John James Audubon
Alphabets, Bedtime Stories & Cautionary Tales
Children's Books & The Shaping of American Identity
Enter
Pequot Library Special Collections
Children’s books of Colonial and Early America are rarely read today. Unlike old myths, fantasy, and dark fairy tales whose appeal endures, children’s books of early America were often either somewhat dry stories of well-behaved children, or cautionary tales wherein children faced the consequences of their transgressions, sometimes finding happiness in conformity after a period of remorse. Yet while their appeal as reading material today is limited, they hold tremendous value as windows into the social history of that time–a time of evolving ideas about childhood, a newly independent republic, and a rapidly expanding and diversifying population. Alphabets, Bedtime Stories, and Cautionary Tales: Children’s Books and the Shaping of American Identity explores this connection using children’s books from Pequot Library’s Special Collections.
John Foxe The Ecclesiasticall historie: Containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs… London: Printed for the Company of Stationers, 1641 Pequot Library Special Collections, gift of Edward Deacon The Actes and Monuments, commonly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, was first published in 1563 during a period of religious conflict between Catholics and the Church of England. It offers "a general discourse of these latter persecutions, horrible troubles and tumults styred up by Romish Prelates in the Church, intending to establish the Church of England as a continuation of the true Christian church rather than as a modern innovation. While children were not the primary intended audience, they were known to adore the rather gruesome images that showed the sufferings of Protestants under the Catholic Church.
The New-England Primer; or An Easy and Pleasant Guide to the Art of Reading Boston: J. White near the Charles-River, [1789] Pequot Library Special Collections The New-England Primer was the first reading primer designed for use in the American colonies. It contained standard content for beginning reading instruction, including the alphabet, religious maxims, catechisms, and moral lessons. Until the mid 18th-century, it often contained a portrait of the British monarch, and the letter K in the alphabet was illustrated by the couplet, “Our king the good | No man of blood,” and the letter O by the couplet, “The Royal Oak it was the Tree | That sav’d His Royal Magestie.” This edition of The New-England Primer is believed to have been printed in 1789—the year of Washington’s inauguration. A similar portrait, possibly executed by silversmith Paul Revere after Charles Wilson Peale’s portrait of that time, had been included in earlier primers and titled “General Washington.” While the portrait here is a crude copy of the Revere woodcut, the publisher has adapted quickly to identify Washington as the new president.
The American Primer: or Young Child's Instructor Newfield, Conn: Beach and Jones, 1795 Pequot Library Special Collections This variation on the New-England Primer exemplifies the high feelings of nationalism following the Revolutionary War. This primer is titled The American Primer rather than The New-England Primer, the subtitle emphasizes that it contains writing of American composition, and it features a portrait of George Washington. Printed in Newfield, now known as Bridgeport, Pequot Library holds the only known copy.
A national language is a bond of national union. Every engine should be employed to render the people of this country national; to call their attachments home to their own country, and inspire them with pride of national character…. Let us then seize the present moment, and establish a national language as well as a national government. -Noah Webster Noah Webster was an education reformer, political activist, author of textbooks, newspaper editor, and an early anti-slavery advocate. He considered his efforts to standardize language usage and spelling as integral to building a new nation, and he played a critical cultural role in defining America’s national identity. In 1783, Webster published in Hartford the first volume of A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, also known as The American Spelling Book–but best known as the Blue-Backed Speller for the color of its binding. The work incorporated the geography, history, and politics of the young nation, glorifying figures like Washington with the goal of creating national symbols to galvanize the country. Between 1783 and the early 1900s it is estimated that Webster’s spelling book sold nearly 100 million copies.
