History of Education Society
"Lady Teachers" and the Genteel Roots of Teacher Organization in Gilded Age Cities
Author(s): Karen Leroux
Source: History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Summer, 2006), pp. 164-191
Published by: History of Education Society
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"Lady Teachers" and theGenteel Roots
ofTeacher Organization inGilded Age
Cities
KarenLeroux
May thework of theL.T.A. go on everupwardand onward-gainingground
not low&
yearbyyear;so thatin futureitwill have itsvoicein thecommunity,
sweet-but clear and resonantshowingpower and strength;
may itgain that
strength
by increased
membership,held togetherby strongbondsof love.
Let us thenbe up and doing,
With a heartforany fate;
Still achieving,stillpursuing
Learn to laborand towait.'
Miss Ophelia S.Newell believed thatteachersoccupied a publicofficeof
As thesecretary
of theLadyTeachers'Association
unappreciated
responsibility.
(LTA) inBoston, shepenned thesehopefulremarksas a coda toher 1875
annual report,borrowingthe laststanzaof a popularHenryWadsworth
Longfellowpoem.ForNewell andher fellowteachers,"learnto laborand
towait" underscored theirsteadfastcommitmentto theschools.They
tobring
womewteachers
"nearertogether
foundedtheassociation
attempting
in sympathyand friendship
and also foramutual benefitindebate and
withbeing"accusedof a lackof enthusiasm
rules."Frustrated
parliamentary
inour profession,"theyhoped such criticismcould "be remediedby an
one of
organizationof thiskind."2
Honing theirdebatingskillsrepresented
Leroux
is an assistant professor of history at Drake University.
She received a Ph.D.
in history from Northwestern University in 2005. She would like to thankNancy K. MacLean
and Stacey M. Robertson
for their encouragement
and suggestions. Financial support for this
research was provided by theMassachusetts
Historical
of
Society, the Board of Alumnae
Northwestern University, and the Spencer Foundation. This essay won theHistory of Education
Society's Henry Barnard Prize as the best essay by a graduate student.
Karen
48
Association
1875 secretary's report, Volume
I, Box 2, [Boston] Lady Teachers'
February
Historical
records, Massachusetts
[hereafter LTA]
Society.
-'Minutes of first meeting
I, Box 2, LTA.
[undated], Volume
Study of parliamentary
see
"From Artisan to
rules was common in early teachers' organizations,
Marjorie Murphy,
Semi-Professional: White Collar Unionism Among Chicago Public School Teachers,
1870
1930," (Ph.D. diss., University of California-Davis,
1981), 161.
History
ofEducation
Quarterly Vol. 46
No. 2
Summer
2006
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
165
The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
but theyaspiredtodomore thanpolishtheirchances
thewomen'sobjectives,
forprofessionaladvancement.
Through association,these
women hoped toprovideeachotherwith
theprofessional
and socialsecuritytheyneeded.The drumbeatofdemands
forteachers'selflessserviceto thepublicpresupposedaccess to resources
Most were unmarriedorwidowed; they
that
mostwomen teacherslacked.
didnot enjoythefamilysupportthatenabledmiddle-classwomen towork
forcommunity
betterment
withoutconcernabout remuneration.
School
boardsemployed
menwith thepresumption
thattheysupportedthemselves
and sometimesothers,but theydidnot extendthatrecognitiontowomen,
regardlessof theirfamilystatus.Obtaining school employmentrequired
some educationand socialgraces,markingwomenwho taughtas socially
whilemaskingtheirfinancial
plight.To protecttheirprecarious
privileged
independencein thewage-basedurbaneconomy,
women organizedamong
themselvesto replacethekindsof family
Like
supporttheyhad foregone.
Americans,teacherslooked tovoluntary
many othernineteenth-century
or state.They enlisted
needsunmetbyeitherfamily
organizationto fulfill
ofother teachersas a substitute
the"sympathy
and friendship"
safety
net.
of teacheractivismbeginat theturnof thetwentieth
Most narratives
century.Though historiansacknowledgetheformationof earlier local
associations,theytendtodismissthemasmerely "socialorganizations."3
The clubs thatteachersformedbetweenthe 1870sand 1890swere indeed
social, but I argue that theirsocial characterdid not preclude serious
occupationalconcerns.This researchrevealsurbanwomen appropriating
women's self-improvement
elementsof educatorassociations,
societies,and
fraternal
orderstoprotectthemselves
againstlossof incomedue to illness
while attemptingto strengthentheirposition as female
and infirmity,
professionalsin theserviceof thepublic.
Gilded-Age "lady teachers"began to develop a collectiveidentity,
fromdependency,and formulate
construct
networkstoprotectthemselves
with thestate."It is a
a critiqueof theirpeculiaremploymentrelationship
in
wrote 1879, "fortheState
high crimeandmisdemeanor,"one teacher
ofheryouth,
toask teacherstoexpendtheirbestenergiesin theinstruction
and thenrequirethemtouse thebalance insolvingtheproblemofhow to
How could
make theweek'swagesmeet theweek's necessaryexpenses."4
and stillfulfill
teacherlaborselflessly
a self-supporting
obligationstoher
women teachersviewed
Like professionals,
landlordand othercreditors?
theirskilledservicetoothersas partof an exchangethatought tomake
Yet theywere
possible theself-sufficiency
requiredby good citizenship.
Tor one example, seeWayne
University Press, 1982), 9.
4"The Teacher's
Profession,"
J.Urban, Why Teachers Organized
Journal
ofEducation,
15May
(Detroit: Wayne
1879, 312.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
State
166
Quarterly
HistowyofEdutcation
werewomen obliged to sacrificethemselvesin
not likeprofessionals;they
theserviceof theschools.Confrontingthisuntenabledilemma,Boston
and attemptedto
teachersdubbed themselves"inexperiencedcitoyennes"
reconstruct
genteelpublicserviceas a basis fortheirclaimson thestateand
ameans to theirempowerment.5
between
Embracingthemoral distinction
servingthepublicandworkingmerely forwages, theyhoped theirpublic
would translateintodesiredprofessional
service
privileges.
From the 1870s until theturnof thecentury,teachers'clubs formed
in citiessmalland large,including
Boston,Buffalo,Chicago, Cincinnati,
Minneapolis, and St.Paul. These organizations,typically
local,sometimes
a singleneighborhood.
represented
Highly attunedtohierarchy,
theyoften
definedthemselves
by their
genderor rankin theschools.Statusconsciousness
fororganization:
had implications
by 1900, thecityofBoston (notincluding
itssuburbs)had at leastelevendifferent
teachers'organizations
andSt.Paul
Most of theseorganizationseitherkeptpoor recordsor
had at leastfour.6
failedtopreservethem,but twoassociations-one inBoston andone inSt.
Paul-kept detailedminutesofmeetingswhich formthebasisof thisstudy.
Seeminglyunexploredbyprevioushistorians,thesesourcesshowstrikingly
similarconcernsabout teachers'incomesecurity
and comparablestrategies
takento address them.Indeed, teachers'clubs indifferent
partsof the
This
countrysharedadviceon programs,organization,andmembership.7
where teachersbegan to tracethe
essaypeers intotheselocalassociations,
difficulties
to their
vulnerable
practical
theyexperienced
statusasprofessionals,
women, and citizens.
The Boston women who founded theLTA sought self-culture,
friendship,andmutual aid-opportunities unavailable to them in the
5M.P. Colburn,
254.
"Lady Teachers'
Associations,"
Journal
ofEducation, 4 December
1875,
The
in Boston formed in 1874, theWomen
Association
Teachers'
Lady Teachers'
in Buffalo in 1889; the Chicago Teachers'
Club in 1892, and the St. Paul Grade
Association
in 1898. Minneapolis
Teachers'
sometime before 1879; and
teachers organized
teachers inChicago formed the School Mistresses' Club sometime in the 1880s. See "Teachers'
in Buffalo," Education
16 (May 1896), 570; Julia E. Sullivan, "The Boston
Organizations
Association
Club:
36:3 (December
1898-1948," Boston Teachers'Newsletter
1947), 17;Michael
"St. Paul Federation
of Teachers,
3 in
J.McDonough,
Fifty Years of Service, 1918-1968,"
Folder
of Teachers
1, Box 8, Series V, St. Paul Federation
Collection,
[hereafter StPTF
18November
Collection] Walter Reuther Library; Financial Secretary toMr. Thos. McLachlan,
Federation Papers, (hereafter CTF)
1904, Folder: Sept-Dec
1904, Box 38, Chicago Teachers'
Ella Flagg Young and a Half-Century
Chicago Historical
Society; John T. McManis,
of the
& Co, 1916), 94; Ella F. Young,
in
"Women
Chicago Public Schools (Chicago: A.C. McClurg
in Illinois," Journal ofProceedings of the 50th Annual
Education
of the Illinois State
Meeting
Teachers Association and Sections (Carbondale:
ISTA, 1904), 16-17.
