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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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 Norman 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!  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. 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.  Union 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. 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 "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.  To 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.  CLICK THE PHOTO TO ACCESS THE PRESENTATION  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 Kids Still Say the Darndest Things!  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."  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! Why Did They Blow Up the Schoolhouse? Who hasn't fallen in love with the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder...or Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert in the TV adaptation of Little House on the Prairie? One of our CSAA members, Sarah Uthoff, is a lifelong devotee and expert on all things "Laura." She will no doubt think me daft when I divulge that I only learned a few years ago that in the last episode of the 9th and final season, the good people of Walnut Grove, being forced out of their town by an evil land developer, blew up all the buildings in their town except the church (and in real life the Ingalls farm film set). If I ever knew, I simply forgot. They actually blew them all to smithereens! That meant the beloved Walnut Grove Schoolhouse, the focal point of countless unforgettable episodes, childhood antics, teacher troubles, student rivalries, and budding young love, exploded into a hail of sticks. The explosions are well documented on YouTube and writers have offered a number of reasons as to WHY total destruction would be chosen as the end of the Little House series. Access the attached article that has researched the real story. FACT-CHECK TIME!! 1. It was rumored that Michael Landon was unhappy with NBC that the show was cancelled and he didn't want others to use his set. 2. Newhall Land Development that rented the land for the film set had a contract that required the land be returned to its original state following the cancellation. They suggested bringing in a crane to demolish the buildings. 3. Michael Landon decided blowing up the buildings (and later removing the debris) would be cost effective and it would provide a great story for a finale! In 2024 the cast, crew, and devotees of Little House on the Prairie TV series celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the the introduction of the pilot episode that spurred a nine-year love affair with the Ingalls family. A reunion festival was held at Big Sky Ranch (original site) with visits by many cast members. Tours were offered to see replica "flats" built to indicate where the originals sets stood. The schoolhouse movie set stood up the hill from Oleson's Mercantile as you see below...Uh, flats are not that exciting. (Top Photos: from movie scenes. Bottom Photos: "flats" on the tour.) I'll wager that our national authority on Laura Ingalls Wilder, Sarah Uthoff, attended that anniversary festival and hope to hear from her with some thoughts. Check out her impressive brochure below. That black button can lead you to her website as well! Looking Forward and Back in Time
Happy New Year! As we round the corner into 2025 most of us look ahead and hope for the health of our families, peaceful co-existence, and enriching activities. As a member of CSAA, it is gratifying to reflect on the past and recall the experiences that have fostered renewed interest in preserving our country schools. Just perusing the photos from our 20 years of CSAA conferences reminds me of how many memorable moments we've spent as an organization reuniting with old friends, traveling to places we would never have considered, and being involved in research and presentations that have proven invaluable to our passion for preserving our "icons of public education." So, we continue to invite even more history buffs to keep up the momentum of our association. But, how DO we encourage another generation to pick up that gauntlet and keep our preservation efforts in the forefront? Since 2005 CSAA has laid the groundwork and set many precedents for those who might consider taking an active role in our mission. What do we say to our prospective new members and future participants? I've come up with a list that is not exhaustive by any measure and I look to our readers for additional suggestions. Feel free to submit comments below. WHY BECOME INVOLVED WITH CSAA and WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?
Nothing to lose and everything to gain...help preserve our remaining historic one-room schools.  Recalling School Days 82 Years Later... Sarah Bigelow Parker Buxton was born December 21, 1832. She lived to be 94 years old. On December 11, 1922 (when she was almost 90) she wrote a letter to her granddaughter describing her memories of attending a one-room school in Nashua, NH. That little granddaughter kept the letter and when she was an elderly lady herself, Agnes Barker gave a copy to Nashua's District #1 Schoolhouse living history program in 2009. It is a cherished memory of what it was like to attend such a school in 1840 when "Grandmother" Sarah Buxton was only seven. Here are her memories: "I used to attend school in a small red schoolhouse heated by a wood stove. Boys took turns in attending the fires. There was no janitor in those days and no steam-heated room. Girls were expected to do their share of sweeping and keeping the room tidy. A large wooden bucket held water for scholars and 'twas quite nice to be given the pleasure of passing the tin dipper around so each scholar could have a drink from the same dipper. Germs hadn't made their appearance at that time. The girls, most of them, had a good warm winter dress made of what was called *Linsey Woolsey and we wore them through the term. They were made