Revised 05/06/2019
Purpose of the Collection:
To provide primary source examples of pedagogical methods, contents, and evolving American values as portrayed in PK-12 textbooks.
Description:
Historical Textbooks date from the early to mid-19th century through the mid-20th century. The collection includes both primary and secondary textbooks, with a focus on the following subjects:
- Art education
- Business education: bookkeeping, accountancy, commercial education
- Composition and rhetoric
- Geography
- Handwriting
- Health/hygiene education
- History, United States and World
- Language instruction: French, German, Latin, English
- Music education
- Reading primers and readers
- Science: zoology, botany, anatomy
- Speech
- Spelling
- Vocational education
Not collected:
- Dictionaries
- Readers for foreign language learning
- Pedagogy
Selectors:
The University Archivist in collaboration with the Education Librarian
Retention of existing materials
- Retain items that are regularly requested by faculty for instruction, including those that fall outside the collection scope.
- Reading primers and readers
- no duplicates, best copy
- no more than two exemplars from each decade beginning 1940’s through present, one volume/PK through gr.6, or every 5th edition of a series.
- Retain only a Teachers Edition when the student material is clearly presented.
- Retain elementary and secondary pedagogy that is currently held. No additional titles will be added from Main Collection.
- No duplicates will be retained.
Acquisition of new materials:
New items are primarily acquired through gifts or when weeded from Main or Curriculum Collections.
Location/Shelving/Storage:
Special Collections – Historical Textbooks
Access:
- Historical children’s textbooks are cataloged in ALMA using Library of Congress subjects and classifications, and findable in Research@UWW.
- The location is identified as follows: UW-Whitewater - Special Collections, Historical Textbooks, 1st Floor
- Patrons and community members may visit the University Archives to view items in the collection.