Noah WebsterAn American Selection of Lessons in Reading and Speaking Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, 1793 Pequot Library Special Collections
Ellenor Fenn (1744 - 1813) was a British author who published anonymously under the pseudonyms “Mrs. Teachwell” and “Mrs. Lovechild.” She was among a number of British women who spearheaded a new genre of didactic books for children aimed at the gentry and middle-class that they hoped would instill morality, good behavior, and rational discourse in young children and replace “injurious” chapbooks containing fairy tales and other stories that might lead children to believe in the supernatural. Around 1799 or 1800, British publishers Darton and Harvey published Mrs. Lovechild’s Book of Three Hundred and Thirty-six Cuts, which was also offered in an unbound version as “Douceurs in a box” and included The Mother’s Remarks on a Set of Cuts for Children. “Douceurs” translates as “sweets.” Fenn explained: “The first intention of these cuts was merely to supply douceurs for those children who were entering on the study of arithmetic; in order to supply gifts as rewards, &c..” Making learning enjoyable aligned with the philosophies of Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke, who taught that children should be nurtured and their curiosity encouraged, rather than taught through coercion and fear of punishment.
Ellenor Fenn Douceurs, including A Mother’s Remarks on a Set of Cuts Philadelphia: Jacob Johnson, [c. 1804] Pequot Library Special Collections The “Douceurs” box pictured here was created in Philadelphia circa 1804 and is likely a pirated adaptation of the British version. The box includes illustrated cards and a number of different books which allow it to be used for children of different ages and skill levels.
Samuel Goodrich The Tale of Peter Parley about Europe Boston: Carter & Hendee, 1830 Pequot Library Special Collections Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793 – 1860), better known by his pseudonym, Peter Parley, was an American author from Ridgefield, Connecticut. Goodrich wrote histories, geographies, and other educational volumes to replace fairy tales and rhymes, which he felt were "commonly put into the hands of youth, as if for the express purpose of reconciling them to vice and crime.” In 1827 Goodrich published the first of what was to be a wildly successful series, The Tales of Peter Parley, about America. Written at a moment in U.S. history steeped in the question of America’s future, Goodrich created the model for many authors of children's books to come by balancing the didactic desires of an adult consumer with the playfulness attractive to a child listener or reader. The Peter Parley books sold upwards of seven million copies, with ghost writers including Nathaniel Hawthorne and his sister. Exerting immense influence over American audiences, Goodrich's Parley occupied a powerful place in the antebellum nineteenth century.
Passion and punishment a tale for little girls New Haven: S. Babcock, 1840 Pequot Library Special Collections John Babcock, Jr. came to Hartford about 1793 and started working as a printer and publisher of educational and juvenile books under the name of John Babcock & Co. He moved his family and business to New Haven in 1803, where his firm continued to print and sell chapbooks, children's literature, hymnals and educational books, including several of Noah Webster's spellers. John’s eldest son, Sidney, continued the business, publishing and selling educational and religious books, stories, and cautionary tales. Called "toybooks" or "chapbooks" ("chap" being related to the word "cheap"), these tiny books were available at prices affordable to a wide swath of society.
Lydia Maria Child First Settlers of New-England Boston: Printed for the Author by Munroe and Francis, 1829 Pequot Library Special Collections
Lydia Maria Child was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. She founded the magazine The Juvenile Miscellany and served as editor until 1834, when public hostility toward her publication titled "An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans" forced her to resign. In the preface to First Settlers of New-England, Child states that she wishes “to prove, from the most authentic records, that the treatment [Indians] have met with from the usurpers of their soils has been, and continues to be, in direct violation of the religious and civil institutions which we have heretofore so nobly defended, and by which we profess to be governed.” In the format of a conversation between mother and child, daughter Caroline asks, “Is it not generally believed, mother, that the Indians are a vagrant, idle race…?” Mother answers: “The Indians have been strangely misrepresented, either through ignorance or design, or both; and men have given themselves little trouble to investigate the subject. People seldom forgive those whom they have wronged, and the first settlers appear to have fostered a mortal aversion to the Indians, whom they had barbarously destroyed.”
The full book can be viewed here.
