Textbook Collection
Collection of Textbooks Used in the Public Schools, 1890s-1960s.
The Textbook Collection in the Eanes History Center Library contains books that are typical of the texbooks used in the Eanes Rural County School. These books were published between the 1870s and the 1960s.
Blue Back Spellers (1908) and the
McGuffey's Readers (1920) were the standard
textbooks for many decades in the classrooms.
"Textbooks in the County Rural Schools"*
One of the collections of books in the Eanes History Center Library represents the textbooks found in most Texas county rural schools from the 1870s into the 1960s. During the earliest decades of the Eanes one room school, the few books studied were probably brought by the students from home or were bought for the school by the local school trustees. These textbooks covered all the levels from first grade (children were seven or eight when they entered the five months a year school then) through the eighth grade (where students were sometimes older than the teacher.) When the County School Superintendent began to furnish textbooks, using county and state funds, each school and classroom began to have a collection of textbooks. These books were kept and used year after year even as newer ones were added. Especially readers, geography, history, and arithmetic books were collected. Sometimes an industrious student in one year could go through several readers and arithmetics.
The Eanes History Center has several copies of the original "Blueback Speller." Every page in this small book taught a list of words, usually of many syllables, with definitions, and always with a quotation or short paragraph with a "moral" emphasis. This was the standard speller for many decades dating from the middle 1800s to well into the nineteen hundreds. The reading books changed through the decades from mainly Greek and Roman myths, to stories of everyday people often with a guiding principle or with an example of good attitude or behavior. Many of these stories still read very well and are of interest to today's students.
The arithmetic textbooks are full of "stated" problems and provide plenty of drill in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and "long" division. A student working his way through these books in the elementary school easily could do "figurin'" in his head the rest of his life.
These eight decades of books are represented in the Eanes History Center Textbook Collection and provide an interesting comparison with textbooks used today.
*This was excerpted from an article that was published in the Westbank Picayune Distinct Section, August 30, 1996, and was written by a member of the History Center Board.
Textbook Collection
Adair, A. Garland: Texas, Its History. 1954
Attwood, Wallace: Visits in Other Lands. 1943
Avery, Fannie L.: Prose and Poetry, Junior Literature. Book II. 1929
Baker, Clara: Bobbs-Merrill First Reader. 1936. Display.
Baker, Clara: The Curriculum Readers IV - The Earth We Live On. 1937
Baker, Franklin: Everyday Classics, Second Reader. 1927. Display.
Barker, Eugene C.: A School History of Texas. 1924
Beauchamp, Wilbur: All Around Us, Guidebook, Book B, Pre-Primer. 1944
Beamer, Charles: The Texans! Tejas to Today. 1972
Bennett, Elizabeth: High Road to Glory. 1947
Bennett, Elizabeth: Wonder and Laughter: Stories to Remember. 1947
Benson, B.K.: The Practical Speller and Definer. Seven Hundred Spelling and Defining Lists. 1889
Betts, Emmett: Along Friendly Roads, Third Reader. 1948
Betts, Emmett: Around Green Hills, First Reader. 1948
Betts, Emmett: Beyond Treasure Valley, Third Reader. 1948
Betts, Emmett: Down Singing River, Second Reader. 1949
Betts, Emmett: Over a City Bridge, Second Reader. 1948
Bond, Guy: Days of Adventure. 1962 (1953)
Bringham, Albert P.: Essentials of Geography, Second Book. Includes Geography of Texas by Nelle McCorkle. 1925
Brown, Joseph: Champion Arithmetic, Grade 7. l933.
