Introduction: Why Revive the Memory of McGuffey?

McGuffey's grave went unmarked for years after his death in 1873. (1) Yet within a generation, writers, educators, industrialists, and politicians would acclaim McGuffey a great man worthy of memorials, museums, and a large following of "McGuffeyites."

McGuffeyites sought a connection with McGuffey because of fond personal memories and conservative values. Individuals associated the McGuffey Readers with memories of their childhoods because it was the primary schoolbook for the generation before the turn of the century and gave this generation a sense of unity. These pleasant associations, and a realization that the Readers were in decline, prompted people to join McGuffey Societies and share these reminiscences with others who shared their experiences.

This generation's childhood memories seemed pleasantly nostalgic in the context of the dramatic technological, economic, and social changes from 1918 to 1950. The Great War, the radical changes of the "Roaring Twenties," the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt's progressive New Deal, and the Second World War all contributed to an anxiety that people were disconnected from their past and their traditional values. The McGuffey Readers, which followers directly associated with McGuffey himself, seemed to embody the values that McGuffeyites wished to preserve. Thus, by sharing childhood memories, reliving their memories of spelling contests, and reenacting classroom scenes, McGuffeyites reduced the discontinuities of their era, created a community of like-minded individuals, and reaffirmed their values. These conservative values connected the past to the present and provided a stable blueprint for the future.

The rise and decline of the McGuffey movement coincided with the aging of the last generation that used the Readers. The books were widely used in public schools until the 1890s. The peak of McGuffey commemorations in the era from 1918 to 1950 would have seen the transition of McGuffeyites from middle-age to retirement age, a life transition inclined to nostalgia. The man who may be seen as the movement's leader, Dr. Harvey C. Minnich, began his crusade to revive the Readers after he retired in 1929. Industrialist Henry Ford, writer Hugh Fullerton, and historian Mark Sullivan were among this generation that became McGuffeyites. The movement began to decline in the 1960s because those who shared nostalgic memories of the Readers neared the end of their lifespan. According to one dissertation, "The core of the societies and the broader McGuffey community was the cohort of older people who had read the McGuffey's while growing up in the nineteenth century. With fewer younger members and the cohort of older people dying, membership began to dwindle." (2) Between 1950 and 1955, the Federation of McGuffey Societies dedicated trees to several deceased founders of the movement including Henry Ford, Harvey C. Minnich, and four former Presidents of the Society.

McGuffeyites' choice to remember McGuffey was rooted in specific historical circumstances that inspired nostalgia and a yearning to return to conservative values. Thus, the McGuffey movement was both nostalgic and political. William E. Smith, the disciple of Harvey Minnich, demonstrated this combination in a speech given to the McGuffey Societies in 1965. He said:

"McGuffey's world was an adventurous one, robust and restless. Life was lived simply with few luxuries. A man's work day began at sunrise and ended at sundown. A man's occupation was his mark of respectability. Parents disciplined their children and supervised their activities at home. College trustees, generally, insisted upon obedience to rules and they did not tolerate laziness or incompetence. When McGuffey was ordained to the ministry, at Old Bethel on Indian Creek in 1829, ministers and professors, God and the American flag were respected. The 1879 edition of McGuffey readers contained 610 selections: 236 on religion, 43 on the flag and nation, and 154 on economic subjects. In McGuffey's time there was (sic) no teenage-rioters and professors did not fear to teach morality and fear of God in the classroom, free of interference by government. William Holmes McGuffey and his brother Alexander wrote for the world they knew, one in which America would lead western civilization. Scoffers and debunkers have attempted to destroy the fundamentals that made us a great nation. At this late hour, we begin to be concerned about deterioration. May we see a reformation worthy of a great people." (3)

This site's sections on Nostalgia and Conservative Values use McGuffeyites' own words to analyze these two intersecting motivations for remembering McGuffey.

As the generation of the McGuffeyites waned, another generation adopted McGuffey for purely political motives. These individuals did not congregate, sing songs to his memory, or offer memorials; without personal memories of the Readers, this generation promoted the memory of McGuffey and the Readers solely for their conservative values. The McGuffey Readers underwent a brief revival in the 1980s, but only because conservatives adopted McGuffey in the debates over American values and education that came to be known as the "culture wars." This change is explored in the site's Conclusion.

(1) Fullerton, 99.
(2) Jason Frederick Earle, "The McGuffey Readers and Civil Religion, 1918-1963," 131, as cited in Berger, 1995.
(3) William E. Smith, "Dr. Smith Reports On World of William Holmes McGuffey." Oxford Press, Aug. 5, 1965, p. 4.
Images courtesy of the Smith Library of Regional History.