School Atlas to accompany Woodbridge's Rudiments of Geography Hartford: Oliver D. Cooke, 1824 Pequot Library Special Collections Emma Willard (1787 – 1870) was born in Berlin, Connecticut, and co-wrote two educational works with geographer William C. Woodbridge (1794 – 1845), who had grown up near her. Willard was a women’s education activist who founded the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York (now the Emma Willard School), which graduated celebrated reformers and suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Yet while she advocated for the rights of women, Willard harbored common prejudices toward immigrants and people of color that are evident in this world map that places nations in social, religious, and political hierarchies. Given Willard’s mild stance on slavery, it is unlikely that the authors intended to highlight the contradiction between the “enlightened” American civilization and the presence of 1.5 million enslaved men, women, and children.
The School Fund Perverted: or, A Review of a Discussion Occasioned by the Propagation of Sectari22anism in Common Schools Hartford: H. S. Parsons & Co., 1848 Pequot Library Special Collections Anxieties about British-authored children’s books led to an explosion of books and primers written and published in New England. Yet even as religious observance here had become increasingly diverse, these local books were usually written by members of the prevailing Congregationalist community and reflected its perspective. This 1848 pamphlet documents a debate about the Congregationalist bias in school books. Its authors were Episcopalians who served on the school board’s Committee on History, and who recommended removing passages from history books (such as the Peter Parley books) that described matters such as the “persecution” of Pilgrims for their “purer” faith. These biased words and ideas, the authors believed, were slanderous toward the Episcopal church and at odds with the principle of the School Fund, which was established by the Connecticut state Constitution and said to be for the “equal benefit of all.”
MENU
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Head to our YouTube Channel to view all of the videos created in conjunction with this exhibition, including page-turnings, presentations, and further exploration of materials.
CONTACT
For more information about this exhibition or Special Collections holdings, please contact specialcollections@pequotlibrary.org.
THANK YOU
HOME
Alphabets, Bedtime Stories, & Cautionary Tales: Children's Literature and the Shaping of American Identity was curated by Cecily Dyer, Special Collections Librarian, and made possible with support from Connecticut Humanities. The virtual exhibition was designed and assembled by Jennifer Prat, Special Collections Projects Manager. No portion of this presentation may be replicated. If you wish to use this presentation for educational purposes, please contact info@pequotlibrary.org.
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Transcript
John James Audubon
Alphabets, Bedtime Stories & Cautionary Tales
Children's Books & The Shaping of American Identity
Enter
Pequot Library Special Collections
Children’s books of Colonial and Early America are rarely read today. Unlike old myths, fantasy, and dark fairy tales whose appeal endures, children’s books of early America were often either somewhat dry stories of well-behaved children, or cautionary tales wherein children faced the consequences of their transgressions, sometimes finding happiness in conformity after a period of remorse. Yet while their appeal as reading material today is limited, they hold tremendous value as windows into the social history of that time–a time of evolving ideas about childhood, a newly independent republic, and a rapidly expanding and diversifying population. Alphabets, Bedtime Stories, and Cautionary Tales: Children’s Books and the Shaping of American Identity explores this connection using children’s books from Pequot Library’s Special Collections.
John Foxe The Ecclesiasticall historie: Containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs… London: Printed for the Company of Stationers, 1641 Pequot Library Special Collections, gift of Edward Deacon The Actes and Monuments, commonly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, was first published in 1563 during a period of religious conflict between Catholics and the Church of England. It offers "a general discourse of these latter persecutions, horrible troubles and tumults styred up by Romish Prelates in the Church, intending to establish the Church of England as a continuation of the true Christian church rather than as a modern innovation. While children were not the primary intended audience, they were known to adore the rather gruesome images that showed the sufferings of Protestants under the Catholic Church.
The New-England Primer; or An Easy and Pleasant Guide to the Art of Reading Boston: J. White near the Charles-River, [1789] Pequot Library Special Collections The New-England Primer was the first reading primer designed for use in the American colonies. It contained standard content for beginning reading instruction, including the alphabet, religious maxims, catechisms, and moral lessons. Until the mid 18th-century, it often contained a portrait of the British monarch, and the letter K in the alphabet was illustrated by the couplet, “Our king the good | No man of blood,” and the letter O by the couplet, “The Royal Oak it was the Tree | That sav’d His Royal Magestie.” This edition of The New-England Primer is believed to have been printed in 1789—the year of Washington’s inauguration. A similar portrait, possibly executed by silversmith Paul Revere after Charles Wilson Peale’s portrait of that time, had been included in earlier primers and titled “General Washington.” While the portrait here is a crude copy of the Revere woodcut, the publisher has adapted quickly to identify Washington as the new president.