good and long, no bare knees, long sleeves and high neck, and were very proud if we could have a new print dress to wear Examination Day when the Committee Men were expected to be present. Some of the Committee Men would tell us he thought we had made very commendable progress, and if we had done well we were given a little card to take home called a "Reward of Merit" with the name of the scholar and saying he or she merits the praise of the teacher and they were proud of them. We had desks at which two could sit and the underside had a shelf for our books and perhaps some other things not expected to be there. We often had "spelling schools" and would have two sides compete with each other to choose the best spellers until all were "spelled down." Sometimes we had candy pulls*, not often, but we had no dancing or frolics* as they do today. There were big snowstorms in those days and farmers had to "break out" the road with a big sled and oxen so we could go to school. We had not done much about Christmas except to just wish a "Merry Christmas" and be the first to say it! I used to skip up to the scuttle door* on our roof to the big farmhouse and open it so as to see my seat-mate before she saw me! We had no Christmas tree or presents. We had a schoolmistress in the summer and a schoolmaster in the winter. Some were very good ones and did much training in correct reading. I read one piece in my old reader so many times I remembered it all these years later. I think I can repeat it to you even today! Indeed times have changed. No doubt. I behaved very correctly! Do you doubt it?" Note: Our thanks to Sarah Bigelow Parker Buxton and Agnes Barker, both long passed from our world. *Linsey Woolsey-A coarse, woven fabric of wool and cotton or of wool and linen. The name is a combination of linen and wool. *A candy pull was a party at which taffy or molasses candy was made. * A frolic was a light-hearted, fun, often silly activity. To frolic is to cavort, romp, or run around — to have fun. *A scuttle door is a small access point, often covered by a hatch or panel, that allows entry to a scuttle attic, which is a space in the ceiling leading to an attic. It is typically used for storage or maintenance and is common in older homes. CHECK THIS OUT! - "OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY" I've mentioned this resource before, but I believe it deserves another shout out. At least one humble blogger out there has no idea how much his research is appreciated! He goes by the handle, 'homeschoolblogger" and offers a one-line description, "discussions on various issues by a homeschooling father." But, it is his OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY section that keeps on giving to schoolhouse enthusiasts everywhere. Almost every day he posts a schoolhouse accompanied by a photo and available information on that school. In searching his archives, his daily feature of a schoolhouse dates back to at least 2012! I wish I knew how he goes about his research because he adds a great deal of information on each school and generally adds the location and address. He has featured hundred of schools in the U.S. and Canada and his compendium of photos and descriptions is nothing short of amazing. Many of us have researched country schools in our states, counties, and towns, but this blog covers a wider range of schools we're happy to learn about. I have subscribed to "home school father's" blog and each day I receive a new post that gives me hope that many more country schools are being saved than I ever imagined. I am unable to find his whole name, but I have let him know how valuable his site is to our readers in CSAA. Click on the photo below to access Mr. Walker's blog!   Volunteers inside Boxford, MA restoration of the Little Red Schoolhouse Time to Apply: Deadline is January 31, 2025
Just a reminder: It's a busy season, but January 31st comes all too soon as the final day to apply for a number of CSAA grants. That means it is time to submit your on-line application for the many AWARDS and GRANTS offered by CSAA that help in country school restoration efforts. Help us honor our preservationists, writers, and volunteers. Below is a list of all annual grants and awards. Access the WHAT WE DO dropdown menu to locate your area of interest!
 Christmas Eve Program Turns to Tragedy-1924 Christmas presentations were supposed to be heartwarming events for country school children, but for one small town in Oklahoma, a schoolhouse fire would forever change the nearby community of Hobart and claim the lives of 36 people half of whom were children. It was a tragedy of such dimension that a monument marks the site of the schoolhouse today engraved with the names of all who lost their lives on that December 24, 1924. This year marks the 100th anniversary of that terrible night. The Babbs Switch School children planned for weeks for their Christmas Tree Celebration as was the custom in one-room schools of the past. Parents and friends looked with anticipation to the annual play, poetry recitations, Christmas songs, and homemade treats. They would await the man of the hour, Santa Claus, slated to pay a visit. The tree was decorated with home-made ornaments and the candles were already lit. Upwards of 200 family members and friends packed the schoolhouse that night to watch the program in a room that was a mere 25 x36 feet! Circumstances leading to the fire presented one red flag after another; a dry tree, newly oiled floors, a freshly painted ceiling, windows covered with grating to deter burglars, a single door that opened inward, no running water, overcrowding... and when added up, led to the horrific Christmas Eve aftermath. Rather than catalog the sordid details, and if this has piqued your interest, you can see and hear the story unfold in two videos from YouTube offered below. If anything good came from the tragedy, the nationwide publicity over the fire ultimately led to stricter fire codes for all our schools and other public buildings. The videos are short and some shock will remain with you as it did with me. Our nostalgic impressions of the simplicity, quaintness, and resilience of one-room schools runs counter to harsh moment of truth in the re-telling of the Babbs Switch Fire.  