 Corn Husk Dolls, photo by Michele Thomas A Re-cycle Drop Off Became Our Treasure! If you're involved with a preserved country school museum, you know well how we're always on the lookout for artifacts for our schoolhouses, and sometimes they just find us! Ebay, Facebook Market Place, antique shops and fairs...are always fun to browse. This time it was one of our own schoolmarms in New Hampshire, Michele Thomas, who hit pay dirt while just keeping an eye out. Michele lives in the picturesque suburban town of Mont Vernon boasting some 2,500 residents, with the name presumably derived from none other than George Washington's estate minus the "u." We do try hard to call it Mont, like "font." Following the practice of frugality, some friendly villages in New Hampshire like Mont Vernon have set up swap shops at their local dump or landfill where you buy nothing because the things people leave in the swap shop are free. Good stuff is preferable. Michele was doing her civic duty recycling when she spied a box of skillfully crafted corn husk dolls in her swap shop. Each doll was performing a farm chore typical of the 19th century. She knew instinctively that these well-preserved dolls would be useful for any number of activities and stories relative to our schoolhouse program, so she adopted the lot. Michele tried to find out who was so kind or desperate to give up these beautifully hand-made dolls to no avail. Consequently, she donated this treasure trove to our District #1 Schoolhouse in Nashua where she works with her "schoolmaster" husband, Ralph Sommese. Our knowledge of corn husk dolls was limited to our newly acquired treasure, so we took to the web for answers. This post could go on and on about corn husk dolls, but in the interest of brevity, links are provided if you wish to delve into their history and craft. "Google images" offers hundreds of pictures and Wikipedia posts information. We have even included the AI response when asked: "Can you tell me about corn husk dolls from the 19th century." To pique your interest...we can certainly thank our Native American cultures for their earliest contribution. Watch the video provided to see how Cherokee corn husk dolls are made and think of how you could construct them with students or feature the craft during heritage days. You can easily relate them to frontier farm life and schoolhouse history, so you may wish to incorporate the story with your class. Have fun! See links below to learn of: Native American Origins- Use by Pioneers- Their Appearance- Folk Art, etc.
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 Bill Sherman front and center... Dear CSAA Friends, It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of William "Bill" L. Sherman, a board member and friend of the Country School Association of America, on October 27, 2025. Bill dedicated his life to the service and promotion of country schools and preservation of early American schooling. During this time, Bill led the charge on several notable recognitions and country school conferences for his home state of Iowa and served as a founding charter member of our national organization, CSAA. Some of his work included: promoting the redesign of Iowa’s quarter with a schoolhouse, editing of two reference books on Iowa country schools, years of service to the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance, Humanities Iowa Speakers Bureau, State Historical Society of Iowa Board of Trustees, and so many other contributions. His legacy will continue to inspire and benefit our CSAA community for years to come. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Bills family, his wife, Faith, and loved ones during this difficult time. Bill will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him. A link to his obituary can be found below: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/obituaries/piow1316485 Faith Sherman’s address is 3928 Twana Drive, Des Moines, IA 50310. Donations in Bills memory can be made from the CSAA website using a credit card on the “give to CSAA” page: https://www.countryschoolassociation.org/give-to-csaa.html or by check to Country School Association of America, P O Box 152, Colts Neck, New Jersey 07722. Please indicate in memory of Bill Sherman. We stand together with Bill and all the members of his family at this difficult time. Please keep them in your prayers. "God of love and mercy, embrace all those whose hearts today overflow with grief, unanswered questions and a sense of loss. Grant them space to express their tears. Hold them close through the coming days." Yours, Dr. Veronica Ent CSAA President Note: We will all miss Bill, without whom, CSAA might not exist. He was "Mr. Country School," enthusiastic and dedicated to the end. We owe him much as he and Lucy Townsend spearheaded our organization and encouraged us at every turn to expand and carry on our preservation efforts. He was a character, known all over Iowa for his Preservation Iowa conferences which many of us attended in addition to CSAA. Every conference trip to Iowa was held in a different town and all were well attended and filled with activities. Bill's last conference was in 2023 in Clinton, Iowa. In the May 2025 edition of The Report Card we posted a classic narrated slide show on Noah Webster by Susan Webb, entitled "Webster in Your Classroom." Feel free to check it out again. In this edition, we offer even more information with easy to use PDF's loaded with fun facts for children about his Blue Back Speller and his "Webster's Dictionary" that became a staple in education for centuries. His dictionary grew from 40,600 definitions in 1806 to 70,000 in 1828, with over 225,000 today. Two PDF's in one file are available by clicking on the image below: Noah Webster's Dictionary Happy Birthday, Noah Webster! The activity sheets posted here would probably have Webster in a tizzy as HE was one of the major promoters of copyright laws to protect someone else's work. These were clipped from unknown newspapers, on an unknown date many years ago, but we promise that if there is an objection lodged here we will take down the post. Hopefully readers will value them for pedagogical use and the creators will be lenient on us.
Note: The "Noah Webster's Dictionary" page is from The Mini Page 2008 Universal Press Syndicate, which became Uclick (now defunct). |
