A History of the McGuffey Readers

by Henry Hobart Vail

In 1837 Professor Calvin E. Stowe went to Europe to investigate the organization and method of elementary schools. On his return he published, in 1838, his report on the Prussian system. Subsequently Dr. McGuffey labored in Ohio with Samuel Lewis and other public-spirited men for the passage of the general school law under which the common schools of Ohio were first organized. He carried to Virginia the same zeal for the education of all the children of the state to prepare them for the duties of life. One of his first acts on assuming the duties of his professorship in the university was to make a tour of the state advocating the introduction of a public school system in Virginia. To this first appeal for common schools, open alike to rich and poor, there was then but a feeble response; but, twenty-five years later, Dr. McGuffey had the satisfaction of seeing the public schools organized with one of his own friends and a former pupil at its head,—Hon. W.H. Ruffner.

Dr. McGuffey was a man of medium stature and compact figure. His forehead was broad and full; his eyes clear and expressive. His features were of the strongly marked rugged Scotch type. He was a ready speaker, a popular lecturer on educational topics, and an able preacher. He was admirable in conversation. His observation of men was accurate, and his study of character close.

After the Civil War and while the reconstruction was in progress it was extremely difficult in the North to obtain a correct view of the situation in the South. State governments had been established in which "carpet-baggers" had more or less control. Nearly all the whites in the South had taken part in the war. They were largely disfranchised and their former servants often became the legal rulers. The Klu Klux Klan had begun their unlawful work, of which the papers gave contradictory reports.

As business men, the publishers of McGuffey's Readers desired to learn the truth about the situation of the South and its probable future. They asked Dr. McGuffey to take a trip through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and make report to them at Cincinnati. This he did, visiting all the larger towns where he was usually the honored guest of some graduate of the university. He saw the legislatures in session, met the governors, and studied the whole situation. He then came to Cincinnati and told his story. He had made no notes, but he never hesitated for a name. He repeated conversations with unquestioned accuracy and described with humor the gross ignorance and brutality of some of the southern legislators, the looting of the capitol at the end of the session, the indirect robbery that was under way, the reversal of all the conditions of life, and the growing unrest of the men who had heretofore been the rulers.

It was such a picture as at that time no Northern paper would have dared to print—it was the truth. For days he held his listeners captive with the story—the writer never heard a more interesting one.

While Dr. McGuffey was still at Oxford, Ohio, he took part in the formation of probably the first extended Teachers' Association formed in the West. There had been a previous association of Cincinnati teachers organized for mutual aid and improvement. This was about to be given up; but at their first anniversary on June 20, 1831, Mr. Albert Pickett, principal of a private school in Cincinnati, proposed a plan for organizing in one body the instructors in public and private schools and the friends of education. Circulars were sent out and the first meeting of the College of Teachers was held October 3, 1832. A great number of teachers from many states of the West and South attended these meetings and took part in the proceedings. Throughout its continuance Dr. McGuffey took an active part in the work. In the years 1832-1836 fifty-seven addresses were delivered to the College by thirty-nine speakers. Of this number Dr. McGuffey prepared and delivered three.

The proceedings of the College of Teachers were published in annual pamphlets which together formed two large octavo volumes. The topics which were then under discussion are best shown by the titles of a few of the addresses, with the name of the speaker and the year of delivery:

On Introducing the Bible into Schools, Rev. B.P. Aydelott, 1836; Importance of making the business of Teaching a Profession, Lyman Beecher, D.D., 1833; The Kind of Education Adapted to the West, Professor Bradford, 1833; Qualifications of Teachers, Mr. Mann Butler, 1832; Physical Education, Dr. Daniel Drake, 1833; On Popular Education, John P. Harrison, M.D., 1836; On the Study and Nature of Ancient Languages, A. Kinmont, 1832; On Common Schools, Samuel Lewis, Esq., 1835; On the Qualifications of Teachers, E.D. Mansfield, Esq., 1836; Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Teachers, Rev. W.H. McGuffey, A.M., 1835; General Duties of Teachers, Albert Pickett, 1835; Philosophy of the Human Mind, Bishop Purcell, 1836; Utility of Cabinets of Natural Science, Joseph Ray, 1836; Agriculture as a Branch of Education, Rev. E. Slack, 1836; Education of Emigrants, Professor Calvin Stowe, 1835; Best Method of Teaching Composition, D.L. Talbott, 1835; Manual Labor in the Schools, Milo G. Williams.

Some of these topics are still engrossing the attention of teachers at their annual meetings for the discussion of live educational questions.

While Dr. McGuffey was at Oxford, teaching mental philosophy to the pupils in Miami University, he prepared the manuscript for the two lower readers of the graded series which bore his name. To test his work while in progress, he collected in his own house a number of small children whom he taught to read by the use of his lessons.