7The Lady Teachers'
in Boston recorded inquiries from teachers in distant
Association
cities like Louisville KY, as did Chicago
teachers. See minutes ofmeetings, March
1877 entry,
to Catharine Goggin,
25 December
Volume
1868
I, Box 2, LTA; J.E. McKean
1899, Folder:
1899, Box 35, CTF. They also made inquiries with other associations, see minutes ofmeetings,
11March
1890 entry,Volume
17.
I, Box 2, LTA;
Sullivan, "Boston Teachers
Club,"
Teachers
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
167
wor-kplaceor fromexistingeducatorassociationsorwomen's clubs.All
unmarriedorwidowed, theydescribedyearningtocreatebetweenthem"a
which exists."
nearerbond thanthat
Countryschoolteachers
enduredlong
buteventhoseincityschoolscomplained
fromfriends
and family,
separations
of feelingisolated in theirclassrooms.8
ProgressiveeducatorElla Flagg
Young explained
how teachers'
workingconditions
leftthemfeeling
detached,
in theSchools.
powerless,and lonelyinher 1900 book, Isolation
Teaching in
theChicago area sincethe 1860s,Young synthesized
theproblemsshehad
hercareer.By "establishing
ameansofmutual improvement
seenthroughout
and culturein teachers,and assistanceas friends,"theseBoston teachers
hoped toalleviatethesenseof alienation
Youngwould eventually
address.9
Stateandnationalteachers'associationsdidnot offer
women a sense
of belongingeither.Quite theopposite,theykeptwomen at themargins
ofmembership.Dominated bymen, annualmeetings of theNational
EducationAssociation(NEA) broughta fewhigh-achieving
women to the
attentionof theprofession.
But theNEA made no efforttodevelop local
branchesand thusheld limitedappeal forwomenwhose smallsalariesleft
littletopaymembershipfeesand traveltoannualmeetings.
Moreover, the
NEA downplayedproblemsof teacherpay andwelfare, issuesfarmore
importanttowomen thancomparatively
well-paidmen. Though female
teachershad outnumberedmales since theCivilWar, NEA meetings
continuedtoattract
moremen until1884,when organizers
made an effort
toappeal to femaledelegatesas a "penanceforpast shortcomings."'"
Larger numbersofwomen attendedstateassociationmeetings.Yet
evenwhen thenumbersofwomen exceeded themen, fewwomen joined
indiscussions.InMassachusetts,well-knownand accomplishedteachers
likeElectaWalton andAnnieE. Johnson
mightdecry"the injustice
which
in
this
woman
teacher
suffers
but
the
women
for
every
Commonwealth,"
whom theyclaimedtospeakoftenpreferred
tokeep silent.
Many urged the
"necessityforboth localandgeneralorganizationsamong ladyteachers...
to accustom ...members to speakingon thevariousquestionsof theday,
Constitutions
1874 and 1879, minutes of meetings 20 February 1874 and 11March
1894, 12December
1875, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA. On feelings of isolation, see 11December
Microfilm
1894,4 January 1895 and 6 February 1895 entries, Louise Bailey Diaries
edition,
(
Katherine Reddington Morgan,
ed., My Ever
1976) State Historical
Society ofWisconsin;
Dear Daughter, My Own Dear Mother: The Correspondence ofJulia Stone Towne andMary Julia
of Iowa Press, 1996); and "A Fit of the Blues,"
Towne, 1868-1882
(Iowa City: University
Western Journal ofEducation, (August 187 5): 181 -2.
9Ella Flagg Young, Isolation in the Schools (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1900);
JackieM. Blount, Destined toRule theSchools:Women and theSuperintendent, 1813-1995 (Albany:
20 February
State University
of meetings
of New York Press, 1998), 167; Minutes
1874,
Volume
I, Box 2, LTA.
10"A
Word from a Country Teacher," Woman's Journal, 26 November
1870, 370; Edgar
B.Wesley, NEA: The First Hundred Years, The Building of theTeaching Profession (New York:
isfrom 260.
Harper & Brothers, 1957), 334, quotation
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168
History ofEdication Quarterly
of theirposition."I1
Lack
and forsystematizing
plans fortheimprovement
of practiceinpublic speaking,however,was not theonlyproblemwomen
teachersneeded toovercome.
andprincipals
controlled
When male superintendents
meetings,female
teachers
weighed carefullythecosts and benefitsof participation.Some
meetingsdidnot invitediscussion.
Male supervisors
used theguise
teachers'
ofvoluntaryassociationtobringteacherstoadministrative
meetings,often
on Saturdays,
Teacherswerenot invited
withouthavingtopay fortheirtime.
tomeetings liketheseto engage indiscussionsof interestto thembut to
receiveinstructions
fromtheirsupervisors.
Althoughdeemed "voluntary"
each
meetings,themen presidingoftendeterminedteachers'reemployment
AmericanFederationofTeachers activist
RuthGillette
year.Decades later,
Hardy labeledthesemale-led teachers'associationsas "companyunions,"
of schoolauthorities,
not teachers.
observingthattheyoperatedin theinterest
The didacticnatureof these
meetingsoftencarriedovertostateandnational
associationmeetings,suggesting
whymanywomen teacherschosenot to
attendandwhy themen leadingthemcomplainedaboutwomen's lackof
to teaching.In a sessionon primaryteaching
enthusiasmand commitment
at a stateassociation
meeting,onewoman observedthatof thehundredor
morewomen inattendance,
only threejoinedin thediscussion.In contrast,
she noted that"everygentlemanpresent spoke, somemore thanonce,
with [one]exception...,notone of themhad everactually
thoughprobably,
Women comprisedthemajorityof teachers,
but
taughta primaryschool."''2
male educators'power inhibitedtheirparticipation.
more of a
Gilded-Agewomen's clubsofferedteachersonly slightly
senseof inclusion.InBoston, theNew EnglandWomen's Club (NEWC)
Woman's EducationAssociation(WEA) sponsoredpublicmeetings
and the
on education,occasionallyinvitingteachersto speak.Strongsupporters
of
and community
self-improvement
betterment
initiatives,
theseelitegroups
also organized lecturesto help teacherssupplementtheirknowledgeof
""Massachusetts Teachers Convention," Woman's Journal, 24 January 1874, 26. Annie
E. Johnson became the firstwoman principal of a state normal school inMassachusetts
in
1866. She quit in 1875 for a higher paying position. Electa Walton
also taught in several
state normal schools, serving
Massachusetts
temporarily as principal in 1849 when Cyrus
Pierce became ill. She was passed over for the permanent appointment, which went to aman.
See "Gov. Bullock's Remarks," Thirtieth Annual Report of theBoard ofEducation [Massachusetts]
& Potter, 1867), 37-40; "Framingham,"
(Boston: Wright
Thirty-Ninth Annual Report of the
Board ofEducation
& Potter, 1876), 27-28; and Historical
(Boston: Wright
[Massachusetts]
Sketches of theFramingham State Normal School (Framingham: Alumnae Association,
1914), 42,
51,96-97.
12"TheTeachers Meeting Yesterday," St. Paul Daily Press, 13 October
1872, Roll 81,
Frame 242, Annals ofMinnesota
Historical
microfilm, Minnesota
Society (hereafter Annals).
For another example see Minute
1,Atlanta Normal
Schools, Georgia
Books, Box 1, Folder
of Archives and History. Ruth Gillette Hardy, "Historical Setting of the American
Department
Federation
of Teachers,"
Folder
"Massachusetts Teachers
1, Box 2, StPFT;
Convention,"
Woman's Journal, 24 January 1874, 26.
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
169
advanced subjectslikechemistry,
geology,and rhetoric."3
Perhapsmost
importantly,
women's clubs incitiesaroundthenationorganizedtoplace
memberson schooland library
boards,hoping tobringtheirinfluenceto
bearon publiceducationinways thatteachers
couldnot.Focusingon shared
educational
andmoralvalues,
attainments
manyAmericansregardedteachers
and clubwomen as naturalallies,despitetheirclassdifferences."4
At best,however,clubwomen treatedteachersas juniorpartnersin
educationalreform.
