and Reprints
FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY
“An invaluable series of Sources, still in course of publication.”—Report of the Committee of New England Teachers’ Association, p. 63.
This series contains translations from the original sources of European history from Roman times to the reorganization of Europe by the Congress of Vienna in the nineteenth century. Complete, the set is in six volumes, but the separate numbers can be had in pamphlet form at from fifteen to twenty-five cents.
The value of original source material to aid the pupil in obtaining a vivid sense of the life and manners of past ages is felt by all history teachers. But it cannot be emphasized too much.
How much more realistic and impressive than the cut-and-dried statement on the Crusades of the average text-book, are actual accounts by contemporaries and Crusaders themselves, as, for example, the statement by Fulcher of Chartres of the start:
“One saw an infinite multitude speaking different languages and come from divers countries.” ... “Oh, how great was the grief ... when husband left the wife so dear to him, his children also....”
Or the letter by Count Stephen from before the walls of Antioch, March 29, 1098:
“These which I write you are only a few things, dearest, of the many which we have done, and because I am not able to tell you, dearest, what is in my mind, I charge you to do right, to carefully watch over your land, to do your duty as you ought to your children and your vassals. You will certainly see just as soon as I can possibly return to you. Farewell.”
The Crusaders thus appear as real men and women to the pupil. Or let him read the text of the Act of Supremacy: “An act concernyinge the kynges Highness to be supreme head of the Churche of Englande and to have auctoryte to reforme and redresse all errours, heresyes and abuses in the same,” and he cannot but feel that he has gotten back to the source upon which the statements of the text-book are based.
It is this kind of material in convenient form that Translations and Reprints contain. The pamphlet form commends them especially for classroom use. In the bound form the six volumes are very well adapted for reference work in the school library.
Besides these extracts from the original sources, there are published by the Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania the “Source Book of the Renaissance,” by Professor Merrick Whitcomb, “Documents on Federal Relations,” by Professor H. V. Ames, and various Syllabuses, those of special interest to teachers being Munro and Sellery’s Syllabus of the History of the Middle Ages, 1909, and Ames’s Syllabus of American Colonial History, revised edition, 1908.
Published by
Department of History
University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA
[A Source-Book of American History]
Ten years ago had a high school teacher received a copy of such a work as Professor MacDonald’s “Documentary Source-Book of American History” he would have read it with wonder that so many really significant historical documents could be bound together between the covers of one small volume. To-day, thanks to the efforts of Professor MacDonald himself, of Professor Hart, and of many others, we are well supplied with source-books for several periods of American history. Consequently, the latest volume of Professor MacDonald has been accepted as a matter of course; and frequently reviewers have contented themselves with saying that it contained some of the materials already printed in the author’s earlier volumes—“Select Charters,” “Select Documents,” and “Select Statutes.” Such passing notice fails to do the new work justice, and it is the purpose of this short review to tell the reader the classes of material which are contained within the six hundred pages of the Documentary Source-Book.
The extracts contained in the volume consist, in the main, of constitutional or statutory documents, and in this respect differ from the material which has been printed by Professor Hart in his “Source-Readers,” and his “History by Contemporaries,” where the emphasis is placed upon narratives, descriptions, and personal contemporary opinions.