The American State Normal School "An Instrument of Great Good"

by Ogren, Christine A.

• ISBN13: 9781403968388
• ISBN10: 1403968381
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-01
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Nearly two-hundred state colleges and regional universities throughout the country began as "normal" schools, but the institutions themselves have buried their history, and scholars have largely overlooked them. Christine A. Ogren focuses on the lives of the first wave of "nontraditional" students in higher education. In her engaging and accessible narrative, Ogren presents a groundbreaking comprehensive history and much-needed reexamination of the state normal school for all courses on the history of education, foundations, and women's higher education.

Author Biography

Christine A. Ogren is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Iowa. She was a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellow, and has contributed essays to prestigious publications such as the The Historical Dictionary of Women's Education in the United States, The Journal of Higher Education, Women's Studies Quarterly and History of Education Quarterly.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: ``It Wasn't Much of a College''	1	(6)
Part I Early Normal Schools, 1840s--1860s	7	(46)
``To Awaken the Conscience'': Establishing Teacher Education and State Normal Schools	9	(44)
Part II The Heyday of the State Normal School, 1870s---1900s	53	(148)
``The Masses and Not the Classes'': A Tradition of Welcoming Nontraditional Students	55	(30)
``Substantial Branches of Learning'' and ``A Higher Degree of Culture'': Academic Studies and Intellectual Life	85	(36)
Teacher Education: Breathing ``The Ozone of Teaching''	121	(30)
``Noble'' Men and ``Not Necessarily Bloomer Women'': The Public Sphere, Gender Attitudes, and Life Choices	151	(50)
Epilogue: ``Lots of Pep! Lots of Steam!''	201	(10)
Appendix: State Normal Schools in the United States	211	(26)
Abbreviations of Archival Collections	237	(2)
Notes	239	(53)
Index	292