And...believe it or not, there is a children's book in the form of a novel by Darleen Bailey Beard. It features fictional characters but is based on the actual event. It is entitled appropriately enough, The Babbs Switch Story.  Branchville Schoolhouse (L) and West Lane/Peter Parley Schoolhouse (R) Two Ridgefield Schoolhouses added to State Register of Historic Places by Sally Sanders (Check out other news from RHS...click on Sally) The following information was submitted by CSAA member Jack Sanders of the Ridgefield Historical Society. We appreciate updates by our members. It is always gratifying to witness successes in schoolhouse preservation across the country. Huzzah, Connecticut! The Historic Preservation Council of the State of Connecticut voted on June 5, 2024 to add both the West Lane/Peter Parley Schoolhouse and the Branchville Schoolhouse to the State Register of Historic Places. These two buildings are owned by the Town of Ridgefield and were nominated by the Ridgefield Historical Society, which leases and maintains the West Lane/Peter Parley Schoolhouse as a small museum, and hopes to restore the Branchville Schoolhouse for use as an exhibit and community space. The West Lane/Peter Parley Schoolhouse is at the intersection of South Salem Road, West Lane and Silver Spring Road; the old Branchville Schoolhouse is on lower Old Branchville Road. Branchville Schoolhouse on lower Old Branchville Road The addition of the schools to the Connecticut Register of Historic Places means that they have been assessed by the State Historic Preservation Office and found to reflect an integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship. In the case of the West Lane school, the school is also of interest because of some of its graduates, including Samuel G. Goodrich, who wrote wildly popular children’s books in the 19th Century as Peter Parley. Both schools were the subjects of extensive applications, which included detailed scholarly reports by Dr. Daryn Reyman Lock, who the Ridgefield Historical Society hired to examine each building’s history and construction. Being on the Register of Historic Places is generally a requirement for grants to rehabilitate and preserve antique structures. The West Lane/Peter Parley Schoolhouse was also recently added to the National Schoolhouse Register by the Country School Association of America, the first in Connecticut to be added. To read more about and contribute to our Branchville Schoolhouse restoration project and fundraiser, click on the buttons below: For a previous REPORT CARD article on the Peter Parley School
go to the ARCHIVES from March 2024 at right... 
CSAA Schoolhouse Registry Highlighted in Local Access Video: Congratulations Merrimack Historical Society!
The Merrimack Historical Society in southern New Hampshire held a very moving ceremony this past June to accept CSAA Registry plaques for two schoolhouses they own and curate! The local public access television service, Merrimack TV, was there to record the event and share the importance of the history of public education, the meaning to the town, and plans for the future. Dignitaries and friends attended the presentation of the plaques on the grounds of Schoolhouse #3, now the headquarters for the Merrimack Historical Society. The very recognition of these schoolhouses on the CSAA Schoolhouse Registry engendered a great deal of attention for the District #3 and District #12. The ceremony and the coverage by local access TV resulted in many new memberships for the historical society. The MHS board led by John Lastowka has brought the society into the 21st century with countless technology upgrades in the hopes of attracting a younger generation. They understand that community involvement is the key to any society's success and it looks as if Merrimack is on the right track to increase participation. Events such as this are the best advertisement. A little good news can go a long way, so MHS is glad to have membership in CSAA. Hear what the locals have to say at the event! Watch the Merrimack TV video below so you might consider applying for your own schoolhouse marker as a prelude to a community presentation. A great job by Merrimack TV staff!!  Lobsters, Oysters and Eels, "Oh, My!!!" If you're lucky enough to have a schoolhouse that is open during the Thanksgiving holidays you might add a lesson on what the Pilgrims actually ate at the first Thanksgiving. It is not surprising that the feast didn't exactly mirror the one we see in the Norman Rockwell painting or on our own tables. No green bean casserole with Onyums? No sweet potatoes with marshmallows? No apple pie? No Pepperidge Farm Stuffing? If you ever read of the Pilgrims' condition (after losing half their number in the first year), you'd find that eating whatever they could muster up was a luxury! A good source for that information comes from a food timeline site and their references were Plymouth Plantation, now called Plimoth-Patuxet Museums, in Plymouth Massachusetts. I've adapted their article as a PDF for use in our schoolhouses and you can access it by clicking on the photo below. Link to: www.foodtimeline.org  CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ACCESS THE ARTICLE Books by Our CSAA Members for Children Christmas is around the corner and we have a couple recommendations for our youger schoolhouse enthusiasts. Our CSAA authors have been hard at work keeping schoolhouse stories alive for both children and adults. During the past year and a half we've highlighted a number of CSAA writers and their inspiring books, and we appreciate their determination to tell the stories of our country schools. The two posts below are geared for children and will make cherished Christmas gifts. Your support of our writers is much appreciated and you will be rewarded by their creativity and research!  