TheWEA boasted thatclubworkplacedmembers"en
rapport
with theactualpracticalwork of teaching,"but theorganization
tendedto treatteachersasobjectsof reform
or as gatekeepers
whose support
was needed forreforminitiatives
to succeed.Even Ednah Dow Cheney, a
NEWC member and long-timechampionof gender alliancesbetween
reformers
and teachers,thoughtteacherscould benefitfromthe"advice
andguidance"of clubwomen but failedtoconsiderhowmuch clubwomen
could learnfromteachersaswell. The WEA claimed to seek teachersas
members, evenwaivingmembership fees forthem,but likemost elite
women's clubs,itdidnot evenschedulemeetingsso that
workingteachers
couldattend.
Though itcouldcountmost of thecity'sfemaleschoolofficers
among themembership, fewpublic school teachersjoined. Still,LTA
members invitedclubwomen, aswell asmale educators,to their
meetings
as honoredguestsand speakers.
Teachers cultivatedtheserelationships
for
thesocialandprofessional
with the
advantagesthey
mightbringbut always
knowledgethateconomicnecessityand lackofpoliticalinfluence
rendered
them"a groupapart.""15
on Education,"
Woman's Journal,
13 July 1872, 224;
13"Report of the Committee
and Public Schools: A Report toN.E. Woman's
Club," Woman's Journal, 17August
1872, 258; Third Annual Report of theWoman's Education Association ofBoston, 1874 (Boston:
Alfred Mudge & Son, 1875), 8-13; AnnualReport oftheWoman's Educational Association (Boston:
"Women
& Son, 1878), 6; Polly Welts Kaufman, Boston Women and City School Politics,
Alfred Mudge
1872-1905 (New York: Garland,
1994), 68-69. On similar developments between club women
seeMaureen
and teachers inChicago,
Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts: Chicago Women and
theVision of theGood City, 1871-1933
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), 62.
A. Sprague, A History of theNew England Women's Clubfrom 1868 to 1893 (Boston:
14Julia
Lee & Shepard, 1894), 17; Kaufman, Boston Women; Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts, 33.
The Minneapolis
Woman's
School and Library Organization
worked to place women on
5 and 6, Political Equality Club ofMinneapolis
school and library boards. See Box 2,Volumes
women undertook similar initiatives in the
Historical
Records, Minnesota
Society. Atlanta
1 (1895), Atlanta Women's
1890s. See Scrapbook
Club Collection, Atlanta History Center.
xs
Second Annual Report of theWoman's Education Association ofBoston, 1873-74 (Boston:
& Son, 1874), 9, 4-5. See also First Annual Report of theWoman's Education
Alfred Mudge
Association for theyear endingJanuary 16,1873 (Boston: W.L.
Deland,
1873), 7,10; Third Annual
& Son,
Report of theWoman's Education Association ofBoston, 1874. (Boston: Alfred Mudge
1875), 3, 8-13; and Annual Report oftheWoman's Education Association for theyear endingJanuary
in
& Son, 1878), 6; Ednah Dow Cheney, "Place ofWomen
16, 1878 (Boston: Alfred Mudge
our Public Schools," Woman's Journal, 23 October
1875, 341, 338; Sprague, History of theNew
ofWomen
Boston Women,
76; "St. Paul Federation
England Women's Club, 17; Kaufman,
1, Box: 2, Series II, StPFT.
Teachers,"
p.l in Folder:
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
170
HistoryofEdlucationQuarter-ly
marginalization
was thesimplefact
The sourceofwomen teachers'
were unmarriedorwidowed and needed to
thatmostwomenwho taught
earn theirliving.
The antebellumpracticeofhiringyoungwomen to spell
winterschoolspaved theway forschoolboards to
offthemen who taught
replacehigher-paid
male teachers
withwomen inneed of income."f
The
to
CivilWar andwesternmigrationcontributed risingnumbersofwidows
on theinequalities
castingnew attention
and spinsters
seekingemployment,
of amarketeconomywhichpresumed"allmen supportedallwomen."The
women needingemploymentbecame thestock
oversupplyof unmarried
explanationforwhywomen teacherswere so poorlypaid, butwomen's
rightsactivistslikeMary Livermore, a formerteacherwho became an
member of theLTA, counteredthatitwas not thequantityof
honorary
women seekingemployment
but thefewlinesofwork open to themthat
fostered
theexcessofwomenworkersanddepressedtheir
wages. In a narrow
work because it
fieldof options,teachingbecame especiallysought-after
ofmotherhoodon self-supporting
women.'7
conferredtherespectability
work servedthenation'schildrenand
Teachers could takepride thattheir
Women's work inschoolsset them
remainedat a distancefromthemarket.
apartfromotherwage-earning
women,creatinga new andgrowingcategory
of economicallyneedybutmorallydeservingsinglewomen.
Somewomen taughtuntil they
married,butotherssaw in teachinga
potentialalternativetomarriageand familylife.AftertheCivilWar, the
was becominga real,thoughdifficult,
prospectof livingapartfromfamily
matrimonyled the
lifechoice forwomen. Changes in attitudestowards
More General?"
journalTheNationtoask"Why is theSingleLifeBecoming
answer
as
a
not
The
describedsinglehood personalchoice, merelytheresult
of a demographicshift:"Men andwomen can lesseasilyfindanyonewhom
aremore
theyarewilling to.takeas a partnerforlife;theirrequirements
of excellencehigher;theyare lessable to findany
exacting;theirstandards
anybodyelse's ideal."'8
who satisfytheirown idealand lessable to satisfy
lfiAntebellum schools often employed amale teacher in the winter and a female teacher
in the summer, when the older boys were likely to be working. Schools replaced male teachers
to economize on labor costs.
with women
Kathryn Kish Sklar, "The Schooling of Girls and
inMassachusetts
1750-1820," History ofEducation
Towns,
Changing
Community Values
Quarterly 33 (Winter 1993): 528-529.
17LeeVirginia Chambers-Schiller,
Liberty, A Better Husband. Single Women inAmerica:
The Generations of 1780-1840
is
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), 29. Quotation
from Mary A. Livermore, What Shall We Do with Our Daughters?
Lee & Shepard,
(Boston:
"
"Woman's Right toLabor, Or, Low Wages and
1883), 59, also 85. See also Caroline H. Dall,
Hard Work
(Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 1860), esp. 5-9; and Virginia Penny, The Employments
& Co, 1863), 37-39; "Too
ofWomen: A Cyclopedia ofWoman's Work (Boston: Walker, Wise,
1879, 207-8; Hiram Orcutt, "A Circular Letter
Respectable!" Journal ofEducation, 16October
to Public School Teachers,"
Journal ofEducation, 13 January 1881,21.
l8The
Nation, 5March
1868, quoted inZsuzsa Berend, "The Best or None!
Spinsterhood
inNineteenth-Century
New England," Journal ofSocial History 33 (Summer 2000): 948.
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
171
When members
Teachers' responsestomarriageconfirmthearticle'sthesis.
of theLTA announcednuptials,theircolleagues celebratedtheirgood
fortune
tofindamanworthy
ofmatrimony.
Thoughmarriageandmotherhood
were idealized,thosewho did not findaman were not pitied.Far better
not tomarrythantomake a badmatch or riska "degradingalliance."No
longersimplya temporary
conditionofwomen in theiryouth,singlehood
becameunderstoodas a perfectly
respectabledecisionnot to settleforan
ashistorian
man.Nineteenth-century
unworthy
spinsterhood,
ZsuzsaBerend
has shown,signifiedawoman's "uncompromising
morality,"and came to
onmotherhoodratherthanitsantithesis."19
represent
"a respectable
variation
Calls forprofessionalizing thework of teachers reinforcedthe
women'swork.HarvardUniversity
developmentof teachingasunmarried
W. Eliot deniedwomen'spotentialasprofessional
President
Charles
teachers
becausemarriagepreventedthemfromdevotingtheirlivestoworkbeyond
one schoolsuperintendent
thefamily
circle.Putting
Eliot'sviewsintopractice,
with a teacherthereisan impliedstipulation
explained:"[J]neverycontract
thathe shallput hiswhole being intohiswork ....This is a service
which
admitsno dividedempire.... Itmust have thewhole heartor itisnothing."
While aman couldmarryand still"puthiswhole being" intohis schoolor
profession,fewbelievedawoman could do both.The growingemphasis
on affective
laborin teachingand therisingrespectability
of spinsterhood,
however,led theReverendA.D. Mayo to spearheadargumentsforsingle
women as lifelong
professionalsin theserviceof theschools.He preached
inAmericacannotbe conductedby teachers
who
that"publicinstruction
come to itwith half amind, regardit a hatefuldrudgery,and toilwith
mechanical stolidity
while thesoul is faraway.It demands thecomplete
consecrationofhumanpowers.It isa thingtoworkup to, toprayover,to
purifyone's self for."20
Alluding tomale teacherswho aspired tomore
lucrative
andprestigious
employment,
Mayo envisioneda professional
corps
of spinsterteachers
wholly devoted to thevocationof teaching.
