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Your Pre-Conference Information "At-a-Glance"  CLICK ON THE FLYER FOR CONFERENCE INFORMATION If you are registered for the 2024 CSAA Country School Conference in Toledo, this is the information you've been waiting for! (Printable)
We look forward to seeing our friends in the history, preservation, and restoration world... of schoolhouses! Here you will find: -"At-a Glance" Program Schedule (Detailed 12-page version will be in your conference tote at registration.) -Arrival information at the University of Toledo. -Registration Information. -Dorm check-in (hotel style). -University of Toledo Campus Map. -Parking Information. -Area Attractions with links to short videos. -Meet and Greet Reception.
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Maybe We'll See You in 2025? Registration closed this past week to attend the 23rd CSAA Annual Country School Conference in Toledo, Ohio. Alas, we hope you can join us in West Virginia or Upstate New York in 2025. We will post confirmation of the venue for 2025 after the Toledo conference and hope you'll consider attending. In the meantime, consider a membership in CSAA for $35 a year to support our efforts at preservation. Each year CSAA holds the event in a different state at a unique setting, generally a college or university. Below is a listing of schoolhouse conferences before and after CSAA's official national launch in 2006 as the Country School Association of America. Hear from 20+ presenters on a range of schoolhouse topics each year and take the tour of local schoolhouse museums. Everyone is welcome! Meet new friends who share a unique interest...the heritage of our first public schools and the buildings that remain as living history museums. Continue browsing our website and find out all the things we do to support the history, preservation and restoration of our one and two-room schoolhouses across America...   Ward Township School #5 Readers Seek Hands-on Lessons for Living History I love it when CSAA receives emails like the one below...Why? Because we know we can help! "I am a board member of a one room school in Randolph County Indiana. We redid most of our school. We are now looking for school programs that we can use in our school. Our school is Ward Township School #5 . It's a beautiful school and we look forward to educating kids on how it was in the past. Thank you, Brant Jones While thinking of what a wonderful article this restoration would be on "The Report Card," I immediately sent Mr. Jones the last publication created by our own, Susan Webb, designed with loving attention and detailed instructions for use in one-room school museums. How timely someone wrote for such help. This little booklet is a gift to all us from Susan before she passed away in 2023. In this hand-made lesson book Susan thought of everything you need to create a successful program for visitors including activities for BEFORE, DURING & AFTER a country school field trip. It can be adapted to any grade level with its clear instructions and hands-on activities. I needn't list the delightful ideas she researched and shared freely, since you will be able to access her manual here. "LOOK WHAT WE CREATED IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE TODAY." by Susan Webb, The Traveling Schoolmarm The booklet is offered here in two pdf's, Part I and Part II for copying and emailing. Some pdf files are too large to email and not all people have Drop Box etc. (I have been successful in emailing both parts at the same time though.) Please share this to help other schoolhouse programs in need of fresh ideas! Each picture leads to half the booklet. PART I BELOW PART II BELOW  BTW...I will follow up on the enviable restoration of the Ward Township #5 Schoolhouse in Randolph County, Indiana in a future post. It is spectacular.  ELEANOR ENT- NATIONAL REGISTRY RECIPIENT It was a dream come true for one of our dearest CSAA members in Pennsylvania having her schoolhouse listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Ellie Ent's historical Concord Schoolhouse is an authentically restored “learning-living” school museum located in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In 1848, local families of the surrounding area built this independent school to educate their children. Today, this school museum exemplifies early rural American education, while it offers visitors the unique feeling of being in an actual one-room school. The Concord School was completely restored through the efforts of the late Mrs. Ent who privately preserved this school upon purchasing the farm where her schoolhouse is located. The restoration took several years and many local craftsmen and family members returned the school to its original condition. In 2014 the the Concord School was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. A local celebration hosted by the family that year brought out scores of friends and CSAA members to honor Ellie and her achievement. Mrs. Ent's daughter, Dr. Veronica Ent, opens the school and museum to private groups and organizations. Sadly, E.C. Ent passed away in 2023, but we remember her laughter, her enthusiasm for our annual conferences, her devotion to the Concord School, and her endearing personality. For more information, visit the Concord School website below. Veronica shared a video slide show on the Concord School as part of our 2021 CSAA Annual Conference, held virtually during the pandemic. You can now enjoy this video here!  One of the perks of attending an annual CSAA conference, besides the obvious camaraderie, is coming away with fascinating schoolhouse history. Held in a different state each year we gather information we may never have considered or even heard of. In June of 2018 we met in Beatrice, Nebraska at Southeast Community College and were hosted by National Park Rangers at the Homestead National Monument. The monument is spectacular and the museum exhibits are models of excellence. In Nebraska we examined the rich history of hearty pioneers who were granted parcels of land for very little money under the Homestead Act on the condition that they farm it and improve it. Thousands took advantage and the settlement of the Great Plains is the rest of the story. Building and maintaining country schools would serve as an anchor to these communities, but pride in educating their children would turn to tragedy for many families in the unexpected arrival of a snow storm on January 12, 1888. Not just a mid-west snow storm... Amidst the stories of struggles and survival this fascinating tale was offered by one of our keynote speakers, David Laskin, author of one of two definitive histories of the monstrous multi-state blizzard in his book, "The Children's Blizzard." According to Laskin, "This epic prairie snowstorm killed hundreds of newly arrived settlers and cast a shadow on the promise of the American frontier....many of the dead were schoolchildren who had perished on their way home from country schools." Historians rank the so-called Children's Blizzard of 1888 as the most severe to ever hit Nebraska. It has been labeled a meteorological catastrophe and is ingrained in the story of the Great Plains. Stories of survival... Of greatest interest to our attendees were the stories of how the teachers, children, and parents played out their roles to survive the unprecedented conditions that befell them in a matter of minutes...and then hours. We learned of children getting lost three feet from each other in blinding conditions, holing up in dug out haystacks, lashed together by ropes to follow fence lines home...or burning school furniture to survive the night while huddling in their schoolhouse. Rescues either succeeded or failed. It goes without saying that if this post has piqued your interest, we certainly recommend Laskin's book (published in 2004) so detailed in its storytelling. The limited science of meteorology at the time, the anatomy of the blizzard itself, the life of the homesteader, the decisions made and regretted, the heroism by those most unlikely, the sad losses of life, and the miraculous rescues are all woven into the chapters. As the nation came together to mourn the dead and offer assistance, lessons were learned, memories were shared, and the resilient pioneers would persevere, but never forget. Laskin's summary of the aftermath is as riveting as the unfolding. This a must read for schoolhouse enthusiasts. Another definitive compilation of blizzard stories (available as a used book) was published in 1947. The book entitled, "In All Its Fury: The Great Blizzard of 1888," is described on its back cover: "Some years after the storm, W.H. O'Hare of Laurel Nebraska (one time speaker of the Nebraska House of Representatives) formed with others the January 12, 1888 Blizzard Club. In 1945 members of the club began collecting stories of the blizzard from all over the midwest. These accounts of heroism and courage on the Great Plains were first published in 1947. They are reprinted here to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the great storm and the final meeting of the Blizzard Club on April 9th, 1988." If you'd like some quick articles on the story, try these for good summaries. Also two links to the best blizzard books. |
