Country School Association of America
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Submit a Post for Our Blog

A Better Life...

7/8/2025

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Rosenwald School Voices
Sometimes a relevant post finds us and this one is priceless! The Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond recently featured an exhibit entitled,"A BETTER LIFE FOR THEIR CHILDREN: JULIUS ROSENWALD, BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, AND THE 4,978 SCHOOLS THAT CHANGED AMERICA." 

Although it was a limited time photographic exhibition, the story lives on in a number of video interviews with  alumni who attended those schools. The museum continues to share those stories with us on their website, and what a treasure. (Find the link below.)


From the VMHC website: "This exhibition explores the history and legacy of one of the most transformative educational initiatives in American history forged by Booker T. Washington, a Black educator, and Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish businessman and philanthropist. Between 1912 and 1937, their program provided seed money to build thousands of schools for Black children across the segregated South. These schools countered the deep educational disparities during Jim Crow and had a profound and lasting impact on our nation.

Inspired by this remarkable story, contemporary photographer Andrew Feiler traveled around the South to document Rosenwald schools and their communities. This exhibition showcases 26 of his photographs and stories. In addition, there is a VMHC-organized section devoted to Rosenwald schools in Virginia with historical artifacts, images, oral histories with alumni, and interactive elements. Feiler’s powerful photographs, combined with the Virginia-specific contents, provide a testament to the power of education and interracial collaboration."


Do Not Miss This Video...Begin here! 
The story told by the photographer Andrew Feiler is fascinating. This video offers more valuable information on the Rosenwald story and highlights notable civil rights leaders  who attended these schools including Congressman John Lewis. This is a great place to start your 
journey through this fascinating website!
VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND CULTURE

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Seeking TRC Posts

7/2/2025

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   The Report Card Needs You!
When I look back at the program guides from at least 20 CSAA annual conferences I find a wealth of schoolhouse related titles presented by VERY well researched members. Conference topics have rarely if ever repeated or overlapped and every one of them has offered a unique perspective and fascinating information.

Like most conference schedules our programming offers concurrent presenters, so you have to make a difficult decision in choosing which topic you will attend. That leaves you wondering what you missed. A number of our members have allowed their work to be posted here on The Report Card.


I often wonder if our presenters shared their programs with  historical societies or libraries after our conferences were over. Did they spread that wealth to other interested parties? Or are all those programs hiding in a thumb drive just waiting to amaze another audience? The Report Card offers another opportunity to share....here.

Readers' FAQ's (TRC...The Report Card)
Why would I attend a conference if I can access the presentations on TRC?
​Do I have to be a former conference presenter to offer a submission to  TRC?
Can I submit a post?
  • First, not everyone who ever presented will wish to post their work. We understand "scholarly work" or copyright issues may be contributing factors. Those won't appear here.  
  • Second, the conference experience IS THE FUN of meeting like minded schoolhouse preservationists from all over the country. TRC is second best for sharing.
  • Third, the full day coach tour to country schools and heritage sites is priceless. Come for the ride.  It's the real deal.
  • Fourth, networking is highly valuable just BEING at a conference. 
  • Fifth, the purpose of sharing a few of our past presentations is to engage those who are saving their schools and can't attend a conference at a great distance. CSAA is here to help in so many ways.​
  • Sixth, submissions to TRC do not have to be FROM a past conference presenter! We've posted articles or projects by a number of our casual readers since we opened this space in 2023. 
  • So...

Do you have a country school related program you would
​like to share with THE REPORT CARD readers? 

Histories, Commentaries, Videos, Slide Shows, PDF's, Artwork, Schoolhouse
​Curriculum Guides, Schoolhouse Tours, Restoration Stories, etc?

Send your program description and we will arrange for a drop box delivery.
Your post will be most appreciated and enjoyed!

Thanks, Susan Fineman
SUBMIT YOUR IDEA
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CSAA: 25 Years!

7/2/2025

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Where Did it All Start?
Time flies when you're having fun supporting the preservation of our country schools! Thanks to Dr. Mary E. Outlaw, Emeritus, of Berry College in Rome Georgia, and longtime board member of the CSAA, we have a narrative of our beginnings in her recent booklet, "CSAA: Twenty-Five Years of History, Preservation, Restoration and Programming." You'll find her informative booklet readable here in one sitting.

Dr. Outlaw tells CSAA's story that began in 2001 when a group of schoolhouse enthusiasts began meeting on college campuses to share presentations on their preservation efforts.  From there we have grown to a national organization offering an annual conference, grants and awards in a number of categories, a schoolhouse registry, and a network of programming support for those involved in saving and sharing their country schools. 

The story is a tribute to our founders, Dr. Lucy Townsend and Iowa schoolhouse preservationist, Bill Sherman, whose enthusiasm spurred our very existence. We urge readers across the country to familiarize themselves with our website and with the many benefits of membership envisioned by Lucy and Bill.

