Legacy lives on: ‘McGuffey Reader’ still in use today
Photos: Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Citizens Library in Washington houses several McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers. The textbooks were created by Claysville area native William Holmes McGuffey and starting in 1836, were widely used in American schools for many decades.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers, written by Claysville area native and Washington College graduate William Holmes McGuffey, had a profound influence on public education in the United States.
Courtesy of McGuffey School District
A historical marker honoring William Holmes McGuffey, creator of the McGuffey’s Eclectic Reader, is located in Claysville. After the Civil War, McGuffey’s readers were the most common school books in more than 35 states and by 1920 sold an estimated 122 million copies, becoming one of the nation’s most influential books.
A statue of William Holmes McGuffey on the campus of Miami University of Ohio. McGuffey, who was called "schoolmaster to the nation," created the McGuffey Readers in a little brick house adjacent to the Miami campus. He taught courses at Miami in moral philosophy, ancient languages and literature. Only the Bible has had more copies printed than the McGuffey Readers.
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the death of William Holmes McGuffey.
The teacher and minister, who died in 1873, became one of the most influential voices in public school education in the 19th century.
McGuffey, who was born in a one-room log home in West Finley Township and graduated from Washington College – and for whom the McGuffey School District is named – created “McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers,” one of the best-known textbooks in the history of American education.
The first and second eclectic readers were published in 1836, and the third and fourth school primers were released in 1837.
McGuffey, who was known as “the schoolmaster of the nation,” quickly became an influential voice in the 19th-century public school movement.
An estimated 120 million copies of McGuffey’s Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960 – placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary – and eventually became the standard textbook in 35 states.
“The Library of Congress named the McGuffey Reader among 100 most influential books in American history,” said Steve Gordon, administrator of the McGuffey House and Museum in Oxford, Ohio. “For a period of time, other than the Bible, they were considered the best-selling books.”
The books are still in print today (since 1961, the books have sold at a rate of about 30,000 copies a year), and are still being used in some schools in America. The books have gained popularity with home schoolers.
Susan Richman of Pennsylvania Homeschoolers, who teaches an AP U.S. history class, said several students over the years have noted they have had the readers on their shelves.
“(McGuffey) was interested in moral and character development; that was an important thing to him, and that’s a reason why a lot of home-school families like them,” said Richman.
McGuffey, a son of Scottish immigrants whose foundations were religion and the value of education, was born September 23, 1800, the second of 11 children.
When he was 2, the family moved to Ohio.
An excellent student, McGuffey became a “roving teacher” at age 14, at frontier schools, mostly in Kentucky. Students brought their own books – often the Bible – since few textbooks existed.
He graduated with honors from Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in 1826, and after graduation he became a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In 1829, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.
“It’s remarkable and a real testament to him that he accomplished all that he did. He came from incredibly modest means,” said Gordon. “He didn’t have a lot of money, but his mother and father believed very strongly in education as a way of overcoming your social status. Education is the key. He was an astute learner at a young age, and he got a college degree at time when less than 1% of men went to college.”
It was in 1835 that the small Cincinnati publishing firm of Truman and Smith asked McGuffey to create a graded series of readers for students.
The books McGuffey wrote integrated faith with learning. They contained word formation exercises, pictures, and stories of a variety of subject matter, and taught religious, moral, and ethical principles that reflected McGuffey’s personality and society at the time. They contained excerpts from the works of writers including Daniel Webster and John Milton, and portions of the Bible.
The readers were designed to become progressively more challenging with each volume.
“McGuffey was a pious man, a Presbyterian minister, who infused his books with a lot of typical 19-century values and virtues,” said Gordon.
“He’s a good example of being in the right place at the time. The country was moving west, there was a need for standardized texts, and he’d been thinking for a while about writing a reader. They served as the standard text across a good portion of the U.S.”
McGuffey left Miami University for positions of successively greater responsibility at Cincinnati College, Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and Woodward College in Cincinnati, where he served as president. He ended his career as a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Virginia.
Gordon said the readers – which originally didn’t bear his name – started to become dated in the early 20th century and eventually were replaced by the Dick and Jane reader series.
Several well-worn copes of McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers are housed at Citizens Library in Washington.
Dr. Andrew Oberg, superintendent of McGuffey School District, said the school is proud to bear McGuffey’s surname.
“Rightly as a namesake, the school district is proud to carry on his name and legacy of quality education for all students,” said Oberg. “A schoolteacher himself, I believe at the age of 14, he was an advocate for the teaching profession and helped to create the system of ‘teachers’ colleges.'”