Making a case for using old or outdated materials; even if may not match your values.

In the last year or so, I’ve discovered I have a deep love and fascination with antique books. At first, I simply admired the beautiful binding; often leather or sometimes linen, adorned with gilt lettering in fonts rarely seen anymore. Many have hand written notes inside the cover, indicating they were once gifts from one loved one to another. Some were formal school or library books, with the names of previous readers marked inside; a brief history of the fingers that had once turned the now-fragile pages, many of whom may have come and gone in the decades since their last meeting.

But in this world of artificial intelligence and electronic information that can change or be removed in a blink of an eye, there’s something so wonderful about antique books; they give a glimpse into the past in a way that modern publications rarely can anymore. An old book can’t be changed. An old book can’t be “banned” by someone far away. The contents of an old book can’t be canceled, or edited without any notation or trace of change.

There’s so much value in this snapshot of culture and language provided by these books. While their contents may no longer be culturally acceptable, or even accurate in accordance to new information that has arose since their publication (particularly science and history books), they give insight into the thought processes of the common culture of the time of publication.

One of my recent favorites is a book published in 1879 titled “The Complete Home: an Encyclopedia of Domestic Life and Affairs”. As anyone who knows me well understands, I’m by no means a “trad wife”, and the idea of me taking home management very seriously is almost laughable (yes, my husband knew this before we got married). Instead of a dry “how to” book, listing recipes, cleaning procedures, etc., this ancient tome takes a very different approach; it tackles various aspects of raising kids, managing relationships, housekeeping, and making it all efficient in a story-based format. The author (Mrs. Julia Mc Nair Wright) takes a narrative approach, using stories of her aunt meeting her nieces over tea and discussing the various aspects of home management in the context of the young ladies’ various situations, and through their experiences learning how to run their own respective homes. The author’s aunt, the focal point of the story, serves as the young ladies’ guru in all matters of home, offering sage advice and contrasting the young ladies’ values, beliefs, and situations against each other. Of course, this is also written in the context of Victorian middle-class American households, and all that was “expected” of these households during that time period.

What I love about this book is the historical perspective of middle-class culture in the eyes of women it provides. During that same time period, my father’s family lived very much the same way, and in reading this book, I’m learning so much about my family’s culture that was passed down from the strong Victorian women in my family. I’m seeing so much of my family’s enduring values that are rooted in Victorian sensibilities.

Another type of antique book I’m currently loving are very old elementary school books. A couple of years ago, I went out on a limb and bought a couple of old elementary school textbooks. One, “The Progressive Road to Reading”, is a 1929 multi-story reader intended for second grade. The delicate and often torn pages tell stories of farm animal characters as they set off on various brief adventures.

Another second-grade reader, “A Second Reader” (copyright 1910) was a textbook approved by the California State Board of Education, and includes vocabulary words at the top of most pages, teacher/parent introductions to the stories, and beautiful period illustrations.

It’s interesting to contrast these books and the stories they tell against both the learning expectations for kids at this age, as well as the cultural differences between those time periods and today’s stories for early readers. In these older texts, children’s stories are really set in the cultural standards of an idealized middle-class, white (none of the pictures of people are of anyone who isn’t clearly of English or northern European descent),  Edwardian family structure, and tackles more difficult topics through the context of animal characters working through their differences and issues. It’s really telling of that time period’s values, and I think there are multiple ways to use these books in my kids’ education.

First, the stories themselves are harmless enough to add to our growing collection of early reading books, but I also want to refer back to them later on down the educational road when we talk about American cultural perspectives and how things have changed over time. It’s important to have books that showcase previous generations’ values, regardless of whether or not we agree with them, and how they subtly affected how information was taught and recorded. Again, this is where I cherish the inability of these books to have their content changed – we cannot learn from history that has been altered or completely removed.

A third antique school book I really want to include in my kids’ educational resources is a 1919 elementary textbook from the Michigan public school system titled “Primary Seat Work Sense Training and Games”. It outlines various projects, activities, and games that teachers and/or parents can use to teach logic, critical thinking, fine motor skills, basic math and geometry, and life skills simultaneously. The activities seem to be suited for various elementary school grades, with complete lists of materials and instructions as to how to go about teaching the activity. I’m super excited to try out these activities and see how well they work for my kids, as I want to take a “classical education” approach to their schooling, whether that’s in conjunction with their regular school work, or if we end up homeschooling.

The modern early education books I’ve found so far don’t seem to be aimed towards weaving skills together at such an early age. While I’m by no means a specialist in childhood education, I do feel like having texts like these that teach multiple skills at once, particularly critical thinking, still need a place in elementary education. I think this will be particularly useful if I’m able to homeschool both of my kids, as they’re different ages and may have different abilities; these activities would allow me to focus on developing skills that are appropriate for each’s individual cognitive development. Current texts seem to be geared more towards working with either an individual child or a classroom working at a specific grade-level, rather than offering options for people who may be teaching kids of multiple ages at once, which still not terribly uncommon through the use of one-room school houses in smaller communities during the time period this book was published.

The last book I’m going to talk about today is the third volume of compilations from a serial publication titled “Amateur Works Illustrated: Help & Guidance for Self-Helpers”, published in the latter half of the 19^th century. From a little bit of research, I’ve been able to complete, this magazine was essentially a list of “how to” articles published by various craftsmen from across the U.S. on various topics, which the publishers then consolidated into more topical volumes to help their readers gather this useful information. Volume III, re-issued in 1883 (that’s the best information I have at the moment), focuses on woodworking and home improvement, including projects ranging from building greenhouses, designing and carving wooden fretwork that was common in Victorian homes, building and using your own lathe, and many other projects. As we’re in the process of building our own home and nearly ready to start on the interior, I’m hoping to learn (or at least attempt) some of these skills and implement them. If not, it could be a great resource for teaching our kids some fun skills later on down the road when we can use sharp objects and power tools (even though they didn’t exist at the time) together safely.

Anyhow, while I have a couple more boxes of antique books stowed away until we are finally able to move into the new house, at least I can enjoy the beautiful illustrations and ponder the ideas put forth in these old books. As stated before, I believe it’s incredibly important to not delate or erase ideas or cultural norms that are either no longer relevant, not culturally appropriate, or we know are factually or ethically wrong; we need these materials to understand the decisions, laws, and policies that governed people in these eras, under the context of cultural values, beliefs, and norms. For example, while I may not believe that a women’s most valuable work is running an efficient household, I’m able to understand the push-and-pull relationship between fighting for and finding meaning in women’s work outside the home, while also wanting to build and maintain a home and family that meets traditional expectations, which I’ve seen in my grandparents (“Greatest Generation”) and also family members of my parents’ generation (Boomers).

I might share some of these projects or readings on this blog, as it would be fun to chronicle the quality of the directions, as well as the outcomes of the projects. Since all or most of these books are a part of the public domain, it’ll be easier to publish this information here without worrying about copyright infringement.

What are your thoughts on using “outdated” texts? Do you feel they still have value? How would you go about using antique elementary school materials? Or would you use them at all?

With all my love and well wishes,

Valerie