Coupled
women had familiestosupportthem,
with theassumptionthatrespectable
Mayo's argumentshelped shape postbellumeducation as a low-paying
branchofpublic serviceemploying
mostlysinglewomen.
of meetings:
19"TheMatrimony
Clause," Brooklyn Eagle, 2 February 1876, 2;Minutes
1875 entry; also see 10 June 1884 entry,Volume
I, Box 2, and Annual Report of
941. Also
II, Box 2, LTA; Berend, "Best or None,"
Secretary for Sept 1901, p.166, Volume
on positive views of spinsterhood, see Ruth Freeman and Patricia Klaus, "Blessed or Not: The
States in the Late Nineteenth
and Early Twentieth
and the United
Spinster in England
18 February
Centuries," Journal ofFamily History 9 (October
1984), 395.
in the Schools," Journal of 'Education,
20CharlesW. Eliot, "Wise and Unwise Economy
29May
1875, 254; "School Committees'
Reports," Thirty-Ninth Annual Report of theBoard of
Education [Massachusetts] (Boston: Wright & Potter, 1876), 26; "American Teachers," Minnesota
Teacher 1 (September
1868): 11.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
172
Histo;y ofEducationQuarterly
Regardingteachers
asmodels ofpurityandpatriotism,
northernschool
continued
teachers
with
the
of
white
boards
to hire
image
republican
motherhoodinmind.The teachingcorpsinnineteenth-century
citypublic
schools remainedfarmore segregatedand ethnicallyhomogeneous than
theirclassrooms.School boardsseldomhiredwomenwhowere notnative
Even as lateas 1910,one sourcereported
bornandEnglish-speaking.
nearly
three-quarters
of teachers
were native-born,thoughgrowingnumbershad
one foreign-born
made
parent.Only thedaughtersof Irish immigrants
significantinroads into teaching,comprisingabout one-quarterof the
teachersin severalnortherncitiesin theearlytwentieth
Yet even
century.
inBoston, where Irish familieshad settled fordecades, school board
forhiring
YankeeProtestants
preferences
keptthenumbersof Irish-American
teacherslowuntil theturnof thecentury.2'
innorthern
Very fewblackwomen foundemployment
publicschools.
Massachusetts-Charlotte
Though a numberattendedstatenormalschoolsin
FortenandOliviaDavidson amongthem-one blacknormalgraduate
who
appliedfora positionin theBostonpublicschoolswas reportedly
told,"Go
While somestates
downSouthamongyourown people."22
willinglytrained
blacksas teachers,blacksstood littlechanceof teachinginpublic schools
Some light-skinned
blackwomenprobably
that
werenot strictly
segregated.
worked inpublic schoolswhile passingaswhite,but nineteenth-century
northernschool boards seldomknowinglyemployedblacks,unless they
were hired to teachinall-blackschools.23
16; Lotus D. Coffman, The Social Composition of the
21Urban,Why Teachers Organized,
1911), 55-56, 59.
College, Columbia University,
Teaching Population (New York: Teachers
Irish-American women comprised about 20 percent of teachers in Boston and San Francisco
and about 30 percent in Chicago
and New York by the 1910s. See Janet Nolan,
Servants of
thePoor: Teachers andMobility in Ireland and Irish America (University ofNotre Dame Press,
2004); John L. Rury, Education and Social Change: Themes in theHistory ofAmerican Schooling
(Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002), 97; Kaufman, Boston Women, 232-233, 240 n40, 241
3.
"Before 1900, Boston public schools reportedly employed only one black teacher full
time, as well as one substitute and three evening teachers who were black. Elizabeth Hafkin
and Poverty: Boston 1865-1900
Pleck, Black Migration
(New York: Academic Press, 1979), 34.
Sarah Deutsch
found four black women teaching in "greater Boston's public schools" by 1902;
Baker.
Smith, and Miss Gertrude Mabel
they included Miss Maria L. Baldwin, Miss Hattie
See Women and the City: Gender, Space and Power in Boston, 1870-1940
(New York: Oxford
Press, 2000), 368, n232. Baldwin was principal of an interracial Cambridge,
University
Massachusetts
"Maria Louise
public school from 1887 until 1922. See Dorothy Porter Wesley,
inAmerica: An Historical Encyclopedia, Darlene
in Black Women
Clark Hine, Elsa
Baldwin,"
eds. (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press,
Barkley Brown, and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn,
School at Salem. See Brenda Stevenson, ed.
1993), 79-80. Forten attended the State Normal
The Journals ofCharlotte Forten Grimk? (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988). Davidson
to Ednah
See Olivia A. Davidson
attended the State Normal
School at Framingham.
Cheney,
28 August 1881, Folder #43, Ednah Dow Cheney Papers, Boston Public Library.
a
few black teachers in nineteenth-century Detroit and Chicago;
23JohnB. Reid found
See John B. Reid, "A
nearly all taught in segregated schools located in black neighborhoods.
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
173
School boards'preferenceforhiringwhite spinsters
of respectability
was inextricably
tied to thewomen's race,class,andmarital status.They
inneedof theirlabor,unmarried
assumedthat
withoutfamilies
whitewomen
couldchoose todevotethemselves
to thepublicschools.The Boston school
committeeregardednormal school graduatesas the"daughtersof our
citizens,"presupposingtheirfamily
dependency.School boardsacrossthe
nationdefendedlowsalariespaid towomen, contendingthattheylivedin
comfortable
homes,had no dependentsto support,and needed nomore
thana tokenwage fora fewyearsuntil theyfounda husbandwho could
provideas theirfather
had.Even the
Massachusetts
BureauofLabor Statistics
acknowledged thatwomen teachersdid not earn enough to support
themselves-sometimesless thanneedlewomenand factory
operatives
unlikeother
theirlowpayarguingthatteachers,
but justified
working
women,
could relyon relativesand friendstomeet livingexpenses.24
While school boards continued to imaginethatteachers'families
supportingthemselves
supportedthem,teachers'difficulties
provedall too
real.The lureofhigher-paying
work incityschoolsseparated
women from
theirhomes. In 1882Minneapolis teachersreportedonly20 percentcould
livewith family
members iftheychose;80 percenthad come to thecityon
theirown.Newspaperspoked funat thethingsteachersdid tosupplement
theirearnings:"Schoolma'ams run reapersduringvacation inDougals
The imageof refined
county"sneeredthe
cityteachers
MinneapolisTribune.
runningheavy farmingequipmentmade forhumorousheadlines,but it
ofwomen teachersto supportthemselves.
spokedirectlyto the inability
lecturer
Former teacherand suffrage
Mary F. Eastman chargedthenation
treatedteacherslikehalf-paupers,
denyingthemwages fortwomonthsof
theyear.Even teachersexpertenoughto leadstateteachers'institutes,
like
Career to Build, A People to Serve, A Purpose toAccomplish: Race, Class, Gender and Detroit's
in "We Specialize in theWholly Impossible": A Reader
First Black Women
1865-1916,"
Teachers,
in Black Women's History, Darlene
Clark Hine, Wilma
King, Linda Reed, eds. (Brooklyn:
Profession: African American
Carlson,
1995), 310; and "Race, Class, Gender and theTeaching
State University,
of theUrban Midwest,
Schoolteachers
1865-1950,"
(Ph.D. diss., Michigan
1996), 142. On black women's mostly private school teaching, see Stephanie J. Shaw, What a
theJim Crow Era
Woman Ought to Be and toDo: Black Professional Women Workers During
of Chicago
Press, 1996). On passing, James Weldon
Johnson, The
(Chicago: University
an
1989); Nella Larsen, Passing
(1912; New York: Vintage,
Autobiography of Ex-Coloured Man
1971).
(1929; New York: Collier,
24"Reportof the Board," Thirtieth Annual Report of theBoard ofEducation [Massachusetts]
on Normal
12
& Potter, 1867), 8, 12; "Report of the Committee
School,
(Boston: Wright
March
1872," Box: 1872, Boston School Committee Records, Boston Public Library (hereafter
BSC);
Schools-Bridgewater,"
Thirty-Ninth Annual Report
"Report ofVisitors of theNormal
& Potter, 1876), 40; "Teachers'
(Boston: Wright
[Massachusetts]
of the Board ofEducation
Bureau of
Salaries," Journal ofEducation 1 June 1882, 345. For the criticism ofMassachusetts
Labor Statistics see "New England Woman
Suffrage Association: Address ofMary F. Eastman,"
Woman's Journal, 31May
1873, 173.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
174
History,ofEducationQzarterly
May Church,had troublepiecingtogethera living.