The American Primer: or Young Child's Instructor Newfield, Conn: Beach and Jones, 1795 Pequot Library Special Collections This variation on the New-England Primer exemplifies the high feelings of nationalism following the Revolutionary War. This primer is titled The American Primer rather than The New-England Primer, the subtitle emphasizes that it contains writing of American composition, and it features a portrait of George Washington. Printed in Newfield, now known as Bridgeport, Pequot Library holds the only known copy.
A national language is a bond of national union. Every engine should be employed to render the people of this country national; to call their attachments home to their own country, and inspire them with pride of national character…. Let us then seize the present moment, and establish a national language as well as a national government. -Noah Webster Noah Webster was an education reformer, political activist, author of textbooks, newspaper editor, and an early anti-slavery advocate. He considered his efforts to standardize language usage and spelling as integral to building a new nation, and he played a critical cultural role in defining America’s national identity. In 1783, Webster published in Hartford the first volume of A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, also known as The American Spelling Book–but best known as the Blue-Backed Speller for the color of its binding. The work incorporated the geography, history, and politics of the young nation, glorifying figures like Washington with the goal of creating national symbols to galvanize the country. Between 1783 and the early 1900s it is estimated that Webster’s spelling book sold nearly 100 million copies.
Noah WebsterAn American Selection of Lessons in Reading and Speaking Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, 1793 Pequot Library Special Collections
Ellenor Fenn (1744 - 1813) was a British author who published anonymously under the pseudonyms “Mrs. Teachwell” and “Mrs. Lovechild.” She was among a number of British women who spearheaded a new genre of didactic books for children aimed at the gentry and middle-class that they hoped would instill morality, good behavior, and rational discourse in young children and replace “injurious” chapbooks containing fairy tales and other stories that might lead children to believe in the supernatural. Around 1799 or 1800, British publishers Darton and Harvey published Mrs. Lovechild’s Book of Three Hundred and Thirty-six Cuts, which was also offered in an unbound version as “Douceurs in a box” and included The Mother’s Remarks on a Set of Cuts for Children. “Douceurs” translates as “sweets.” Fenn explained: “The first intention of these cuts was merely to supply douceurs for those children who were entering on the study of arithmetic; in order to supply gifts as rewards, &c..” Making learning enjoyable aligned with the philosophies of Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke, who taught that children should be nurtured and their curiosity encouraged, rather than taught through coercion and fear of punishment.
Ellenor Fenn Douceurs, including A Mother’s Remarks on a Set of Cuts Philadelphia: Jacob Johnson, [c. 1804] Pequot Library Special Collections The “Douceurs” box pictured here was created in Philadelphia circa 1804 and is likely a pirated adaptation of the British version. The box includes illustrated cards and a number of different books which allow it to be used for children of different ages and skill levels.
Samuel Goodrich The Tale of Peter Parley about Europe Boston: Carter & Hendee, 1830 Pequot Library Special Collections Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793 – 1860), better known by his pseudonym, Peter Parley, was an American author from Ridgefield, Connecticut. Goodrich wrote histories, geographies, and other educational volumes to replace fairy tales and rhymes, which he felt were "commonly put into the hands of youth, as if for the express purpose of reconciling them to vice and crime.” In 1827 Goodrich published the first of what was to be a wildly successful series, The Tales of Peter Parley, about America. Written at a moment in U.S. history steeped in the question of America’s future, Goodrich created the model for many authors of children's books to come by balancing the didactic desires of an adult consumer with the playfulness attractive to a child listener or reader. The Peter Parley books sold upwards of seven million copies, with ghost writers including Nathaniel Hawthorne and his sister. Exerting immense influence over American audiences, Goodrich's Parley occupied a powerful place in the antebellum nineteenth century.
