Will You Present a Program in Toledo?
It's quite amazing when local and national news outlets highlight the major events of the past year and pay tribute to the notables who have passed away in 2023. Often we say, "Oh, no...how did I miss that one?" We're busy tending to our own lives, families, jobs and activities. As we enter 2024 with health and hope we have many things to look forward to at CSAA and you're invited to participate!

Think about attending or presenting at the CSAA Conference at the University of Toledo June 9-12, 2024. The deadline for Proposals for Presentations is January 31, 2024. Submit your proposal and you will be notified of acceptance by February 15th.

You all have something of interest to say about country schools, preservation, restoration, programming or history. Share it in Toledo! Since CSAA began holding conferences there have been no repeat presentations because everyone who offers a program brings a new perspective to a historic topic...Country Schools. We can accommodate your method of presentation with UT's technology...video, Power Point presentations, music, sound, and/or display. Meet new friends who share your passion for one-room schools. We're like-minded people. Take the coach tour on Wednesday and visit preserved country schools. It's a great time with really nice people who are knowledgeable in countless  areas of schoolhouse preservation.

So, what are you waiting for? Remember JANUARY 31st IS THE DEADLINE, so you don't have to ask yourself..."How did I miss that one?
                                                               HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM CSAA!

Restoring the Santa Rosa Schoolhouse in Cambria, California​
If you missed our 2021 Virtual Conference, you can now enjoy this inspirational video of the restoration and preservation of the Santa Rosa Schoolhouse which we aired for our attendees. The work there is on-going and you will be treated to updates in the progress of this restoration.

The documentary video, “Santa Rosa One-Room School—Waltzing Back in Time,” is written and presented by CSAA Member, Debbie Soto. The filming and production credit for this video goes to Kyle Plummer of Super Image, Ltd. This video highlights the history and stories of the former Santa Rosa School near Cambria, California which is now in the possession of the Cambria Historical Society.   

Debbie said, "We all are blessed that the Santa Rosa Schoolhouse has survived through the passage of time to be an example of that era. The 140 year old building is in the process of being restored to its former glory to be a beacon of light to future generations. The former one-room schools of the past across America should have a place of honor and respect as they were the edifices of early education in our country. This education included more than the 3 R’s—‘readin’, ‘ritin,’ and ‘rithmitic. The students learned independence, wisdom, work ethic, and dappled in the arts with their homespun plays and recitals. This video was produced to give others a taste of what it was like to attend a small, intimate and friendly school."

CSAA appreciates everything our members do on behalf of schoolhouses across the country. Our volunteerism is necessary for their continued existence.
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Be sure to visit the Cambria Historical Society at www.cambriahistoricalsociety.com home of the Santa Rosa Schoolhouse . .

​                             Click on the photo below to access the Video Presentation...Enjoy!

Original Stove Finds its Way Back to Its Schoolhouse
Submitted by Debbie Soto

​Restoring our country schools is an arduous task and we scour antique stores to furnish our museums in the style of days gone by. Sometimes we get lucky and find original artifacts that were actually connected to the schoolhouse itself. Here, CSAA member Debbie Soto, shares a unique story of one such forgotten stove...

...An antique rusty woodstove from the 1880s was stored away in an old farm shed after being removed from the Santa Rosa schoolhouse in the 1940s. It was replaced with a more efficient oil burning heater to keep students warm.  The old woodstove was overlooked and forgotten for almost 80 years when a little known family tip was revealed. Debbie’s uncle, Olie Fiscalini, told her that he still had the woodstove in his shed. His father, Olimpio Fiscalini Sr., had put it in the shed years earlier and it set there ever since. The stove was buried under years of debris and other junk.

With this newly discovered tidbit, everyone was energized to have the stove restored and placed back into the schoolroom. The community rallied together and two young men, Brian and Paul Snow, with ties to the schoolhouse, offered to restore the stove as a gift. They spent many weekends and after hours from their busy jobs to complete this project. Now the stove is back where it belongs looking as new as it did more than 140 years ago when the schoolhouse and stove were brand new. Hallelujah! Miracles still happen!