Brown, Mary: A Condensed History of Texas for Schools. 1895. Display
Brown, Thomas: The Winston Simplified Dictionary for Schools. 1937. Display
Burleson, David: Adventures in English, Grade 6. 1940
Chamberlain, James: How We Are Clothed: A Geographical Reader. 1914
Chamberlain, Rudolph: Junior Beacon Lights of Literature Series. 1937
Chambers, William: The Geography of Texas. 1946
Chutter, Frances Elizabeth: The Art-Literature Readers. 1905
Coates, Lydia: American Dressmaking, Step-By-Step. A Complete, Simplified Method of Sewing, Dress Making and Tailoring. 1917
Coe, Ida: Story Hour Readers - Primer. First Year-First Half. 1913
Condon, Randall: The Great Conquest Reader. 1930
Cooper, Mable: Favorite Stories. 1923. Display
Culter, Horace: The Rural School. Its Methods and Management. 1913
DeLancey, Floy W.: Across the Blue Bridge - The Prose and Poetry Series.
Doerner, Celia: Treasury of General Knowledge for School and Home. 1910 (1882)
Dressel, Herman: The Laidlaw Readers, Book 3. 1920
Dressel, Herman: The New Barne Readers Primer. 1916
Dutton, Samuel T.: School Management. Practical Suggestions Concerning the Conduct and the Life of the School. 1904
Eggleston, Edward: First Book in American History. 1889
The Elson Pupil's Hand Chart for Pre-Primer Work. 1921
Elson, William: Junior High School Literature, Book 2. 1928
Evertts, Eldonna: Crossroads. 1966
Evertts, Eldonna: Trade Winds. 1966
Faegre, Marion: Child Care and Training. 1930
Fernalde: Grammar School Standard Dictionary of the English Language. 1905. Gift Book
Gates, Arthur: Sharing Adventures. 1951
Gates, Arthur: The Pupils' Own Vocabulary Speller. Grade 3. 1950
Genung, John: The Working Principles of Rhetoric. 1900
Gray, William: Friends and Neighbors, Guidebook. 1941
Gray, William: Workaday Readers. A Basic Text in Reading for the 4th Grade. Display
Hamilton, Samuel: School Arithmetic for Grammar Grades. 1909
Hamilton, Samuel: Hamilton's Essential School Arithmetic for Higher Grades. 1920
Hanthorn, Alice: Billy Boy on the Farm. 1933
Henderson, Barbara: The Firelight Book. 1946
Hugley, Laura: Many Homes. 1950
Hunter, George: Essentials of Biology. 1911
Hunter, Lucretia: The Girl Today and the Woman Tomorrow. 1932
Irish, Marie: Good Things for Washington and Lincoln Birthdays. nd Display
Jacobs, William: The Practical Speller. 1901
Jeschke, H.: Oral and Written English. Beginners' Book in Language. 1921
Johnson, Eleanor: Treat Shop. 1954.
King, Allen: The Way of Democracy. 1941
Koffmeyer, William: Basic Spelling Goals. 1960
Knolle, Dorothy: Adventures in Reading - Exploration. 1947
Law, Frederick Houk: Mastery of Speech. A Course in Eight Parts on General Speech, Business Talking, and Public Speaking. Say How You Say It Under All Conditions. 1918
Leavell, Ullin: Widening Horizons. 1956
Lockwood, Sara: Lessons in English Adapted to the Study of the American Classics. 1897
Lyman, Rollo L.: Treasury of Life and Literature. Volume 3. 1937
Martin, Cora: At Home. Real Life Readers. 1930
Mathews, Mary Lock: First Lessons in Clothing and Textiles, Foods and Cookery, Family Relationships, the Care and Management of the House, the Care of Children, Home Nursing and Health. 1927
Mawson, C.O.S.: Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. 1922
McCallum, A.N.: The New Century Spelling Book. In Two Parts for Primary and Grammar Grades. Copy 1 1908; Copy 2 1912. Display
McGuffey's Fifth Electic Reader, 1879 Edition. 1962 reprint
