EDUCATIONAL PERIODICALS DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Chapter I. ANTECEDENTS AND BEGINNINGS. School Journals, in the restricted sense of periodicals for teachers as a class, could not exist before there was a well-defined and somewhat professionally minded teaching group. As in other social instrumentalities, progressive specialization is in evidence, and the origin of technical pedagogical literature must be sought in general works devoting a varying degree of attention to schools, teachers, and education. In looking for historical precedents for educational periodicals in the United States, it is possible to go back for beginnings at least a hundred years before any such publications were actually established in this country. A careful study of that phase of the subject would show that many characteristics of certain earlier works have persisted in their specialized descendants; even a brief survey may call attention to some of the inheritances. As most direct influence has come from England, Germany, and France, beginnings in these alone will be briefly noted. The first important periodical which showed a general educational purpose was the "Tatler" (1709–1711), followed by the "Spectator" (1711-12), and later in England by a host of works of varying degrees of excellence, but usually lacking in the strong qualities of Steele and Addison. In rather direct imitation of the early English periodicals of this class, similar publications (Moralische Wochenschriften) began to appear in Germany in 1713,' and one writer has listed more than 500 published among German-speaking peoples before the nineteenth century was well begun. Frequently these were conducted by associations of men devoted to literary and social betterment; they were exceedingly important in the intellectual progress of middle-class Germany. Many of them made use of catechetical and other didactic forms of discourse, letters, poetry, and highly moralized stories. Eighteenth century education in England or in Germany offered many easy marks" for satirical shafts, and many of the earlier references to schools, teachers, and teaching practices were such as keen writers might produce when looking about for a social abuse or personal idiosyncrasy to ridicule. But from the first there were occasional serious criticisms upon education, like the following from Steele: " I must confess I have very often with much sorrow bewailed the misfortune of the children of Great Britain, when I consider the ignorance and undiscerning of the generality of schoolmasters. The boasted liberty we talk of is but a mean reward for the long servitude, the many heartaches and terrors, to which our childhood is exposed in going through a grammar school; many of these stupid tyrants exercise their cruelty without any manner of distinction of the capacities of children, or the intention of parents in their behalf. There are many excel 1 Lehmann: 7-78. Spectator, No. 157. Steele, G. A. Aitken, London, 1898, Vol. II. 361. lent tempers which are worthy to be nourished and cultivated with all possible diligence and care, that were never designed to be acquainted with Aristotle, Tully, or Virgil; and there are as many who have capacities for understanding every word these great persons have writ, and yet were not born to have any relish of their writings. Descriptions of the human body, giving attention to the bent of nature, milder discipline, better female education, better moral instruction, and the desirability of turning instruction into play whenever possible were topics discussed in the first half of the century.' The moral instability of teachers is a constant topic; teachers are blamed for trying to teach what is beyond the comprehension of children and of requiring too much memorizing; poor teaching and discipline are illustrated and condemned, and Quintilian quoted to show a better way, and toward the close of the century there are divers model plans for improving education. Gradually some of these periodicals assumed greater pedagogical content, and many were devoted almost entirely to education. Lehmann mentions the following, of which the names indicate more or less closely the purpose:* Der Getreue Hofmeister (Loyal Tutor). Sorgfaltige Vormund (The Zealous Tutor, or Guardian) __ Neue Mentor__. Der Hofmeister (The Tutor). Der Kinderfreund (Friend of Childhood). Der Dorfschulmeister (The Village Schoolmaster) 1725 1725 1725 1753 1776 1776 1777 Twelve others are named ending with "Die Volksschule," 1800. Some of those in his list existed and were fairly widely known during the first 20 years of the nineteenth century. Such were Salzmann's "Der Bote von Thueringen," 1788-1816; "Deutsche Schulfreund," under various names, 1791-1823. Four others of sufficient strength to issue 10 years or more were established before 1820, the last being the "Allgemeine Schulzeitung," which under varying titles was published until 1881. In both France and England, as well as in Germany, the output of periodicals for children was considerable. The first French periodical devoted entirely to education or the needs of children was the "Journal de Famille ou Livre des Enfants," established by Seguin in 1789. A more specifically educational work was the "Journal d'Education publie par la Societe forme a Paris pour l'Amelioration de l'Enseignment Elementaire," published in Paris, 1815. In England "The Children's Magazine or Monthly Repository of Instruction and Delight” (London, 1799) is mentioned as the first which could be called a school or pedagogical journal. In 1800 appeared "The Monthly Preceptor, or the Juvenile Library, including a complete course of instruction in every useful subject, particularly natural and experimental philosophy, natural history, botany, ancient and modern history, biography, geography, and the manners and customs of nations, ancient and modern language, English law, penmanship, mathematics, and the belles lettres." This encyclopedic curriculum, coupled with prize essays for which considerable rewards were given, was to form the content of about GO numbers. This was a school journal but not a school teachers' journal, as it circulated among the upper-class pupils of English schools. Other periodicals devoted to education were "The Guardian of Education" (London, 1802-1806), by- Mrs. Trimmer, devoted to sectarian as well as educational ends; the “Assistant of Education' (1823-1828), and the "National School Magazine 1 Lehmann: 20-29. 'Loos' Paedagogische Zeitschriften. Lehmann. 