You'll definitely want to read "the rest of the story..." so, access this link!

The Schoolmaster's Electronic Bookshelf
by Mike Day 
​(Re-print)
The concept of teacher education (at least here in America) dates to the early 1840's with the establishment of the first "Normal Schools", a term derived from the French "Ecole Normal." As applied to a school for teachers the word "normal" meant an institution where correct standards or "norms" were taught, and where the art of teaching was demonstrated in correct practice. Massachusetts established first Normal School at Lexington with three students on July 3, 1839. New York established one in 1844 and Connecticut followed in May 1850.
 
In addition to formal academic preparation, there was a strong movement towards Teachers Conventions at which the newer approaches were introduced and discussed. But such formal training tended to be limited to teachers in the settled and urbanized areas. For those in more isolated situations, self-education was often the only option.

A number of periodicals for teachers also appeared, most being published by the various State Departments of Education. These provided support and encouragement, instruction in specific aspects of teaching, and recommendations regarding professional books that teachers should read. The books could be ordered by mail, so that even in the most out-of-the-way settlements, dedicated teachers could keep up with the developments in their field.
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The bookshelf of a committed teacher would contain some or all of the following titles:
School Architecture: or Contributions to the Improvement of School-houses, Henry Barnard, New York, 1848
Confessions of a School Master, William A. Alcott, New York, 1839 
The Teacher's Manual, Thomas H. Palmer, Boston, 1840
Lectures on School-Keeping, Samuel Hall, Boston, 1832
The Teacher Taught; or The Principals and Modes of Teaching, Emerson Davis,1839
Lectures to Female Teachers on School-Keeping, Samuel Hall, Boston, 1832
The School-Master's Friend, With the Committee-Man's Guide, Theodore Dwight, Jr., New York, 1835
Essay on the Construction of School-Houses, William Alcott, Boston 1832
Slate And Black Board Exercises, William Alcott, New York, 1843
The Teacher Taught, Emerson Davis, Boston, 1839
The Teacher's Manual, Thomas H. Palmer, Boston, 1840
The School And School-Master, Alonzo Potter, New York, 1842
How Shall I Govern My School ?, E. C. Wines, Philadelphia, 1838
Lectures On Education, Horace Mann, Boston, 1845

Many more could be listed. These books contain much that is relevant to good teaching even today. Museum people who peruse them get to share in the thinking that motivated 19th century teachers, and secure a first-hand look into the day-to-day workings of their schools. It’s worth your time to take a look.
 
Accessing An Electronic Treasure
While you could scour the country's research libraries in search of original copies, a much easier approach is available to you through your computer. All of the books listed above are available to you at no cost through Google books. Clear images of the original publications can be downloaded to your computer or other electronic reader whenever you want them.
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To gain access, first go to the site: GOOGLE BOOKS . When the main page opens, there will be a search box under it. In this window type the name of the book you want, and click on the magnifying glass.  A list of sites will be presented that offers access to that book. The listing will usually indicate where and when it was published. Look for the notation "READ” under the title and click on that. The book will open and you can read it by scrolling down.

You can browse through the book, print a copy or save it for later. It’s a modern electronic version of the school-master’s bookshelf. And just as the originals helped frontier teachers do a better job in their one room school-houses, the electronic versions can help you to be a more informed interpreter in your restored school-house.
 
Note: Mike Day was a regular contributor to the CSAA newsletter during its years of publication and the owner of Clippership Publications. We continue to seek Mike out to find out where he retired. 

Where There's a Quill, There's a Way
Submitted by Susan Fineman

As a schoolmarm in a one-room schoolhouse living history program, I regularly research the lessons and materials used in the 19th century, particularly our time frame of the 1840's. There are numerous references in literature and texts about making, mending, and using quill pens, and it appears they were used quite commonly until about 1830.