McIntire, Alta: Working Together. 1965
McKee, Paul: Come Along. 1966
McKee, Paul: Sky Lines. 1953
McMurry, Lida: Our Language. First Book. 1905
McSkimmon, Mary: The Magic Spear. 1929
McSpadden, Walter: Texas, A Romantic Story for Young People. 1927. Display
Meek, Charles S.: English To-day. Manual for Teachers. nd
Mitchell, Lucy: Growing World: Animals, Plants, and Machines. 1944
Moffitt, Virginia: Broad Skies of Freedom. 1949
Morey, Charles: Elementary Arithmetic. 1919
New Texas School Reader. 1864. Reprint, 1962. Display
O'Donnell, Mabel: Alice and Jerry Books: If I Were Going. 1936. 1941 reprint
O'Donnell, Mabel: The Alice and Jerry Basic Readers: The New If I Were Going. 1950
Ontario Public School Composition and Grammar. 1920
Parker, Horatio: The Progressive Music Series. Book One. 1914. 1920 reprint
Parker, Horatio: The Progressive Music Series for Basal Use in Primary, Intermediate, and Grammar Grades. Book Four. 1915
Payne, Frank: Geographical Nature Studies. 1898
Pitts, Lilla: Singing on Our Way. 1949
Potter, Milton: Oral and Written English. Grade 5. 1917
Public School Methods. Fully Illustrated from Photographs, Paintings, and Original Drawings. Vol. V and VI. 1921
Purse, William: Always Be Careful - Coloring Book. 1957
Richardson, Rubert. Texas, The Lone Star State. nd
Roberts. Paul: The Roberts English Series. Book Five. 1966
Robinson, Helen: Open Highways. 1965
Sallen, Benjamine: A Child Experience Reader: Wings for Words. 1947
Scarbrough, W. Frances: Stories from the History of Texas. 1929
Sellers, David: Nature's Wonderland. 1938
Shane, Harold: Words with Wings. 1964
Sharp, Adda, and Eppsie Young: Woodland Frolics Series: Little Lost BoBo. 1947
Sharp, Adda: The Heart of the Wild. 1955
Shattuck, Marquis: Toward Pleasant Shores, Book 5. 1949
Smallwood, W.M.: Biology for High Schools. 1920
Smith, Eleanor: The Eleanor Smith Music Course, Book 4. 1908
Smith, Minna: The World and Its People. Our Country, Book III.
Smith, Nela: Distant Doorways. 1940
Spencer, Paul: Finding New Trails. 1945
Steen, Ralph: History of Texas. 1939
Stewart, Frank: The Constitution and Government of Texas. 1933
Stone, John: The Stone Arithmetic, Seventh Year. 1929
Strayer, George: Strayer-Upton Arithmetic, Lower Grade. 1928
Stull, Forest: Journeys Through Many Lands: A Textbook in the New Geography. 1946
Summers, Maude: The Summers Readers, Second Reader. 1909
Sutherland, William: The Teaching of Geography. 1909
Sutton, Rachael: Trails Beckon. 1946
Sutton, W.S.: Arithmetic, Lower Book. 1906. 1912 reprint
Texas Today, A Reference Book for Geography. 1960
Tippett, James: Here and There with Henry. 1947
Townsend, Herbert: Our America: The Story of Our Country. 1944
VonRoekel, Byron: From Elephants to Eskinos. Basic First Reader. 1969
Webster, Noah. The Elementary Spelling Book. The National Standard, An Improvement on the American Spelling Book. "Blue Back Speller." Display. Special Collection. 1857, 1880, 1908. Display
Wentworth, G. A.: New School Algebra. 1898
Wentworth, G.A.: A High School Arithmetic. 1894
White, E.E.: New Elementary Arithmetic. 1883.
White, Emerson E.: School Management. A Practical Treatise for for Teachers and All Other Persons Interested in the Right Training of the Young. 1893
Willis, Benjamin: Adventure. 1950
Witherspoon, Anna: Golden Bells Around the World. 1936
Witty, Paul: Peacock Lane. 1964
Yoakam, Gerald: Children Everywhere. 1940. 1947 reprint