78. Russell Ed. Rev., XXII, 472. (1824), both designed for pupils rather than for teachers. No real educational journal was successfully established in England until 1831, when the London Quarterly Journal of Education was issued by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. This rapid survey of the beginnings of educational journalism in the European countries makes it possible to state that, if we accept the "Academician " (1818) as the first educational periodical in America, its European precedents, if its editors were conscious of any, must have been German or French. The same statement may be made of the "American Journal of Education" (1826- ), and in its early volumes are extensive quotations from both German and French journals. Though it may not be possible to cite, as in the case of Silliman's "American Journal of Science," a specific quotation to show that the founders of either of these publications were consciously imitating foreign precedents, it seems reasonably evident that they were a part of Pestalozzian German influence.' Examination of early volumes of "The Port Folio" (1801– ) or the "North American Review" (1815- ) shows that even apart from such information as came through German settlements and colonies, the reading public of the United States was not entirely ignorant of German institutions. The works of Maclure, Neef, Griscom, Ticknor, Bache, Cousin, and Stowe, gave much greater familiarity with German school practices; the editor of the “American Annals" had spent several years in Europe; and of the periodicals established between 1830 and 1840, German, and some times French, precedents are definitely cited. Thus the Illinois Common School Advocate, 1837, states: "A weekly and monthly paper are sent to all the schools in Prussia and France at public expense." "The Educator," of Pennsylvania, proposed to use translations and quotations from the "fifteen or twenty school journals" then issued in Germany. If an endeavor be made to find in antecedent English or American periodicals of the first quarter of the nineteenth century an increased attention to educational matters which might be expected to lead toward the educational journal type, the process of development in Germany, there is little in the content of important publications to indicate such a transition. In the first eight volumes of the Edinburgh Review (1802-1807) schools and education are given no attention; in volume 9, there is a review of Mrs. Trimmer's treatise on Lancaster's plan of education; in volume 11 a review of Lancaster's "Improvements in Education," and in the succeeding volumes are numerous articles upon education and philanthrophy. But in the first 45 volumes, 1802-1826, only 375 pages are occupied with education, or less than one-fiftieth of the space. Nor do the three more important American periodicals of the same period show greater interest in schools or education. "The Port Folio," Philadelphia (1801– ), contains about four columns upon education and the work of the free school society in volume 3; a little later a book review of “Nature Displayed in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man," adapted from the French; in the fifth volume (1808) is a long series on classical learning, and after 1816 each volume contains some material upon schools or education. The North American Review from 1815-1826 has articles treating of the education of the deaf and dumb, English and German universities, the Connecticut school fund, free schools; quotes German writers on the value of classical education, and school reports from various States, but devotes not more 1 Vol. II, 666. 'Amer. J. of Science, 1818, 1, 1. 'Monroe: Pestalozzian Influences in the United States, discusses several of these. Common Sch. Advocate, 3. 'Educator, 1838, p. 1. than 2 per cent of its space to education. Silliman's American Journal of Science, in the nine volumes, 1818-1825, has occasional articles upon monitorial instruction, the work of Fellenberg and Owen, and notes of educational progress. The Boston Recorder (1816-1823) and others of semireligious nature give a limited amount of space to education, along with philanthrophy, terperance reform, and missions. Examination of newspapers until well after the War of 1812 shows their interests to be almost exclusively general news, politics, and war. But though American educational periodicals did not grow from other publications by successive modifications, they did come into being to some extent at least as an imitation in the field of education of what had already been done in other provinces; it is easy to find evidence that in establishing the early school journals editors and publishers were consciously attempting to parallel similar publications in literature, art, science, and medicine. If these fields had their organs, why should education be without? Note the reasoning in the following prospectus of an "Academical Herald and Journal of Education," projected in 1812, though never published:1 A friend to learning, which is the best safeguard of the rights of man and a terror to despotism in any shape, I propose to attempt the survey of a region which has been much and promiscuously trodden, but of which no accurate map has been drawn, a country known in part to many, but to none wholly. This enterprise has either never been suggested to the pioneers of literature and science, or they have shrunk from it as from a labor that would waste their strength without the hope of reward; without even that hope which has promised so much and performed so little for literary adventurers. It seems strange that almost every art, science, and profession has its peculiar vehicle of information, while the science of education is without its advocate. Law, medicine, and divinity, commerce, agriculture, and even the fashions and follies of the age have their "journals," while the art of improving the human mind, the source whence all the others derive their consequence, is abandoned to chance or neglect. Unless the intellectual powers are well cultivated, we can not expect great success in any literary profession. First render the waters of the fountain pure, and then with ease the vivifying streams which flow from it may be led through all the walks and departments of literature and science. The establishment of an educational journal in which proper plans and modes for the treatment and instruction of children may be proposed and elucidated is perceived at once to be as necessary as it is useful. The editor of the American Journal of Education uses a similar eulogy:a A periodical work devoted exclusively to education would seem likely to be of peculiar service at the present day, when an interest in this subject is so deeply and extensively felt. At no period have opportunity and disposition for the extensive interchange and diffusion of thought been so favorably combined. Science and literature have their respective publications, issuing at regular intervals from the press, and contributing incalculably to the dissemination of knowledge and of taste. But education-a subject of the highest practical importance to every school, every family, and every individual in the communityremains unprovided with one of these popular and useful vehicles of information. A minute detail of the advantages which may be expected to result from a periodical work such as is now proposed, we think unnecessary. With the success of other publications of the same class before us, we feel abundant encouragement to proceed in our undertaking. Reasonable inferences from what precedes are that educational periodicals in the United States came into being as part of the educational revival, their precedents being European, especially German, and that they were undertaken because the growing importance of education was not receiving corresponding recognition in the columns of other publications. It appeared to those who established the earliest of these specialized ventures that if less important fields |