History

Historical Teacher Rules And Regulations From the 1860’s

Have you ever seen old historical teacher rules from the 1860’s? As a historical fiction writer, I love learning about these things. Oh to be a teacher back then!

Of course there weren’t options for women who needed to support themselves or wanted to do something outside of the home. So landing a teaching job was a really big deal. And there was a set of rules they needed to follow. From how they managed themselves, to how they managed their classroom.

This is actually how my writing journey began – when I first learned about these “teacher rules” .

Learning about these historical teacher rules

I was visiting Sacramento, our state capital, with my son’s fourth grade class and they spent part of the day at the one room schoolhouse there. The docent performed a school session for the kids to show them what it was like. I found all of it fascinating.

But this post is about the historical rules teachers had during this time.

These rules had to be followed in order to keep their job. Since much of it was tied to not marrying or even courting (for the women), and I loved to read romance, I wondered what that must’ve been like, and my heroine, Olivia, started to appear in my mind.

List of teacher rules from 1872. Found on internet in multiple places. Author unknown.
Historical teacher rules from 1915 produced by the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse museum

During my research for When Plans Go Awry, I found that women teachers had different rules than their male counterparts. I also learned that women were not allowed to go inside an ice cream parlor.

What?

Since ice cream is my favorite dessert, I had to investigate. And add this one into my story, even though I found it in the 1915 sheet (but ice cream did exist in 1869).

And in case you don’t believe me, here’s a website I found from Williamson County Illinois Historical Society that states the teacher rules as well. Which means these rules were throughout all the states, not just in one region or area.

Historical Punishment List

There also were a list of punishments the teacher had to adhere to. I purchased this sheet from the Old Sacramento Museum because it captured my attention that much. And I incorporated a few of them into my story as well.

List of punishment rules for teachers from the 1848. This sheet was purchased by Denise M. Colby on a trip to the Old Sacramento Museum

The discipline was strict. Take a look at how many lashings a student would receive based on each infraction. To make a swing and then swing on them was a big one with seven lashings, where fighting at school was only 5. Girls and boys were not allowed to play together and had separate play places. Playing cards was the worst, as well as misbehaving to girls.

How did teachers in the 1860s do this? 

It was the times. Which is why historical fiction is so popular. We are transported to a different time, different world, with different rules. In the case of this blog post I can drill down even further, and say different teacher rules.

And so an idea for a story started to brew. What would’ve it been like to live with these rules? And so many of these examples found their way into my debut novel When Plans Go Awry to help give a flavor as to how it was to be a teacher during this part of our history. 

Let me know if you find it interesting as well, or if there are rules you’ve heard of that I haven’t mentioned.

I wrote a blog post about the one-room schoolhouse we visited if you’d like to read more about that.

Blog Title It's the One-room Schoolhouse's Fault with pick of prairie flowers and a one-room schoolhouse by Denise M. Colby includes historical teacher rules
History

Harriet Bishop, First Public School Teacher in 1847

I love history and in my one-room schoolhouse and schoolteacher research for my book, I found an article titled Harriet Bishop, Frontier Teacher by Zylpha S. Morton through the Minnesota Historical Society. Harriet traveled by herself to Minnesota in 1847, leaving her family to go live in a community smaller and more rural than anything she’d ever lived in, all to become a teacher.

Blog Title with the words Harriet Bishop , one of the first public school teachers; 1847; History; Writer's Research by Denise M. Colby

Men were teachers of choice in the East, but as the West expanded the opportunity arose for women.

She was sent by a board, that actively sought ought opportunities to bring women teachers to these rural areas. The thought was women would have a greater impact on their students.

This board, National Popular Education, was organized in Cleveland on April 7, 1847. The aim of the board was to “advance the cause of Popular, Christian Education in our country” by encouraging well-qualified “Female teachers” to take positions in the remote West.

Their first class of twenty-six young women, received prep training in New York State before being sent out to parts unknown. This prep training school was led by Catherine Beecher (sister of Harriet Beecher-Stowe)—the teacher whom I reference in my novel (I’ll share more about her in a future post). Harriet Bishop was from the first graduating class of this organization.

Harriet Bishop was also one of the first to volunteer to go to a small settlement outside of what we now know as St. Paul, Minnesota.

A place that had five stores, a dozen families, and about 36 children.

Room and board was furnished by one family who had four children in return for free tuition. She had to bring her own schoolbooks, as the nearest bookstore was over three hundred miles away.

According to Morton, Harriet’s preparation included “a review of the common school subjects, in addition to lectures on domestic economy, health of children, punctuality, truth and honesty in the schoolroom, diet, how to avoid sectarian jealousy, how to deal with party politics, and how to meet petty gossip”.

The last item in the training course was considered necessary because it was said that as soon as a young woman set foot in the new West, some man would promptly woo her from her profession and make her his wife. It seemed to help because by 1858 (10 years later), the board had sent 481 teachers to the West and only 75 had married.

Another tidbit from this article — it turns out the pupils who attended the schools were the ones who entered into matrimony. They made the claim that school and the lessons they learned in running a household helped them find a mate.

I’ve used some of this history in my story.

My heroine, Olivia Carmichael, goes west to teach through one of these organizations. She just happens to go way further west…all the way to California.

She too has to live with families of students for her room and board, and learn how to live in a more remote area.

But more on that later—this post is about Harriet and to acknowledge what she was known for — the first public school teacher in the area.

Old black and white photo of Harriet Bishop one of the first public school teachers in 1847
This photo can be found in the Wikipedia entry on Harriet Bishop

She had a lot of courage to leave her family behind (with the mindset of never seeing them again). In digging around further, I’ve learned she stayed in the St. Paul area for the rest of her life and was instrumental in starting many charities and fundraisers. She married, divorced, and petitioned to get back her legal maiden name successfully. She also wrote a few books, too.

She made an impact on her community and her students.

Like all the teachers I know today.