Josiah Holbrook
Josiah Holbrook | |
|---|---|
 1826 portrait | |
| Born | June 17, 1788 |
| Died | June 20, 1854 (aged 66) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Educator |
Josiah Holbrook (June 17, 1788 – June 20, 1854) was the initiator and organizer of the
Early life and education
Josiah Holbrook was born on the family farm in
In 1813, he married Lucy Swift, a daughter of Rev. Zephania Swift.[8] They had two sons, Alfred and Dwight.[9] His wife died in 1819. Josiah's parents died about the same time and he inherited the family farm. He decided to learn animal husbandry to add to his knowledge of scientific farming techniques that he was already practiced in. About this time, he also started to develop his ideas on educational reform.[5]
In 1819, Holbrook organized the first industrial school in the United States on his family's farm.[10] Modeled after the agronomy ideas of Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg of Switzerland, it combined academic study with teaching practical skills and crafts.[11] The students worked on the farm for a part of their tuition.[12] In 1824 Holbrook introduced the study of languages besides English, like Latin, Greek, and French. Students studied more advanced mathematics, including algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, as well as geography and history. The school also had courses in various branches of astronomy, botany, chemistry, mineralogy, and zoology.[13]
Educational theory and lyceums
In early 1826, Holbrook published an article in Henry Barnard's Journal of Education on his plan of Association of Adults for the purpose of Mutual Education, proposing the creation of a lyceum school.[14] For him, a defining characteristic of a lyceum was as an organization of people interested in acquiring self knowledge and a wider understanding of culture, dedicated to the advancement of education through “the general diffusion of knowledge” and the "raising the moral and intellectual taste" of the population.[15] He wanted a broad social structure that would provide a common education for young adults from a variety of backgrounds to help in their future careers.[16] He described a lyceum as an organization of people interested in acquiring knowledge through their own efforts and thinking.[17] As well as scientific techniques, scholarly endeavors, religion, and politics, he saw education as teaching crafts, the mechanics of agricultural methods, geological surveys and a range of other practical subjects.[18]
In 1826, Holbrook founded the first formal lyceum school in the United States.
Holbrook was successful in his Boston business and used his profits for producing equipment to use in educational establishments.
Holbrook traveled throughout the New England states promoting the lyceum school idea with instruction pamphlets he wrote and lectures he did using these teaching aids.[28] Holbrook's lyceum system concept was published in the First Quarterly Report of the Universal Lyceum in 1837 and in The Self Instructor and Journal of the Universal Lyceum in 1842.[29]
Later life and legacy
Holbrook moved to Washington, D.C., in the late 1840s and there wrote articles advocating the notion of the lyceum.[29] He also helped develop the lyceum town of Berea, Ohio.[30] In later life, he went on geological expeditions and on one such trip at Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1854, he had an accident and drowned at Blackwater Creek on June 20.[31][32]
Holbrook left a large legacy. His theories were a significant motivator and inspiration behind the growth of industrial training in the United States for young adult men.[33] He also considered the role of women, advocating that vocational training should not be restricted by gender, and that women were more than simply "one man's wife and the mother of his children".[34] Similarly, he held that race was not a barrier to learning, arguing for "the complete manhood of the negro".[35] He believed in the need for a uniform educational system in the United States and was an advocate of professional teacher training.[36] He attracted notable speakers to the lyceum schools included Louis Agassiz, Daniel Webster, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Nathaniel Hawthorne and Susan B. Anthony, as well as occasional talks by William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Frederick Douglass.[37][38] He was considered 50 years ahead of his time in teaching, since he was amongst the first to recognize the importance of physical and mental training together.[17] In 1835, it was estimated that there were approximately 3,000 cities and towns which operated a school under his approach.[30] However, eventually other formal teaching methods took the place of his lyceum schools and by 1880 the vast majority had closed.[39]
Works
Amongst his writing, Holbrook wrote the following:[40]
- American lyceum of science and the arts, composed of associations for mutual instruction and designers (1827)
- American Lyceum, or ,Society for the Improvement of Schools and Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1829)
- Scientific Tracts (1830–1832)
- The Family Lyceum (1832–1833)
- Geometrical diagrams: Family lyceum extra.(1832–1833)
- Easy lessons in geometry, intended for infant and primary schools: but useful in academies, lyceums and families (1842)
- The child's first drawing book ; and object teaching primer for home and school (1846)
- Child's first book: drawing series (1854–1859)
References
- ^ Holbrook 1885, p. 8.
- ^ Van Doren 1974, p. 497.
- ^ Whitman 1985, p. 440.
- ^ "Josiah Holbrook / Who he was... / What he did... /Articles he wrote..." Lyceum Site. Assumption College. 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
- ^ a b Barnard 1860, p. 6.
- ^ Tumblin, J. C. (Jim). "Fountain Citians who made a Difference: The Holbrooks". Retrieved August 5, 2016.
- ^ Holbrook 1885, p. 17.
- ^ a b Dewey 1901, p. 263.
- ^ "Tellurian". National Museum of American History. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ Holbrook 1885, p. 18.
- ^ Monroe 1911, p. 111.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Josiah Holbrook". The American Journal of Education: 558. 1864. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Ray 2005, p. 194.
- ^ a b Johnson 1966, p. 381.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ray 2005, p. 50.
- ^ Lush, Paige Clark (2009). Music and Identity in Circuit Chautauqua: 1904–1932 (Ph.D.). Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky. p. 2. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
Though there were several earlier informal lyceum attempts, the first formal lyceum in the United States was founded by Josiah Holbrook (1788–1854) in 1826.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Johnson 1966, p. 380.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Proceedings 1907, p. 465.
- ^ Malley, Richard C. (2016). "What in the World". Connecticut Historical Society. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Whitman 1985, p. 441.
- ^ a b Oliver 2003, p. 40.
- ^ The New England Farmer. J. Nourse. 1854. p. 398.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Parlette 1919, p. 2.
- ^ Ray 2005, p. 231.
- ^ Ray 2005, p. 126.
- ^ Ray 2005, p. 54.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ray 2005, p. 45.
- ^ Ray 2005, p. 277.
Sources
- Barnard, Henry (1860). Memoir of Josiah Holbrook. Hartford, Conn: F.B. Perkins. OCLC 40152534.
- Dewey, Melvil (1901). Library Journal. Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois. OCLC 224515880.
- Holbrook, Alfred (1885). Happy Life of a Teacher. Elm Street Printing Company.
This was the first manual labor school that I have any knowledge of.
- Johnson, Thomas H. (1966). The Oxford Companion to American History. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
- Monroe, Paul (1911). A Cyclopedia of Education. Gale Research Company. p. 111.
Holbrook, as early as 1819, organized the first industrial school in the United States after the pattern of Fellenberg's institution at Hofwyl.
- Oliver, John William (2003). Cradles of Conscience. Kent State University Press. ISBN 9780873387637.
- Parlette, Ralph Albert (1919). "Josiah Holbrook 1788 - 1854". The Lyceum Magazine. Standard Chautauqua System.
- Proceedings (1907). American Lyceum Association.
- Ray, Angela G. (2005). The Lyceum and Public Culture in 19th-century United States. ISBN 978-0-87013-745-7.
- Van Doren, Charles Lincoln (1974). Webster's American Biographies. G. & C. Merriam Company. ISBN 9780877790532.
- Whitman, Alden (1985). American Reformers. H.W. Wilson Company. ISBN 082420705X.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