Emphasizingherplight
as awidowedmother,sheappealed to a new femalecountysuperintendent
forhelp locatingsummeremployment:"Mywages amount toonly three
hundredand twenty
dollarshere and you know thatwill notwith closest
economy last twelve
monthswhen one has a familyof fourand board to
pay. "25
Teachers' wage dependencybecame impossibleto ignoreafterthe
depressionof the1870s,when numerouscitiesslashedwomen teachers'
salaries
whilepreserving
otherpublicemployees'
pay.
Widespreadretrenchments
women teachersenjoyedfamily
exposedthefallacythat
but instead
support,
of placing themon an equal footing
with otherwage earners,revelations
of theirdependency
put teachersin theironicpositionofneedingtodefend
their
moral fitnessto teach.26
Women's prowessas teachershad longbeen
assumedtobe rootedindomesticity,
butneithertheovercrowded
classrooms
of cityschoolsnor therough-hewnsurroundings
of countryschoolhouses
shared
much incommonwith thefictive
of themiddle-classhome.
sanctuary
Women perceivedtowork formaterial ratherthanspiritualrewardsran
theriskof beingdismissedasunfitto teach.In herpursuitofmoremoney,
May Church attemptedtopreemptcriticismby emphasizingher tragic,
statusand all theprofessionalinstitutes
"unprotected"
shehad led.She also
addressedher appeals to a superintendent
who was a formerteacherand
had experienced
herown shareof financialtroubles.
Other educatorsproved
less sympathetic.
AddressingprimaryteachersinBoston, reformerand
futureschool supervisor
Louisa Hopkins acknowledgedthatteachers'pay
ought to be better,but she blithelyadvised,"in themeantimeyoumust
bearup as bestyoumay." Infusingfeminine
benevolenceandmiddle-class
moralityintothedefinition
of teacherprofessionalism,
she insistedteaching
was "toonoble awork and toonearyourhearttobemeasuredbymoney."
Discountingwomen teachers'financialneeds,Hopkins called fortheir
asproofof theirfitness
sacrifices
fortheprivilegeof teaching."Ifyoumerely
25JurgenHerbst, And Sadly Teach: Teacher Education and Professionalization inAmerican
Salaries: What
the
(Madison: University ofWisconsin
Press, 1989), 86; "Teachers'
to
Teachers
ofMinneapolis
Have
1 June 1882, 346;
Journal ofEducation,
^y,"
Minneapolis
"New England Woman
Tribune, 19 August
1878, Roll 80, Frame
1305, Annals;
Suffrage
Association: Address ofMary F. Eastman," Woman's
1873, 173;May Church
Journal, 31May
to Sarah Christie Stevens, 15
Feb-Mar
Folder
C.
Box
Christie
1891,
14, James
February 1891,
and Family papers(hereafter JCC), Minnesota
Historical
Society.
26On depleted city treasuries and subsequent retrenchments, see
"From Artisan
Murphy,
to Semi-Pro fessional,"
18-19; David B. Tyack, The One Best System: A History ofAmerican
Urban Education (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974), 177-178; Kaufman, Boston
1878: 413; Annual Report of
Women, 92; "Women Teachers," Woman's Journal, 28 December
theSchool Committee ofBoston, 1878 (Boston: Rockwell and Churchill,
1878), 15-16; "Teachers'
Culture
Salaries," Journal
of 'Education, 24March
1881:197.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
175
want highwages, and teachonlybecauseyou can getyour livingby it,you
arenot a teacherinanyhigh senseof theterm."27
By organizing,
women teachersattemptedto defendthemselvesas
femaleprofessionals.
LTA foundersagonizedover thepublic imagethey
conveyed.
They consideredcallingthemselves
theteachers'
clubbutdecided
that"club"hadmasculineconnotations
andmightbe perceivedas a challenge
to theexistingprincipals'club.Their concernshad a precedentinBoston.
Six yearsearlierNEWC foundershad thesamedebate, somemembers
shyingawayfromtheword "club"and othersinsistingthatitwouldmark
theirorganization
with a "combination
of sociability
and freedom"and "a
While theelitewomen of theNEWC decided
degreeof exclusiveness."
thegambleworthwhile,teachers
were unwillingto riskreproachfornot
knowingtheirplace.They settledon callingthemselves
an "association,"
fearsthataWomen Teachers'Association
onlytoconfront
wouldbe confused
with aWomen's Suffrage
Association.Ultimatelytheyarrivedat thename
Lady Teachers' Association,a prudentchoice theythought
would reflect
theirgenteel,not strident,
pursuitof professionalism.
Teachers inother
citieslikely
went throughthesameprocess,forthatnamewas not unique
toBoston.But prudencefailedtheBoston teachers.
Male principals
mounted
a "strenuousopposition" to theirproposed organization,attemptingto
discreditthewomen as agitators.28
But asLTA presidentLucy C. Bartlett
explained,theLTA did not seek tobe associatedwith eitherthewoman
questionor the laborquestion,but ratherto "be a teacher'sunion in the
highestsense of thatterm."They worried thateven theperceptionof
politicalambitionsmight hinder theiroccupationalaspirations.Instead
LTA memberspursuedan agendaof reformand self-help,emphasizing
theirladyhoodinan attempttomake itcommensurate
withprofessionalism
andwage earning.29
27KarenHalttunen, ConfidenceMen and Painted Women: A
Middle-Class
Culture,
Study of
1830-1870
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), 58-59; May Church to Sarah Christie
Stevens, 15 February 1891, Folder Feb-Mar
1891, Box 14, JCC; Jean Christie, "Sarah Christie
Stevens, Schoolwoman," Minnesota History 48 (Summer 1986): 246-48; Louisa P. Hopkins,
"An Address to Primary School Teachers," Journal ofEducation, (4November
1880): 309. See
also Rev. E.A. Rand, "The Teachers High Privilege," Journal ofEducation, 18 September 1879:
145.
28Minutes of firstmeeting [undated], Volume
I, Box 2, LTA; Sprague, 3; "Lady Teachers'
1873: 348. For another women's
Association," Woman's Journal, 22 November
club, Sorosis,
with similar concerns about their name, see Karen J. Blair, The Clubwoman as Feminist: True
Womanhood Redefined, 1868-1914
& Meier,
(New York: Holmes
1980), 20-21. Isabella L.
Bissett, "FiftyYears of the L.T.A.," Boston Teachers' Newsletter n.d. [1924?], 24,Massachusetts
Historical Society. The formation of the Chicago Teachers' Club in 1892 also incited opposition
from male principals. See Financial Secretary toMr. Thos. McLachlan,
18November
1904,
Folder: Sept-Dec
1904, Box 38, CTF
papers.
29Minutes ofmeetings, 20 February 1874, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA. Also quoted in Bissett,
24. On concerns about being labeled as suffragists, see "School-teachers,"
"Fifty Years,"
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
176
History ofEducationQuarter<ly
The LTA attemptedtofashiona publicidentity
analogoustowomen's
literary,self-improvement,
and benevolent reformsocieties.Meetings
featuredreadingsofmembers' essays and staged debates on topicsof
whetherunjustlawsought
rangingfrom
pedagogicaland culturalinterest,
tobe obeyedtowhetherkeepingpupilsafterschoolserveda usefulpurpose.
Less experiencedteacherscould seek adviceon delicateor difficultissues
These self-culture
bysubmitting
anonymous
questionsforgroupdiscussion.
activitiesconfirmedforall presentthattheywere not girlish,dime-novel
readerswhiling away theirtimeuntilmarriagebut seriousprofessionals
Women teachers
worthyofcontributing
to theimportant
debatesof theday.
wanted a "voice in thecommunity,"
rootedinprofessional
not
attainments,
influencedependenton femininecharms.Patientlytestingthebestways
to improvethemselves,teachersregardedtheseeveningsas "thepower
house from
tohelpone another."30
whichhavecome thecurrents
of strength
LTA members espoused positivegoals, disavowingconflictwith
or scramblesforpower
principalsand discouragingunseemlydivisiveness
among themselves.