​Here we share Dr. Outlaw's reflections and hope you consider joining our membership in saving our nation's country schools.

                                        Click on the cover photo below for the full PDF article.
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Why Save ORS?

6/28/2025

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PictureCLICK PICTURE TO VIEW SLIDE SHOW
Saving and Sharing Our Country Schools - Video
Across the nation there are many historical societies and civic groups who are restoring country schools who have to convince a lot of locals that the effort is worth while. Expensive and time consuming, the process can be daunting. For those of us who are involved in preserving our remaining one and two-room schoolhouses, the reasons are always obvious. These
historic schools represent the beginnings of our public school system supported by taxation and a local citizenry.


The schools themselves hold the story of a population dedicated to creating moral and patriotic citizens, while education, the reformers argued would help eliminate social problems, poverty, and crime. Whether the goal has been totally achieved changes with the complexities of each succeeding generation, but the dream remains for those who continue to invest in the hopes of our ancestors.

Share this video slide show with your group!
Hear about the reasons country schools were promoted, a bit of their history, current condition of preservation efforts, and prospects for the future. The video is on YouTube and available for viewing and forwarding below. You may wish to try it on your own group or share it with another. The video can serve to show volunteers that restoration is worthwhile for many reasons....one being that it is a rewarding experience!

Saving and Sharing Our Country Schools
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Community Effort

6/23/2025

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Congratulations and Admiration for a Job Well Done!
When you need to hear a story of a community's "can-do" spirit, just turn your attention to Canby, Oregon and the restoration of the Mark Prairie School.  When a devastating ice storm in 2021 felled a number of trees near the schoolhouse, one came crashing through the roof to cause near irreparable damage. The story of the resurrection of the 100 year-old school is so well documented by the Mark Prairie Historical Society that you need only witness the process on their fascinating and graphically beautiful website. (LINK BELOW) See scores of inspiring photos of their journey through hard work and resilience.
​

It is a story of disappointment in the ravages of Mother Nature, hope for renewal, and determination to rebuild what was a center for community activity for a century. Volunteers worked for four years from debris clean-up,  through reconstruction, to the Grand Re-opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on May 14, 2025. It is an amazing and inspiring story of countless community donors and legions of volunteers.
​
The schoolhouse restoration features carefully recreated elements that are true to the original design and build. The results are an inspiration to behold. Here we provide the link to the whole story submitted by Erin Nelson for The Report Card readers.

​
In the tradition of highlighting restoration stories like the Cole School in Boone, IA, and the Forest Grove Schoolhouse in Bettendorf, IA, we offer kudos to a job well done to Canby, Oregon for their preservation of one of our remaining country schools.

And...in celebration of the restored Mark Prairie School a family reunion is planned for July 26th and 27th at the schoolhouse. (From their Facebook Page):
Mark Family 100th Reunion July 26 & 27!
We’re so excited to share the details of the
​Mark Family's 100th Annual Reunion
on July 26 and 27. 
This milestone honors generations of family, friends,
and the rich pioneer history rooted here at Mark Prairie.
All are welcome to share in our special day and join us
in celebrating the legacy that continues to bring
​our community together.
Hope to see you there! ​
Prairie Mark Facebook Page
WEBSITE: Mark Prairie Historical Society
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"Almost Heaven..."

6/16/2025

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West Virginia 2025 Conference Wrap-up
Isn't it amazing that we can look forward to so many celebrations this year (and next) as our beautiful country will celebrate 250 years as the United States of America? Coincidently, CSAA also celebrated a milestone this month with an appropriate gathering of schoolhouse preservationists at the 20th Annual Country School Conference held at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.  

We sincerely thank Dr. Teresa Eagle and Dr. Isaac Willis Larison of Marshall University for serving as this year's coordinators... and what a program they put together from June 8-10th,  both on and off campus.


This year we previewed a more compact event using our time more efficiently while maintaining the high quality we've been enjoying for the past 20 years. Enthusiasm was contagious and we made many new friends, as well as a new appreciation for the rugged individuals who settled this gorgeous state. 

50 participants converged from all over the country to hear keynote speakers, schoolhouse curators, historians, educators, and schoolhouse enthusiasts in some 19 presentations over two days. The third day was dedicated to the annual coach trip to WV heritage sites and schoolhouse museums enriching us with history and spectacular scenery along the way.

Interesting to note that after 20 years of conferences like this, our CSAA presenters have offered completely new topics for their presentations all relating to the world of country schools. Every presenter was refreshing and informative and our attendees left once again with a renewed vigor for ramping up their own country school involvement. We will post a video slide show soon so you can see how we fill a conference with the "sites" and sounds of early American education. 

Having said that, we urge you to consider attending the 2026 conference to be held in Geneva, New York on beautiful Lake Seneca, June 21st to 23rd at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.  For a wonderful experience in history, preservation and schoolhouse restoration topics, this is the summer trip for you!  Information will surely follow...
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Which McGuffey?