Passion and punishment a tale for little girls New Haven: S. Babcock, 1840 Pequot Library Special Collections John Babcock, Jr. came to Hartford about 1793 and started working as a printer and publisher of educational and juvenile books under the name of John Babcock & Co. He moved his family and business to New Haven in 1803, where his firm continued to print and sell chapbooks, children's literature, hymnals and educational books, including several of Noah Webster's spellers. John’s eldest son, Sidney, continued the business, publishing and selling educational and religious books, stories, and cautionary tales. Called "toybooks" or "chapbooks" ("chap" being related to the word "cheap"), these tiny books were available at prices affordable to a wide swath of society.
Lydia Maria Child First Settlers of New-England Boston: Printed for the Author by Munroe and Francis, 1829 Pequot Library Special Collections
Lydia Maria Child was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. She founded the magazine The Juvenile Miscellany and served as editor until 1834, when public hostility toward her publication titled "An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans" forced her to resign. In the preface to First Settlers of New-England, Child states that she wishes “to prove, from the most authentic records, that the treatment [Indians] have met with from the usurpers of their soils has been, and continues to be, in direct violation of the religious and civil institutions which we have heretofore so nobly defended, and by which we profess to be governed.” In the format of a conversation between mother and child, daughter Caroline asks, “Is it not generally believed, mother, that the Indians are a vagrant, idle race…?” Mother answers: “The Indians have been strangely misrepresented, either through ignorance or design, or both; and men have given themselves little trouble to investigate the subject. People seldom forgive those whom they have wronged, and the first settlers appear to have fostered a mortal aversion to the Indians, whom they had barbarously destroyed.”
The full book can be viewed here.
School Atlas to accompany Woodbridge's Rudiments of Geography Hartford: Oliver D. Cooke, 1824 Pequot Library Special Collections Emma Willard (1787 – 1870) was born in Berlin, Connecticut, and co-wrote two educational works with geographer William C. Woodbridge (1794 – 1845), who had grown up near her. Willard was a women’s education activist who founded the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York (now the Emma Willard School), which graduated celebrated reformers and suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Yet while she advocated for the rights of women, Willard harbored common prejudices toward immigrants and people of color that are evident in this world map that places nations in social, religious, and political hierarchies. Given Willard’s mild stance on slavery, it is unlikely that the authors intended to highlight the contradiction between the “enlightened” American civilization and the presence of 1.5 million enslaved men, women, and children.
The School Fund Perverted: or, A Review of a Discussion Occasioned by the Propagation of Sectari22anism in Common Schools Hartford: H. S. Parsons & Co., 1848 Pequot Library Special Collections Anxieties about British-authored children’s books led to an explosion of books and primers written and published in New England. Yet even as religious observance here had become increasingly diverse, these local books were usually written by members of the prevailing Congregationalist community and reflected its perspective. This 1848 pamphlet documents a debate about the Congregationalist bias in school books. Its authors were Episcopalians who served on the school board’s Committee on History, and who recommended removing passages from history books (such as the Peter Parley books) that described matters such as the “persecution” of Pilgrims for their “purer” faith. These biased words and ideas, the authors believed, were slanderous toward the Episcopal church and at odds with the principle of the School Fund, which was established by the Connecticut state Constitution and said to be for the “equal benefit of all.”
MENU
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Head to our YouTube Channel to view all of the videos created in conjunction with this exhibition, including page-turnings, presentations, and further exploration of materials.
CONTACT
For more information about this exhibition or Special Collections holdings, please contact specialcollections@pequotlibrary.org.
THANK YOU
HOME
Alphabets, Bedtime Stories, & Cautionary Tales: Children's Literature and the Shaping of American Identity was curated by Cecily Dyer, Special Collections Librarian, and made possible with support from Connecticut Humanities. The virtual exhibition was designed and assembled by Jennifer Prat, Special Collections Projects Manager. No portion of this presentation may be replicated. If you wish to use this presentation for educational purposes, please contact info@pequotlibrary.org.