They tookpride in theirmasteryof parliamentary
procedureand,above all, theircommitmenttobuildingconsensus.As one
member recalledof theirfounding:"Then as now, therewas no contest
over elections."Historian Paul H. Mattingly has argued thatpostbellum
schoolmensaw engagementin social conflictor partisanshipasmarks of
Advice literature
poor character.
confirmsthehighvalueplacedon avoiding
educationaljournalsinsistedthatgood teachers
conflict;
elicitedunconscious
obediencefrompupils.Clasheswithpupilsor administrators
were themark
To "workwell with others,"articlesurged teachersto
of a poor teacher.
respecttheirplace in theschoolhierarchy,
tostayoutofothers'classes,and
most importantly,
"tobe absolutelysilenton schoolaffairs."'"
Workingwell
with othersmight seem synonymous
with cooperation,but forteachersin
thepublicschools,thedesiredformof cooperation
more closelyresembled
1871: 346. Even the comparatively militant Chicago Teachers'
Journal, 4 November
Federation
tried to distance itselffrom the labor question as late as 1899. See Murphy,
"From
Artisan to Semi-Professional,"
173. A leader of the Chicago Teachers'
Club wrote that it "was
on
see Financial
18
organized
Secretary toMr. Thos. McLachlan,
purely professional lines;"
November
1904, Folder: Sept-Dec
1904, Box 38, CTF papers. St. Paul teachers put a similar
in their founding objectives.
premium on mutual improvement and professional development
Minutes
1898-1901, Series VI, Box 9, StPTF.
p.2, Volume
of meetings, 6 February 1874
30Colburn, "Lady Teachers'
Association,"
254; Minutes
and 18 February 1875, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA; "Massachusetts Teachers Convention," Woman's
Journal, (24 January 1874): 26. On dime-novel reading, see Nan Enstad, Ladies ofLabor, Girls
:
ofAdventure Working Women, Popular Culture, and Labor Politics at theTurn of theTwentieth
Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999). Bissett, "Fifty Years," 25.
"Bissett, "FiftyYears," 24. See also minutes ofmeetings, February 1877 entry,Volume
I, Box 2, LTA. Paul H. Mattingly, The Classless Profession: American Schoolmen in theNineteenth
for
Press, 1975), xiii. H.E.
Paine, "Requisites
Century (New York: New York University
1884:163-64.
Practical Success as a Teacher," Journal of 'Education, 11 September
Woman's
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
177
unquestioning obedience, an expectation difficultto reconcilewith
professionalism.
women teachers
were nonetheless
Enjoined to submitto authority,
model of independence
witha carefully
calibrated
expectedtoprovidestudents
unthinking
withCatholic teachers'supposedly
in theclassroom.In contrast
WilliamT. Harris,
leadingeducators,including
obedienceto thepriesthood,
theUnited StatesCommissionerofEducation, insistedthatsecularpublic
in
school teacherscultivated"criticalacutenessand independentthinking"
At thesame time,educatorsadvisedwomen againstshowing
theclassroom.
One writerconceded:"it is a good thingtobe a
toomuch independence.
and self-respecting
teacher,"but he
reasonablyindependent,
thoughtful,
The paradoxof being
reservedhigherpraise forthe"teachableteacher."
expectedto educatewithoutdisplayinganycapacityforcriticalthought
incitedteachers'scorn. In lady teachers,LTA memberMary Colburn
declared, therewas "talentdormantwhich, for thewell-being of the
shouldbe roused,"aswell as "latentenergy,and insightand
community,
intelligence
whichwouldmake us allmore valuablemembersof society."
Simmeringunder Colburn's assertionswas the frustrationof being
underestimated
bymale colleagues.Critiquing theproceedingsof a state
teachers'association
meeting,a teacherfromSalem,Massachusettsprefaced
whethershe,as a femalecountryteacher,
her remarks
byaskingher readers
Being
had "anyrightto formor expressan opinionon educationalaffairs."
at thebottomof theeducationalhierarchy,she noted that"it does not
become a countryteacher"toquestiontheesteemedgentlemen'sremarks
But inherwrittenreview,
shehighlighted
thegentlemen's
fromtheplatform.
flawedlogicand unwarrantedassumptionsaboutgender,provingherself
women
atLTA meetings,
topossessamind thatrivaledtheirs.In discussions
teachersresolved that theycould not affordto ignore insultsto their
professionalism but needed towork together to demonstrate their
with tact.32
accomplishments
Cultivating sociabilityrepresentedan importantaspect of local
association. LTA meetings featuredan assortmentof genteel parlor
entertainments-singing,piano playing, and readings-followed by
TeacherLouiseHotchkisscontended
discussions.
and informal
refreshments
that"thereare twoways fora teacherto progress:one poringover her
books, theotherminglingwith theworld." Afterdays spentdelivering
of sociableadult
Hotchkiss insistedon theimportance
lessonstochildren,
Catholicism and American Freedom: A History
"Harris quoted in John T. McGreevy,
Norton & Co., 2003), 118; "Teachable Teachers,"
(New York: W.W.
Journal ofEducation,
22May
1884: 329. Emphasis mine. Colburn,
254; "AWord
Associations,"
"Lady Teachers'
1870: 370; O.S. Newell, Report
from a Country Teacher," Woman's Journal, 26 November
of the Secretary, February 1876, Folder 1876-1899, Box 1,LTA.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Histoly ofEducationQuarterly
178
sheneedsespecially
thequickening
"fora teachertokeepgrowing,
interaction:
influencethatcomes frompersonalcontactwith live,human forces."St.
Paul teachers'founding
objectivesforassociationincluded"thepromotion
Boston teachers
Likewise,retired
of amore socialspiritamongtheteachers."
and the
old friends
describedthe"dearLTA" with affection,
remembering
association
their
In
the
that
hopes
genteel
"socialspirit"thatinfused meetings.
bonds,LTA membersdescribed
would compensatefortheabsenceof family
themselvesas feeling"more as a band of sistersthanamere gatheringof
teachers."3
Without theshelterofmiddle-classdomesticityto shieldagainstthe
world ofmarketrelations,teachersemphasizedtheirshared
self-interested
gentilityto establishtheirfitnessto teach.Called upon to supplementthe
mothers
work ofmothers,especiallythoseworking-classand immigrant
inordertoearnmoney,teachers
who "neglected"theirhome responsibilities
more thanlessons."Unconscious
were expectedtodeliver
character
knewthey
work. "The
prominentpartof teachers'
building"became an increasingly
one reformerexplained,"eyes are
teacheris an object lesson [herself],"
Ifwage-dependent
ideasof life."34
following
her as she issilentlyimparting
rolemodeling,
were tomeasureup to thatidealof silent,effortless
teachers
theynot onlyneeded to embodythemoral perfectionascribedtonative
themselves
born,middle-classwomen, but theyalso had to differentiate
fromthe racialized,working-class,and immigrantcommunitieswhose
To do so, teachers
were charged
withpreparingforcitizenship.
childrenthey
LTA membership
For example,
withmiddle-classreform.
alignedthemselves
open to all "lady teachers,"butwhen theassociationrevised
was initially
itsconstitutionin 1879,membersclarifiedthatonly"womenemployedas
regularteachersin thePublic Schools ofBoston"were eligibleto join.By
expresslyexcludingteachersof privateand parochial schools,members
toreformers'
theirloyalty
agendafornonsectarian
publiceducation.
affirmed
When LTA membersvoted tosupporttheelectionofwomen to theschool
boards, theyphrased theirnewspaperannouncementtowin reformers'
inelecting
women,LTA members
Downplayingteachers'interests
approval.
"O.S. Newell, Report of the Secretary, February
1876 and 1899 engraved invitation,
10 June 1875, December
1875 and January
1876-1899, Box 1; and minutes ofmeetings:
as Social
"Teachers
1876, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA; Louise Hotchkiss,
Beings," Journal of
Education 8 April 1876: 171;Minutes p.2, Volume
1898-1901, Series VI, Box 9, StPFT. Quoted
undated, and Mary E. Perkins toMiss
phrases are from Helen A. Emery toMiss Haskell,
and Colburn,
23 November
Haskell,
[no year], Folder: undated, both in Box 1,LTA
"Lady
11March
Teachers'
254. Similar phrasing also appears inminutes of meetings,
Associations,"
Folder
1875, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA.
"The Primary Teacher: Her Work,
34Louisa P. Hopkins,
and Her Fitness for It,"Journal
17 June 1880: 388; Rev. Smith Baker, "The Dignity of the Common
School
ofEducation,
Teacher's
Association
delivered to theMinnesota
Educational
December
1891,
Mission,"
Minutes
Educational Association Records, Minnesota
of Annual Meetings,
page 384,Minnesota
Historical
Society
[hereafterMEA].