5/21/2025

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Two Versions Could Not be More Different!
Well, sometimes you just get lucky and hit the jackpot! While aiding a local schoolhouse to get their new visitor program up and running for the fall, I volunteered to search out some 30 hard cover copies of McGuffey's Eclectic Third Readers to create lessons for their 4th grade "scholars."

William H. McGuffey's readers may not have been widely used in New England, being mostly sold in the midwest and the south, but the prospective schoolmarms felt his stories and lessons were perfectly appropriate for their version of living history. Accuracy can be elusive when budgets and time are looming over you. It was the oral reading experience they were seeking, "toeing the line," and reading aloud with expression that seemed more important. They also felt contemporary children could use of few of these lessons!

Together we decided that for cost-saving, (since brand new reproductions are expensive in quantity), we would consider good, tight reproduction copies from online pre-owned book sites. So, the search began. Who knew that there would be TWO editions of this title for sale with no details as to content? Two of us owned copies of the REVISED EDITION of 1879, but not the earlier edition from 1836/1837. As a matter of fact, the descriptions on numerous used book sites were vague and photos didn't reflect any helpful information. So we were left wondering which edition we should buy.
​
It wasn't the publication dates of the two editions alone that would aid in the decision, but a terrific video we stumbled upon, right on YouTube. A homeschool mom named Cassie Deputie has used McGuffey very successfully with her own children and has provided us with a comprehensive, well-researched, and articulate 22-minute explanation entitled, "What's the Difference Between the Two McGuffey's?" Exactly what we needed! Her analysis is delivered with confidence and clarity as to which edition she chose to fit her children's needs, which she called the God-centered edition.

​To save your group the same dilemma we faced, heres's the link to this very interesting talk  even if you're not in the market for the Eclectic Readers. It is the story of one man's mission to enhance children's character and remind them of their moral duties through the stories and poems he published for school use in 1837.  The 1879 edition is less McGuffey, more secular, and possibly less controversial for today's public school visits. See for yourself...

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Always Plenty to Do

5/14/2025

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Down on the Farm
When we offer our schoolhouse living history experience to visitors,  most of us cover lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic, memory gems, spelling, geography, patriotism, and penmanship. Some of us might play up a particular historical context in the life of the schoolhouse. If sufficient time is allotted, we may even mention the rigorous schedules of farm children, their long walks to and from school, and their responsibilities in and out of school that far exceed those of today's students. 

Here I will offer suggestions of two wonderful resources that bring those farm chores and youthful responsibilities to life. Both are written from the child's perspective and the two authors offer not a mere glimpse, but detailed narratives of what farm chores required of such a young generation. 

Always Plenty to Do, by Pamela Riney-Kehrberg
A Book of Chores as Remembered by a Former Kid, by Bob Artley


Presenting a list of "chores" accomplished by children of the 19th century and early 20th century is usually met with shock and awe by our visitors and rightfully so. That kind of work is alien to children of the 21st century. Even the walk to school is met with disbelief. And as Pamela Riney-Kehrberg reminds us, "For most farm children, their help was absolutely essential to their families survival, and families managed because everyone contributed." She also pays homage to the country school in a her chapter, Going to School, reminding us how not all farm children remained on the farm  adding that, "with a good education, young people could choose many different jobs."

Bob Artley's narrative is like a how-to on farm chores, adding delightful cartoon illustrations that portray the rigors and the humor of completing his jobs. You'll learn HOW to milk a cow and clean a cow barn! 

Now....If we could just get our "kids" to read these books! In the meantime, they serve as wonderful compendiums of knowledge about the life of farm children that we can share with them (at the very least).
Both books are available at AbeBooks.com, alibis.com, and Amazon, at good pre-owned prices.

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Noah Webster

5/10/2025

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                       Webster in Your Classroom
         ​       "Skool-mas-ter   to  A-mer-a-ka"

by Susan Webb, "The Traveling Schoolmarm"
Presented for CSAA's 2021 Virtual County School Conference

​

This entertaining yet informative presentation will introduce Noah Webster, Jr. (1758-1843), the unknown  Father of American Scholarship and Education.  Webster was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author.  His blue-backed speller books taught five generations of American children how to spell and read. 
 
The dictionary we use today is a newer version of the one first written by Noah Webster.  He started his dictionary in 1801 and finished in 1828.  It gave meanings of more than 70,000 words. 
 
What took so long to complete the Webster dictionary?  Webster did  extensive research.  Because the new world of America represented immigrants using diverse languages, Webster learned 26 different languages so he could evaluate the origins and meanings of thousands of words.  
 
