The American State Normal School

An Instrument of Great Good

C. Ogren

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN: 9781403968371
• eBook ISBN: 9781403979100
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

The American State Normal School is the first comprehensive history of the state normal schools in the United States. Although nearly two-hundred state colleges and regional universities throughout the U.S. began as 'normal' schools, the institutions themselves have buried their history, and scholars have largely overlooked them. As these institutions later became state colleges and/or regional universities, they distanced themselves from the low status of elementary-literally erasing physical evidence of their normal-school past. In doing so, they buried the rich history of generations of students for whom attending normal school was an enriching, and sometimes life-changing experience. Focusing on these students, the first wave of 'non-traditional' students in higher education, The American State Normal School is a much-needed re-examination of the state normal school.This book was subject of an annual History of Education Society panel for best new books in the field.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: “It Wasn’t Much of a College”
• Part I Early Normal Schools, 1840s–1860s
• Part II The Heyday of the State Normal School, 1870s–1900s
• Epilogue: “Lots of Pep! Lots of Steam!”
• Appendix: State Normal Schools in the United States
• Abbreviations of Archival Collections
• Notes
• Index