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
179
resolvedthat"it is forthegood of theschools thatwomen be electedon
thenew board."35
LTA memberscultivated
relationships
with femalereformers,
especially
thoseinpositionsof stateeducationalauthority,
while theytookpains to
keep theirsupportforwoman suffragists
separatefromtheiroccupational
activism.
membershiptoschoolcommitteewoman
They extendedhonorary
and supervisor
LucretiaCrockerand activist
Mary Livermore,both former
and invited
nearlyall thewomen electedtoschoolofficestoaddress
teachers,
at the turnof the
theassociation.
Many teachersbecame avid suffragists
butuntilthenteachers
oftendownplayedtheir
politicalconvictions.36
century,
who
Mary Colburn describedtheLTA as a "littlecorpsof subordinates"
Her choiceofwords suggestedtheirdesire
were "inexperienced
citoyennes."
butmarked itas an immature
aspiration,
for
more participatory
citizenship
most
farlessthreatening
thana demandforwomen's rights.
Nevertheless,
of the leadersof theLTA were also active in theSouth BostonWoman
activismcould impedetheLTA's
Club.37
Concerned thatsuffrage
Suffrage
objectives,theyjoined a separateorganization,and in thiscase, "club"
word todescribetheirgroup.
With thewell
seemeda perfectly
appropriate
Ward Howe servingas theirfirst
president,these
respectedreformer
Julia
LTA member
clubmembershadnoworriesaboutsocialdisapproval.
suffrage
lobbying
IsabelKelren playeda largerole in thisorganization:
petitioning,
legislators,and contributingarticles to theWoman's journal. Kelren
acknowledgedshewas a teacherinone report,but forthemost part,LTA
activism
goals.A canvass
memberskepttheirsuffrage
apartfromprofessional
35See original constitution, February 1874, and revised constitution, January 1879, in
Volume
I, Box 2, LTA. The Boston Primary Teachers Association, founded by LTA members
See Bissett, "FiftyYears;" and Boston
in 1895, specified similar requirements formembership.
1886
Historical
Society. 11November
Primary Teachers Association Records, Massachusetts
Woman's
Education Association
entry,Volume: Nov
1882-Apr 1887, Records ofMeetings Box 1,
Historical
Teachers,"
records, Massachusetts
Society. See also: "St. Paul Federation ofWomen
School Teacher's
p. 1,Folder 1,Box 2, Series II, StPFT; Baker, "The Dignity of the Common
Clubs ofMinnesota?",
Mission,"
384,MEA; Margaret J. Evans, "To theWomen's
September
Minnesota
Clubs Records, (hereafterMFWC);
Federation ofWomen's
1895, Box 1,Minnesota
of meetings, November
Historical
records;
1875, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA
Society Minutes
1875: 369.
"Learning Self-Respect," Woman's Journal, 20 November
17 February 1877, andMary A. Livermore toMiss
36Lucretia Crocker to Isabel Kelren,
8 June 1876, January
of meetings,
1876-1899, Box 1;Minutes
1889, Folder:
Lyon, 27 May
1889, Volume
I, and 15 September
1889, and 10 December
1877, March
1877, 12March
1890, Volume
II, Box 2, LTA. Patricia A. Carter,
"Everybody's Paid But the Teacher:" The
(New York: Teachers'
College Press, 2002).
Teaching Profession and theWomen's Movement
active in
254. Among
the LTA members
Associations,"
37Colburn, "Lady Teachers'
the South Boston suffrage club's leadership were: Miss JuliaM. Baxter, Miss E. Frances Blacker,
Miss Mary L. Howard, Miss
Isabel M. Kelren, Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Newell, Miss Mary G.A.
The Woman's Journal frequently reported on their meetings. See Woman's Journal, 8
Toland.
13
1875: 148; 12 June 1875, 189; 18November
1876,404-405;
1876, 372; 16December
May
January1877, 13; 17February1877,49; 7April 1877, 112;21April 1877, 125; 12May 1877,
148; 15March 1879,84; 19April 1879, 126.
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180
Histo;y ofEducationiQuarterly
of over 800 Bostonwomen, takeninpreparationforan 1884 hearingon
municipal suffrage,
confirmedlocal teachers'supportforsuffrage
aswell
in
as theirhesitancytoengageopenly politicalactivism.Suffragist
Harriet
Robinson reportedoverwhelming
supportforsuffrage
among teachersin
it to equallystrongsupportamong local school
SouthBoston, attributing
committee
members.She assertedthatmost teacherssupportedsuffrage,
"butdo not dare even to signa petition,because theyare afraidof losing
theirplaces."38
Allianceswith elitewomen strengthened
teachers'beliefin thevalue
of theirwork,but thosealliancesalone did not embolden themtomake
demandson school boardsor citygovernments.
Afterall, femaleschool
were not thatpowerfulthemselves;theyheldminoritystatuson
officers
were elected.As schoolcommitteewoman
schoolboardseverywhere
they
AbbyW. May's failureat thepolls in 1878 showed,evenwealthy,well
knownwomenwith longrecordsofpublic servicecouldnot countonmale
The limitsof femaleinfluence,
supportforreelection.
however,represented
confronted.
elitewomen's
onlypartof theproblemteachers
Philosophically,
supportforteachersstemmedfromtheirfaithinwomen's selflessness
as a
cornerstoneof reform.
Elite women perceivedwomen's selflesslaborfor
theschoolsas a bulwarkagainstthepartisanship,
andcorruption
self-interest,
in localpoliticsthatthreatened
topreventthepublicschoolsfromfulfilling
mission.Thoughmany reformers
their
held teachinginhighesteem,their
confidenceplacedweightyobligationson teachers."Wemust not bemere
operatorsorworkersat a trade,"Louisa Hopkins counseledteachers,"but
mastersof an art."Bothmale educatorsand elite
membersof a profession,
women advisedthat"nothinggreatwas everdone forwages" and insisted
thatteachersriseabove self-interest.
The Boston schoolcommitteeagreed.
"It is tobe regretted,"
"to
they
warned, see somanyofour teachersseeking
personalgain."39
Genteel organizationcould not compensate for teachers' lackof
but itenabled themto claim respectability
political representation,
and
differentiate
themselves
fromotherfemale
wage earners.
Though generally
more interestedinmutual aid,LTA members raisedmoney on behalfof
JennieCollins'Boffin'sBower,a charityfordestitutegirls,an endeavorthat
drewattentionto thesocialdistancebetweenthemselves
and therecipients
of theirbenevolence.Envisioning themselveson the favoredend of the
social ladder,teachersfumedat the"masculineautocrats"who failedto
in South Boston," Woman's Journal, 20 March
38"Our Legislators
1875: 92; "Woman
1884: 45.
Suffrage Hearing, Woman's Journal, 9 February
39Kaufman, Boston Women, 84-85; "An Address to Primary School Teachers,"
Journal
School
1880, 309; Rev. Smith Baker, "The Dignity of the Common
ofEducation, 4 November
Annual Report of the School
Teacher's Mission,"
383, MEA;
"Report on Salary Reductions,"
Committee of the City ofBoston, 1878 (Boston: Rockwell
and Churchill,
1878), 17-18.
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TheGenteel
Roots
ofTeacher
Organization
181
recognizetheirsocialandprofessional
attainments
and dismissedallwage
earning
women as "poordegenerate
womankind."Privileged
womenwere
When schoolcommitteewoman
Dr.Mary
justas guiltyofharshjudgments.
Safford-Blake
addressedtheLTA, shestressedtheprecariousness
ofworking
women'smoral conditionsin thecity.She commendedLTA members for
banding together,
believingitwas critical"that teachers,separatedfrom
theirhomes,would associate themselvesinClubs where theycould have
ofhome."'Her addressbeliedher suspicions
theprivileges
aboutunmarried
reformers'
beliefinassociationas a substitute
women,while confirming
for
theprotectionsof familylife.
Organized teacherscontinuedto seekallianceswithmore privileged
women as confirmation
of their
moral characterand classstanding.
Many
teachers'organizationseagerlyaffiliated
with thenew StateFederationsof
Women's Clubs in the1890s.When the
MassachusettsFederationextended
an invitation,
theLTA joinedat thefirst
and St.Paul teachers
opportunity,
ordersofbusiness.By 1900,thetwolargest
made affiliation
one of theirfirst
Minnesota Federationwere theTeachers Club of
clubsbelongingto the
Minneapolis and theSt. Paul Grade Teachers' Federation.4'
Yet, teachers
membersdespitetheir
numbers.
remainedsubordinate
Focusingon industrial
andmoral educationand improvingschool sanitationin the interests
of
and "cordialcooperation"
clubwomen calledfor"closesympathy"
children,
Club women recognizedreforms"undertakenin thespirit
with teachers.
of criticism"
would notmeetwith "thewarm cooperationof teachers."