Born on a New England farm, Webster studied to be a minister then attended Yale College.  Not having the means to study law, he became a teacher. His experience as a teacher in a one-room school made him aware that school books were not well-written. In his quest to improve school textbooks, he completed his “Blue-backed Speller” in 1783. The well-known speller helped students learn to read, spell and pronounce words. Webster was a patriot who believed that American subjects and styles should be included in books to make America more independent from England. 
 
This presentation will inform through delightful colorful images and authentic textbook lessons. Lessons from the 1867 and 1880 Blue-back Speller and Webster’s first dictionary will also be displayed.

*Note: We are offering this program once again in honor of our dear friend and long term CSAA board member Susan Webb, who passed away in 2023. She was the consummate schoolmarm in living history presentations across the country and a friend to all country school enthusiasts.
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Forgotten Educator

4/21/2025

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A How-To Book for District Schools
​If you want a book that covers all the bases of operating a 19th century district school written by a giant in education of his time, this is the tome for you. You can a locate a Classic Reprint or if lucky, a surrendered/discarded copy from a library. Abebooks (linked below) has a number of offers. Oh, what a different world it would be today, if only...

If your library has a subscription to Cambridge University Press...here's a link on a terrific article called, "A Forgotten Educator: John Orville Taylor."

"John Orville Taylor was one of many prominent educators of the eighteen thirties and forties who labored continually to win public support for popular education. One can safely infer that his efforts to muster common school support were comparable with those of his more publicized contemporaries; yet today he receives little recognition from educational historians for the part he played in laying the groundwork for the American public school."
...From Cambridge University Press

History of Education Quarterly , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Spring 1969 , pp. 57 - 63
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/367129
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THE DISTRICT SCHOOL BY J. ORVILLE TAYLOR
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Heads Up for 2026!

4/14/2025

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I know, I know. We're still registering for the 2025 CSAA Annual Country School Conference in Huntington, West Virginia! It's never too soon to let you know how to plan for next year, 2026,  in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Hobart and William Smith College will be our host venue and Ralph Buglass will be our conference coordinator.

What a beautiful and historic region Ralph  has chosen for our 25th Annual Conference. Details will follow in the weeks ahead, but start your folder now and plan to meet us on spectacular Seneca Lake. We know you'll enjoy the restored schoolhouses, friendship, and quality programming we promise each and every year.

A copy of the ad below is accessible as a PDF,  the perfect reminder to plan ahead for travel. See the tab below the photo.
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2026 Country School Conference Ad
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Nobel Peace Prize

4/8/2025

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PictureNorman Borlaug, Statuary Hall, U.S Capitol
Norman Borlaug:                  Country School Boy- Oregon #8
A curious young boy, born on the family farm in Cresco, Iowa in 1914, would grow up to the smell of baking bread and ask why grass grew better in some spots on the farm than on others. 
 
Witnessing starving and struggling people during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, Norman Borlaug would follow his destiny to perfecting the genetic modification of wheat. He dedicated his life to saving starving people around the globe, from Mexico, to India, Pakistan and China. 
 
Norman Borlaug would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, as well as the Congressional Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and be hailed as the Father of the Green Revolution by developing a high yield dwarf wheat that would resist insects, diseases and fungus. It has been noted that, “Borlaug saved more lives than anyone else in the history of mankind”… and had a full size bronze statue placed beside noted American heroes in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol Building.
 
Norman’s story is long and inspiring from his childhood on the farm to his world-wide agricultural accomplishments, but his childhood schoolhouse, New Oregon #8, stands on that birthplace and farm today as part of the Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation, “Dedicated to future generations of Normans who can walk and learn on these sacred grounds.”
 
 The Norman Borlaug Foundation holds annual educational events each spring and fall for school children, hosts tours, while also including adult education days. The foundation says they are committed to providing a learning environment rich in unique opportunities.

Norman Borlaug, that curious little farm boy, the product of a one-room country school, serves as a testament to the educational commitment of his parents and his rural community in Cresco, Iowa! Norman would be awarded a number of titles during his career in agricultural  research.
 
                                                            "The Man Who Fed the World"
                                                     "The Father of the Green Revolution"
                                                     "The Man Who Saved a Billion Lives"
                                                                 "The Apostle of Wheat"

 
*Note: Each of the United States is allowed two statues to be placed in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol Building. Borlaug replaced a 1910 statue of Sen. James Harlan that was sent back to his home town of Mount Pleasant, IA. The other Iowan is 1913 Gov. Samuel Kirkwood.

For more information, click on the black button below to access the Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation website! 

Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation
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98 Variations!

3/29/2025

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The Month Poem for Your Schoolhouse
We memorized it as children and never forgot the words. We referred to it over the decades to organize our personal calendars. We retrieved the rhyme to teach it to our own children. We repeated the words out loud, but really only needed the first four months to set us straight. "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November..."  