CLICK PHOTO FOR WEBSITE ORDERING Relaunch of the Beloved Belden Boy Series: A Journey Sparked by the Rescue of a One-Room Schoolhouse By P.J. HarteNaus In 2003, an unexpected discovery behind the Jo Daviess courthouse set the stage for an extraordinary preservation effort to save the 1859 Belden School in the Galena Territory. Stockton’s gentleman farmer, Big Bob Kleckner, had a passion for the history of one-room schools. One day (much to the dismay of his wife), Big Bob went dumpster diving and discovered numerous one-room school journals from the area being tossed. Among them were the 1871 and 1923 journals of Belden School. That one search preserved, for future generations, firsthand records of school life from a bygone era. But it didn’t end there. It began in 2003 when Big Bob, Galena Territory managers, Beth Pomaro and Dave Oldenburg, and Territory resident, P.J. HarteNaus, began researching its history. They found Belden artifacts around the school grounds and in the nearby creek. As part of a Master’s class, P. J. interviewed elderly students who once attended the school before it closed due to consolidation in 1943. The stories were incredible. So much so, she decided to preserve them. P.J. fictionalized the oral and documented history, creating the anti-bullying series, Belden Boy, for children of all ages. These events introduced the idea of possibly saving the Belden School structure. After years of discoveries, discussions and presentations to those interested in preserving the school, a committee of volunteers was officially formed in 2005 to authentically and successfully restore the little one-room limestone school in Galena, Illinois. The newly restored Belden School opened to the public in 2009 offering tours and events. The dedicated commission continues to this day, providing education to all who enter the doors of Belden School. The award-winning Belden Boy series takes place in a small farm community in the 1880s where children of all ages learn their lessons in a one-room schoolhouse. Life is simple but rich with challenges and timeless lessons of courage, empathy and understanding. The four-book series is tied to Core State Standards for figurative language and perspective. It is the perspective that makes the series special. The first two books are told from the perspective of the victim, Peter, and his bully relationship with “sometimes pal”, Franky. The third book allows Franky to talk about his confusion when everyone calls him a bully. He just doesn’t see it. The fourth and final book in the Belden Boy series introduces a young girl who comes to Belden School from Minnesota. Annie and her pa have returned to the family farm to help her aging grandpa who is, as they say, “soft in the head”. She has her own limitations but helps to pull the boys and community together, including the new schoolmaster who has a tendency to be a bully, as well. The 2024 relaunch of these timeless tales in the Belden Boy series introduces beautifully illustrated covers, glossy pages and interior sketches by a local Galena artist. The endearing story of Belden School continues to live for future generations. Note from Susan Fineman- P.J. HarteNaus is a two-time winner and recipient of the CSAA Scholarship and Artistry Award. She has presented at numerous CSAA annual conferences. We highly recommend this series for your children and you can locate other children's books by Pattie HarteNaus on her website below.  "The Happy Little Schoolhouse"- Santa Rosa School This illustrated children’s book by Debbie Soto, a 2024 CSAA Scholarship and Artistry Award winner, tells the story of the Santa Rosa Schoolhouse in Cambria, California. The schoolhouse is the main character telling its own story from being built in 1881 through all the major events including the Santa Rosa being moved twice by a large crane. It highlights the happy years with children attending school sessions and the years of abandonment, then the moves and revitalization with children once again returning to the school. In this delightful hardcover book the illustrations are engaging and colorful, and some pages incorporate vintage photos of the school building. We highly recommend it for your children and grandchildren! The author, Debbie Soto, invites you to request a copy through her email at: [email protected]. Note from Susan Fineman-Debbie is a prolific writer promoting schoolhouse history and that of her town of Cambria, California. Her four other outstanding titles include those below: "Let The School Bells Ring" This informative book details the early history of one-room schoolhouses on the north coastal area of San Luis Obispo County, California around Cambria and San Simeon. The author's unique connections to Cambria's pioneer families provide her special insights into the history. Anyone interested in the history of the area will want to take a look at this book. "Living in Harmony- The School, Creamery and Town" Have you ever wondered how the tiny hamlet of Harmony California came to be? Over the years, truth and myth have mingled. Through extensive research, author Debbie Soto provides insight into the history of Harmony - the school, the creamery, and the town. Harmony (population 18) played a surprisingly huge role in California's dairy industry, and supplied William Randolph Hearst and his illustrious guests with their local cheese and butter. Experience the joys and tribulations of those who were lucky enough to live in Harmony. "Glimpses of A Bygone Era: One-Room Schools Along the Hearst Ranch" This informative book details the early history of one-room schoolhouses on the north coastal area of San Luis Obispo County. Anyone interested in the history of the area around Hearst Castle will want to take a look at this book. Packed with area famiy stories, documents, and photos! "Christmas Eve at Bethany" Thus beautiful Christmas story brings the reader memories of an old-fashioned celebration in a vintage church and the real meaning of Christmas. Delight in the idyllic oil paintings and lyrics by Debbie Soto and share a very special Christmas Eve at Bethany.   |