It used to be the case that when visiting students learned they would be writing with quill pens in our schoolhouse they were all excited... until... they found out how very difficult it was to actually write with them! Students left the schoolhouse with blue stained fingers and returned to their own schools proud of their efforts, but appreciating their gel pens, markers, and pencils even more.

No More Quills for Us…Price Prohibitive!
Years ago we switched to steel tip nibs on pen holders because actual quills became too expensive and hard to find even on the internet! They wore out quickly in untrained hands and the cost became prohibitive. We decided to economize and went for the long-lasting Nib #A-5 found at www.paperinkarts.com.
This nib has a small ink reservoir built in for a better flow. For ink, we found Parker QUINK ink works best for our lessons and we’ve been using it for years…available on Amazon ($10-$14/bottle). We can justify the switch from quills historically, as steel pens came into more regular use around the 1820’s when they went into large scale manufacture under Joseph Gillott in Sheffield, England.

First-Person Quill Recollection
I was thumbing through a book of recollections of early Nashua, NH residents and came across a wonderful excerpt about quill pens, as told by Hannah Eayrs Barron, who was born c. 1808. She tells the story of obtaining quills from a Mr. Cosmo Lund and his widowed sister Lucy who lived on a nearby farm together until the day they died.

“They used to keep geese and very kindly gave to the school children in the neighborhood quills. Often I have received quills from them with which I learned to write. No such thing as a steel pen or gold pen was known at the time. And every scholar who was large enough to learn to write was supplied with a blank writing book, made of foolscap paper unruled. Having no lead pencils the scholars manufactured for themselves what they called a plummet, which they made by making a shallow mold into which was poured melted lead. After it was cold, it was smoothed off to an edge and with the aid of a straight ruler we were able to mark our writing books with straight lines. 

The teachers would make our pens of the quills which we furnished. If we did not find quills enough where geese were kept, we had to buy them at the stores, called Dutch quills, which the teachers manufactured into pens for all those who were large enough to learn to write until the scholars were large enough to make their own pens. 
The teachers set all the copies (wrote a sentence in their own hand that the scholars would copy) which, after the scholars were able to write a running hand, was usually some moral or religious or historical sentence or maxim.

Every scholar who was large enough to write was expected to write twice a day, which came after the first reading and before the recitation of any other lesson. Those scholars grew to be useful members of society and I cannot call one to mind who went to school in my day, who was ever put in jail or prison for a crime or was much given to intemperance."…Hannah Eayrs Barron

Some Interesting QUILL FACTS Learned Along the Way: 
1.) The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was calligraphed by a professional using a quill pen, not by Jefferson himself. The U.S. Constitution was also penned with a quill.
2.) The strongest quills are taken from living birds in the spring, the best being the five left outer wing feathers, because they curved away from the right-handed writer. 
3.) You can wash quill pens gently in warm soapy water and they will regain their shape upon drying. 
4.) The term penknife, came from the jackknife used for cutting the tips of quills. 
5.) The Lewis and Clark expedition was fully documented in journals by Meriwether Lewis using quill pens. 
6.) From John Jenkins (1855-1923) in The Art of Writing: "For the help of such youth as are accustomed to labor, and thereby have their fingers stiffened and rendered insensible of the weight of the pen, I have practiced the following method. A round piece of lead, an inch and a half in length, with one end sharpened, may be pushed up the barrel of the quill into the pith; this weight will at once be perceivable by the learner, and enable him more readily to acquire the command of the pen."
6.) Quill pens lasted about a week with regular use and sharpening. 
7.) By the mid 1840’s quill pens were on their way out, replaced largely by steel pens.
If your schoolhouse predates 1840 and you make use of quill pens, you may be interested in a number of links to their history: 
Facts and History of Quill Pens    
Quill Pen vs. Steel Pen     
Cutting Quill Pens from Feathers  ​