​
Known as The Month Poem, this memory gem hath served us well over the decades, but little did we know how many variations existed. An obscure website called leapyearday.com lists 98 versions, but after a closer look you might discount a few due to some questionable poetic license! Below is the version I learned somewhere along the way, but others are much more poetic, memorable, or clever.


              Thirty days has September
              April, June, and November.
              All the rest have thirty-one,
              Except for February, which has
                      twenty-eight,
              In a Leap Year, twenty-nine.




We know you want to check out the other 97 versions, so here is the link to the website.

98 VERSIONS OF THE MONTH POEM
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Julius Rosenwald

3/29/2025

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Rosenwald National Historical Park Campaign
The National Park Service is right in there pitching when it comes to the preservation of our country schools. There are at least six better known national parks or historic sites that include a restored one-room schoolhouse:  the Fruita School at Capitol Reef National Park (UT), the Junction School at the Lyndon Baines Johnson National Historic Park (TX), the Greenbrier School at Great Smokey Mountain National Park (TN), the Freeman School at Homestead National Historical Park (NE), the Abiel Smith School of the Boston African American National Historical Site (MA), and the District #1 School at the Nicodemus National Historical Site (KS). All of them have a fascinating history. 

The Report Card will offer their stories in future posts, but there is good news  on the horizon for adding another national historical site to this roster. The Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park has been making headway since 2021 and work continues to make this dream a reality. The park is to be dedicated to Rosenwald, president and part owner of Sears Roebuck Company, who collaborated with Booker T. Washington to bring new schools to the south. Rosenwald offered partial funding toward the building of one-room schools where local citizens would contribute the remainder to the effort. 

According to the National Park Service, "From 1917 to 1932, more than 5,000 Rosenwald schools were built in African American communities in fifteen states. During the 1920s, one in five schools for African Americans in the rural South was a Rosenwald school. By the time the last school was built in 1932, more than 600,000 African American children in the south had attended a Rosenwald school." 

The campaign offers the prospect of honoring Julius Rosenwald's philanthropy and the determination of black communities throughout the south to bring quality education to underserved children through the building of those schools.


Notes:
Many schools being restored today are indeed Rosenwald Schools. CSAA posts articles from southern newspapers about these efforts on our Facebook page.

If you want more information about the national historical park campaign, follow the links below. 

​For a definitive book about Julius Rosenwald and his friendship with Booker T. Washington we recommend, "You Need a Schoolhouse" by Stephanie Deutsch, linked below.
ROSENWALD NATIONAL HISTORICAL  PARK
YOU NEED A SCHOOLHOUSE
CSAA FACEBOOK PAGE
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2025 Presentations

3/17/2025

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PictureUnion School- "Punkin Center School"- Marshall University, WV
Details for the 2025 CSAA Country School Conference, June 8th-10th, are nearing completion and here we offer the list of our presenters and their programs for our 20th year anniversary celebration! We're piloting a 2.5 day conference format with a busy schedule, numerous activities, and the coach tour of area historic sites, (this year the tour is included in the conference registration price.)
Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia will host our conference coordinated by Drs. Teresa Eagle and Isaac Larson. We thank them for their hard work and dedication to schoolhouse preservation.
General conference information is available on this website at the following links and REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN. Join us for friendship and a shared love of the history, restoration and preservation of our remaining country schools.

A full conference schedule will be provided soon.  Information on dorm availability and hotels will be included. Registration form supplies many details.

2025 West Virginia Conference
REGISTER HERE FOR 2025 CONFERENCE

​Presentation List for the 2025 CSAA Country School Conference
Marshall University
Huntington, West Virginia

 
“Freedmen's Bureau Schools in West Virginia”
Presenter: Ralph Buglass

“University of Hard Knocks: West Virginia's College of Blood, Sweat and Tears”
Presenter: Dr. Veronica I. Ent
 
“Moving Mt. Pleasant School” 
Presenter: Dr. Douglas Sturgeon
 
“Path To National Register of Historic Places”
Presenter: Dan Hawley
 
“Leading a One-Room “Country” School in the Heart of Remote Queensland, Australia”
Presenters: Dr. Meegan Brown  &  Dr. Isaac Willis Larison
 
“Ranger Mac and the Wisconsin School of the Air”
Presenter: Robert Frenz
 
“Saved - What Happens Now?”
Presenter: Sarah Bent
 
“The History and Travels of Two Rural Schoolhouses in West Virginia”
Presenters: Dr. Teresa Eagle & Kimberly Brownlee 
 
“Achieving a Dream” 
Presenters: Dr. Paul Lutz & Dr. Teresa Eagle
 
“Readers Theatre - My Great-Aunt Arizona “
Presenters: Dr. Isaac Larison and Marshall University Student Performers
 
“Memories of a One-Room School Teacher in Poverty-Stricken Appalachia”
Presenter: Chip Brabson
 
“A History of Crafts in Danish Country Schools and The Flax Weaving Museum at Krengerup”
 Presenter: Lone Bodekaer
 
