April Artifact of the Month McGuffey Eclectic Readers

The McGuffey Eclectic Readers are basic reading texts intended to develop children’s reading skills. They were used widely in America’s early public schools as a common book for all. However, the overall theme for the readers was to promote moral character and personal attributes aligned with a Protestant perspective and the King James version of the Bible.


Starting at a primer level with very small (two- to three-letter) words, the vocabulary and literary passages increase in length and difficulty with each level, 1 through 6. Although there are no separate teacher’s guides, the introductions to early volumes suggest that teachers can use the readers with a phonics method, a whole-word method, or a combination. Exercises in early levels, starting with grade 1, expect the youngest students to practice writing (on their slates) in both manuscript letters and script (cursive). Key vocabulary words are presented with pronunciations, and definitions and illustrations are frequent, intended to serve as conversation starters. Upper-level books emphasize skills in oral reading inflection and articulation.

As the series title indicates, the types of writing are, indeed, eclectic. Topics vary, authors are both men and women, and writing styles start with simple stories for younger children with increasing amounts of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction later on. Writers of note, such as Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, Longfellow, and Bret Harte, appear frequently.

A Short History
In 1836, the publishing company Truman and Smith, commissioned William Holmes McGuffey to create a series of standardized readers for first through fourth grades. Recommended by Harriet Beecher Stowe, McGuffey became the famous author (editor), and professor from the Miami University in Oxford Ohio, who changed the way reading was taught in the classroom from the prairie to the emerging city schools catering to recent immigrants and, later, to emancipated slaves. For the first four volumes, McGuffey was paid one thousand dollars.

William McGuffey was born in 1800 and first taught in a one-room schoolhouse at the age of fourteen. Later he would become a valued professor of philosophy, including positions at Miami University of Ohio and University of Virginia, and presidencies at Cincinnati College and Ohio University.


William McGuffey believed that with a Presbyterian, Calvinist influence, students could excel in both academics and moral behavior. As a strong supporter of public education, McGuffey encouraged the poor and free slaves to attend classrooms, thinking that the ability to read was essential for all Americans. In the late 1800s, the readers were revised, and the fifth- and sixth-grade volumes were added.

The McGuffey Readers sold more than 120 million copies from 1836 to 1960 and are still sold today, and used in private schools and by homeschoolers.


William McGuffey died in 1873.


Donation
MOTAL’s books were donated in 2006 by a supporter/volunteer, Ellen D. Lentz. The books are imprints by the American Book Company. 


Learn More
If you would like to learn more about the McGuffey Eclectic Readers, we recommend the following:
Book entitled School: The Story of American Public Education, edited by Sarah Mondale (Beacon Press, 2001, 2002)


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