“Roots of Education: How Communities Shaped the Curriculum of  Historical One-Room Schoolhouses”
Presenter: Magan Walters 
 
                                               "Teaching History with Dolls"                                                     
Presenter: Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs
​
“It Started with a One-Room Log Cabin: Lutheran Schools in America”
Presenter: Dr. Pam Stover


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Rewards of Merit

3/2/2025

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"Approbation" for Good Work
Time flies unless you're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. In 2020 the CSAA was forced into lockdown with the entire country and had to postpone its annual national conference. We took a different route for 2021. We offered a VIRTUAL CONFERENCE on our own website that actually turned out to be both popular and productive! Twenty-one presenters submitted video and live-streamed programs to share with attendees who watched from the comfort of their home offices and iPads for a nominal registration fee. This fee went to fund numerous small grants for 2022! 

As I look back, it might not be a bad idea for the future to hold another VIRTUAL CONFERENCE those who are unable to travel. Attendees had almost two weeks to watch and enjoy the presentations! To give you a glimpse of what we offered in the 2021 VIRTUAL CONFERENCE, we've posted a few of  those programs here on The Report Card since we started our blog in 2023.

This month enjoy a program from one of our favorite all-time CSAA members and a CSAA director from 2006-2023, Susan Webb. Sadly, Susan passed away in November of 2023, but left behind a legacy of country school programs and publications that her husband, Bill Webb, is proud to allow us to share.

                                  Rewarding the Merit
                                    Susan Webb, "The Traveling Schoolmarm" 
                                                                                     See, Father, Mother, see!
                                                                           To my Brother, and to me,
                                                                         Has our Teacher given a card,
                                                                    To show that we have studied hard!
                                                                    To you we think it must be pleasant
                                                                      To see us both with such a present.

 
Summary:
           
This presentation will explore early American citations issued by teachers to young scholars, rewarding them for their good behavior and academic accomplishments. Numerous authentic Reward of Merit examples will be viewed as their origins are explored and their artistic and motivational value measured. Suggestions will be offered as to how Rewards of Merit can be adapted for current historical schoolroom interpretations and reenactments. 
            The awarding of prizes and rewards for achievement can be traced back as far as those given by kings to loyal aristocrats, by civic rulers to worthy citizens, and by organizers of sports competitions to the best athletes. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, parents in England and the newly established New England colonies were encouraged to make certain their children could read and write.  Grammar schools developed a system by which scholars received praise and commendation for academic achievements, even in theological truths and instruction in Latin “Grammar.”  Teachers rewarded students with  encouragement, not punishment, issuing items such as medals, pens, books, thimbles, knives, and even kits and toys.
            The most common eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century Rewards of Merit in America were made of paper. They varied in size, physical characteristic, and color.  Some were large enough for framing while others were merely slips of paper.  Whether imprinted from a crude carved wood block, an artful pen, or by other means of lithography, Rewards of Merit were all treasured papers which declared “merit”, “approbation”, and “esteem” to the deserving scholar. 
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Booker & Julius

2/19/2025

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PictureTo Purchase "You Need a Schoolhouse"
5,000 Country Schools in the Segregated South

In honor of Black History Month and our support of preservation and history of our nation's country schools, we take this opportunity to share the story of Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald through a presentation by one researcher who knows exactly how to tell that story. Sometimes you hit gold when searching the web and we found The Virginia Museum of History and Culture who sponsored the program.

That historian is Stephanie Deutsch, author of "You Need a Schoolhouse, Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools in the Segregated South." 

Stephanie tells the story of their friendship spawned by a love of education and a desire to foster equality in education. Their collaboration would result in the building of 5,000+ country schools solely for the education of underserved black communities in 15 states.

We'd like to thank the Virginia Museum of History and Culture for sharing Stephanie's presentation posting it for public consumption. Hear the story of these historic icons in her own words.

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CLICK THE PHOTO TO ACCESS THE PRESENTATION
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Organ Donor...

1/18/2025

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We've known CSAA member Pat HarteNaus for many years and have enjoyed all her presentations at our annual conferences. She is widely known for her Belden Boy Series, Canary Song, Whistleslick Press, and her central role in the preservation of the Belden Schoolhouse in Galena, IL. Her endearing stories keep coming! Here's another for our Report Card readers...

The Eastlake Organ Finds its Way Home
Beldon School Commission members stumbled across a true find that was kept for almost 100 years in the loft of a barn on Mount Hope Road. Farmer Marv Gerlich just happened to mention that he had Belden School’s organ which was removed sometime in the 1920s The Belden School Commission was determined to bring her home!
​by P.J. HarteNaus

      It’s true that lost items often don’t travel very far from their original destination. No truer words could describe the journey of the 1859 one-room Belden School, nestled in the driftless area of historic Galena, Illinois.
       A few years ago, I was visiting Marv, a local farmer who sells eggs directly to those passing by his farm. As we chatted about the weather and the happenings at Belden School, he brought up his interest in the school. His dad was a student there long ago.  He also knew I served on the  committee and wrote the Belden Boy series.
      Then came the question that changed everything:  “Do you know I have Belden School’s organ up in my barn loft?  Would you like to see it?”
     “You betcha!”  I replied without hesitation. I had no idea the school even had an organ, let alone one tucked behind the red loft door of Marv’s barn, a barn I’ve passed a thousand times. 
      Moments later, I was climbing up the stairs to his loft, stepping carefully over decades of buckets, farm implements and just plain ‘farm stuff.’  And there it was – an ornate organ from the 1800s, remarkably well-preserved despite being coated in a layer of barn dust. It sat patiently by the loft door, waiting to return to its rightful place at Belden School. 
      It was June 2023, when Marv carefully removed the 1880 organ from his barn loft using his tractor and placed it onto a flatbed trailer. From there, it made its way to local antique restorer Duane Mitch in Schapville.  For a full year, the now 144-year-old  Eastlake walnut organ sat in Duane’s workshop as he meticulously restored it. Duane later admitted it was his favorite project because of the research involved. 
      During this time, our committee made numerous visits to witness his progress. Duane sandblasted the iron pedals, restored decorative trims, and recreated or sourced delicate wood pieces from across the country. Meanwhile, I conducted my own research to uncover how and why the organ ended up in Marv’s loft, just three miles from Belden School, for nearly a century. 
    What I discovered was fascinating!  The organ was crafted in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1880, and somehow made its way to the Midwest. In an 1886 ledger of Belden School, I found its mention on the final line, almost as an afterthought. Yet, there is was, recorded in ink on yellowed pages.  For forty years, the organ filled the school with daily songs, Christmas plays, and community events.
      But in 1926, the state regulations mandated that one-room schools add an emergency exit. At Belden School, this required converting a window into a door, which displaced the Eastlake organ.  Marv’s grandfather, the school custodian at the time, offered to haul the organ over the hills by horse and wagon to his barn, where it would stay “for the time being.”
      There it remained for approximately 25 years until the farm was sold. The organ was then moved again – this time to Marv’s father’s farm, where the elderly couple resided until their passing. Marv recalls playing on the organ with his sisters as children, never realizing its historical significance.  For nearly a century, the organ stayed within a few miles of its original home, waiting to return. 
      In June 2024, we held a grand celebration for the restored Eastlake organ. Marv and his family, Duane Mitch, a gathering of Civil War Generals from historic Galena, and local residents braved the rain to join us. Despite the deluge outside, the schoolhouse was warm and lively, buzzing with excitement! Tears of happiness flowed as Marv’s family learned new details about their grandfather and the organ’s rich history, deepening their connection to this cherished heirloom. The Eastlake organ, now back where it belongs, stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of history and community.
 
 ~P. J. HarteNaus
 Educator and Author of  the Belden Boy series
www.Whistleslickpress.com

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Teacher Training

1/12/2025

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Kids Still Say the Darndest Things!
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From the Bridgewater State University website: 
"The spirit, vision and leadership of Horace Mann, America’s father of public education, lives on more than 184 years after Bridgewater State University first opened its doors for the purpose of training teachers. His belief, not only in the importance of public education, but also in standardizing — or normalizing — the training of teachers, led to the establishment of normal schools.

In 1840, Bridgewater became the third such school in the commonwealth of Massachusetts and, along with its sister institutions, developed a comprehensive approach to teacher training that became a model emulated throughout the country and across the globe.
​
Bridgewater Normal School grew as the educational needs of society evolved. Not only were more and better qualified teachers essential to a prosperous and engaged citizenry, but the demand for a college-level liberal arts curriculum required that the Massachusetts General Court expand course offerings at the normal schools and establish public institutions of higher education."
                          _________________________________________

By coincidence, I came across a copy of a tattered Bridgewater Normal School news bulletin from 1893 with a range of stories and announcements for educators. One section that caught my eye was called, "Odds and Ends," and it does offer a chuckle and the conclusion that, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Students will try to snow the teacher when they really don't know the answer!
​
(From the Bridgewater State Normal School bulletin, "The Normal Offering" February, 1893 verbatim.)

-High School Teacher: " Briefly describe the heart and its functions."

-Pupil: "The heart is a comical shaped bag, and is divided into several parts by a fleshy petition. These parts are called right artillery, left artillery and so forth. The function of the heart
is between the lungs. The work of the heart is to repair different organs in about half a minute."


—A grammar school boy who was told to look up rivers, reported as follows:

A river has a head, its highest and smallest part; it has arms which are also its feeders, and a right and left side. It has a bed in which there are often springs and in which the river runs instead of lying still.
At the farthest extremity from its head, we do not find its foot but its mouth. It eats into hills sometimes and is known to have falls at which it usually roars.


-Teacher in Physics to a boy at the head of class: "How many kinds of force are there?"
Boy: Three, sir. 
Teacher:  "Name them."
Boy: "Bodily force, mental force, and the police force."

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So Little Time!

1/10/2025

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A DAILY SCHEDULE FOR A ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE
by Michael Day
Barkhamsted, CT
(re-printed from former CSAA Newsletter)
 
Visitors to a one room schoolhouse often have a hard time visualizing just how one teacher could possibly teach all subjects in several grade levels at the same time.  Class size might well exceed thirty and the age range of students could stretch from four to twenty.  It seems an impossible task.  
 
Part of the problem is that modern students (and their teachers) are used to thinking in terms of fifty minute time blocks, and whole class presentations. There is also today a strong emphasis on making every minute count; of keeping everyone focused on learning, or at least busy with teacher directed school work.   
 
In the one room school, the "scholars" were grouped into classes of various sizes.  A "class" might be two or a dozen students at roughly the same level in a given topic, and would be called as a group to the teacher's desk for a recitation of their lessons.  The well organized teacher would work with each of the various classes for a short period of time; assign them a new lesson to be learned on their own, and then move on to another group.  

At a later time, the scholars would be expected to report back to the teacher and to demonstrate (i.e. recite) what they had learned.  An underlying assumption of the one room schoolhouse was that the scholars would be sufficiently self-motivated and/or disciplined enough to keep themselves occupied and focused on their own learning while the teacher was working with others.  And for most of the day, the teacher would, in fact, be "working with others".  A look at a recommend daily schedule from 1880 makes this very clear.  
 
In the May 1880 edition of the New England Journal of Education, John Hancock, the Superintendent of Schools for Dayton, Ohio, proposed the following schedule of recitations for use in a one room schoolhouse. 
 
                   Dayton, Ohio 1880 - Proposed Daily Recitation Schedule

  9:00 -   9:15  Opening Exercises                 12:00 - 1:30     Lunch & recess
  9:15 -   9:25  Abecedarians                            1:30 - 1:40      Abecedarians
  9:25 -   9:35  First Readers                            1:40 - 1:55      First Class in Grammar
  9:35 -   9:50  Second Readers                       1:55 - 2:05      First Readers
  9:50 - 10:10  First class in Arithmetic      2:05 - 2:20      Second Class in Geography
10:10 - 10:25  Third Readers                           2:20 - 2:35      Second Readers
10:25 - 10:40  Recess                                         2:35 - 2:50      Fifth Readers
10:40 - 11:00  Second Class in Arithmetic 2:50 - 3:05      Recess
11:00 - 11:10  Abecedarians                              3:05 - 3:20      Second Class in Grammar
11:10 - 11:25  Geography                                    3:20 - 3:30      Abecedarians  
11:25 - 11:40  First Readers                              3:30 - 3:50      Writing            
11:40 - 11:55  Fourth Readers                          3:50 - 4:10      Higher Class Recitations        
11:55 - 12:00   Roll Call, etc.                             4:10 - 4:30      Miscellaneous exercises
                        
Hancock recommended that teachers strive for the minimum number of classes so that more time could be allocated to each.  Even so, little time was spent with each class, and that diminished as the students got older.  Hancock proposed that "Abecedarians" (i.e. those just learning the alphabet) have four recitations a day for a total of forty minutes.  

"The time assigned for their recitations, if well employed, is sufficient to enable the teacher give a very short object-lesson, introducing the word she designs making the basis of her lesson, the elementary sounds of that word, and the characters representing these sounds.  These characters the children should practice making in script between recitations."  

"First Readers" meet three times a day for a total of thirty-five minutes.  Between recitations the students would have certain lessons to memorize, or would practice writing on their slates. The Fifth Readers received fifteen minutes a day of the teacher's time and just twenty minutes a day was set aside for "Higher Class Recitations".  

We do know that many teachers recruited older students to tutor younger ones, so the amount of instruction may well have been more than is accounted for in Hancock's schedule.  Nevertheless, there must have been a considerable amount of time each day when students were very much in charge of their own learning. 
 
While the daily schedule would certainly vary from one teacher to the next, the plan proposed by John Hancock does give us a sense of what a typical day was like for both teacher and students in the one room schoolhouse.

*We have searched to locate Mike Day numerous times on-line and have been unsuccessful. At one time he produced many wonderful reproduction primers and print materials for use in country school museums, but Clippership Publications is also presumably out of business. If you know how to reach Mike Day please let us know how as well. We continue to appreciate sharing his schoolhouse articles!

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    The story of what went on inside that eminently successful country school is an important part of Americana. It should be preserved along with a few remaining buildings wherein the great cultural pageant took place."

    -​Gerald J. Stout

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