But
in adoptingthemotto "noblesse
oblige,"theeducationalcommitteeof the
somemembersfrom
MinnesotaFederationrevealedhow classdistinguished
Soon afterjoining,theLTA let itsmembershipin theFederation
others.42
voted to resignaftera fewyearstoo,but carefulto
lapse.St. Paul teachers
made certaintheirbackdueswere paid in full.43
keepup appearances,they
10 December
of meetings,
1874, 14 January 1875, and 14 December
1876,
"More Insults," Woman's Journal, 11 February 1871: 43.
I, Box 2, LTA;
41Even the organization that has become the epitome of teacher militancy, the Chicago
Clubs the same year that it
Teachers'
Federation,
joined the Illinois Federation ofWomen's
^Minutes
Volume
of the General
and
affiliated with the Chicago Federation of Labor. On the elite membership
State Federations
ofWomen's
Clubs and its interest in public schools, see Blair, Clubwoman,
ofmeetings, 17 September 1895 entry, p.81, Volume
II, Box 2, LTA. Minutes
95,101. Minutes
ofmeetings: 4 October
1900, p.28, Box 9, Series VI; and Typescript,
1899, p.20 and 9March
Folder 1History, Box 2, Series II, StPFT;
Teachers,"
page 2: "St. Paul Federation ofWomen
"Yearbook,
1900-1901," Box 3,MFWC.
at St. Paul," n.p., 6 October
1895; Newsclipping
[undated]:
42Newsclipping: "Meet Next
Mrs. A.H. Pearson, Northfield, MN,
"Relation of the Club to the Public School," delivered
at First Annual Meeting,
and 1897 Program of the Educational
29-30 Oct 1895 atMinneapolis;
Box 1,MFWC.
Committee,
8 June 1897, p. 104, Volume
43Minutes of meetings,
and minutes of
II, Box 2, LTA,
11May
Box 9, Series VI, StPFT. There
is no
1908, p. 82, 1903-1915 Volume,
meetings,
record in their minutes that St. Paul teachers changed their decision to resign or that they
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182
Quarterly
HistoryofEdutcation
With an almostmartyr-like
conviction,teachersseem tohaveagreed
thatitwas bettertosuffer
In thepopularLongfellow
thanindignities.
injustices
poem, "APsalm ofLife," teachersfoundmeaningfulcounsel;versesfrom
thepoemappearinthereports
andminutesof theLTA and thelocalsuffrage
club towhichmanyof thembelonged."APsalm ofLife" urgedreadersnot
tosubmitto theemptylifeof a soullesslaborerbut topursue theirhighest
callingwith patienceforrewards.It celebratedclassmobilityas a product
of self-improvement,
andmoral leadership,
perseverance,
describinghow
one individualcould elevatean entirecommunity:
"Livesof greatmen all
remindus /Wecanmake our livessublime.... /Aforelorn
and shipwrecked
brother,
Seeing,shalltakeheartagain."Thoughwrittenina highlysentimental
idiom,thepoem does not addresswomen nor does itsimageryincludeany
women, children,families,
or homes.Situated"in theworld's broad field
of battle"and "in thebivouacof life,"thepoem seems to speak to amale
and attributes
audience.4However, inblurringtheentitlements
of gender
and insisting
thatclasswas a productofmoral relations,
Longfellow'stribute
tocharacterand dutyresonated
withwomen teachers.
By embracingthese
samevalues as theirown,women teachersasked thattheybe recognized
fortheircommitment
topublicservice,
while theysimultaneously
implored
thosewho had achievedhigherstationsin lifeto fulfilltheirduty toward
them."Let us thenbe up anddoing,/
With a heartforanyfate"proclaimed
their
moral devotionto teaching."Stillachieving,stillpursuing/Learn to
laborand towait" juxtaposedtheirdevotionwith theirdependencyon
others.With patient fidelityto theirwork in theclassroom, teachers
endeavored to dispel criticismsof theirprofessionalismandwin social
privilegestheybelievedtheydeserved.
In order towait patiently,teachersorganizedtoprotecteachother's
financial
and socialwell being.At thefirst
LTA meeting,founding
members
discussedthepressingneed for"financialprotectionformembers in case
of illness"andpasseda setof by-lawsprovidingfor
mutual relief.
Women's
ratesof illnesshadnot risen,but themeaningsattachedtowomen's health
had changed.
Medical men had enteredintodebatesoverwomen'seducation
and employment,
andDr. EdwardH. Clarke popularizedthenotion that
attended anyMFWC
directories
meetings after 1902, but they continued to be listed inMFWC
for several years. The Minneapolis
Teachers'
Club also resigned in 1908. See Yearbooks,
Box
3,MFWC.
^"South Boston Suffrage Club," Woman's Journal, 21 April 1877: 125. David B.
Tyack
that reverence for character in "A Psalm of Life" correlated with the
self-image of
a
male
school
in
Social
Toward
nineteenth-century
superintendents
"Pilgrim's Progress:
1860-1960," History ofEducation Quarterly 16 (Autumn
History of the School Superintendency,
1976): 259. For useful critical discussions of "A Psalm of Life," seeMatthew Gartner, "Becoming
and Poetry," American Literature 72 (March 2000): 59-86; and
Longfellow: Work, Manhood,
David R. Peck, "Let us then be up and doing," ANQ
16 (Summer 2003): 30-35.
argues
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
183
"brain-work"
withwomen's health.CounteringClarke's claims,
interfered
women's rightsadvocatesarguedthat
women's illhealthwas not a signthat
women violated thelawsofnature,but ameasure of theobstacleswomen
had toovercomeiftheirintellectual
and financial
needswere notmet by
At thesame time,diseasebecameassociated
with immigrant
family.
homes
and poor hygiene,while health became understood as amark of good
personalhabitsand self-control.45
Forwomen teachers,
goodhealthbecamea crucialsignifier
ofgentility,
andwhen theydidbecome ill,lossof incomeexacerbatedtheirpredicament.
Some school boards simplydid not pay absent teachers;othersobliged
To address thefinancialtollexactedby
teachersto pay fora substitute.
LTA membersagreedthat
illness,
wheneveramemberbecame illfor
more
thantwoweeks,othermemberswould contributea smallsumeachweek
forthebenefitof thesickmember. Focused on protectingsick teachers
fromdescendingintodebtand dependency,thereliefprogramgrewmore
formaland elaborate,soon assessing
members a flatfee,negotiating
with
ratesforteachers,and appointinga
localhospitalstoprovidepreferential
to survivors.
committeetovisitsickmembersand toextendsympathy
Miles
away,St. Paul andMinneapolis teacherswould soon establish similar
programstomeet socialand economicneeds thattheschoolsdidnot.46
Stressingmutualityto share theburdensof illness,teachers'relief
programsparalleledthepostbellumdevelopmentof fraternal
orders,such
Order of theOdd Fellows, theKnightsofPythias,and
as theIndependent
and survivor
theForestersofAmerica.Offeringsickness,
disability,
benefits,
a
of
breadwinner's
theseorganizationshelped replace portion thefamily
wageswhen hewas unable towork.Fraternalordersenrolledmen forthe
most part.Some enlistedmembers'wives in auxiliariestohelp provide
benefitstoelderly
membersbutnot as individuals
entitledtomembership
In the 1890s, theLadies of the
benefitsthemselves.
Maccabees became the
Volume
ofmeetings: 20March
1874 and 16April 1874,
45Bissett, "FiftyYears," 24, 25;Minutes
1, Box 2, LTA. Martha H. Verbrugge, Abie-Bodied Womanhood: Personal Health and
Social Change inNineteenth-Century Boston (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 101
Edward H. Clarke, Sex inEducation, or,A Fair Chance for theGirls (Boston:
2,114,120-23,126;
a
James R. Osgood,
1874). For a similar argument about women's
employment from medical
perspective, see Azel Ames, Jr., Sex in Industry:A Plea for theWorking Girl (Boston: J.R. Osgood,
1875).
^Bissett, "Fifty Years," 25;
1874 entry,Volume
I, Box 2, LTA.
the benefit paid, but the concept
century. On the St. Paul Teachers'
16 April
article 1, and minutes of meetings,
Constitution,
Over time the LTA adjusted the amount contributed and
remained essentially the same throughout the nineteenth
St. Paul Teachers'
relief efforts, see Yearbook:
Federation,
4 December
ofMeetings,
1899, p.26,
1905-1906, p. 7, Folder 7, Box 1, Series I, andMinutes
7May
1902, p.65,29 September
1900, p.34,2 December
1901, p. 54, 3March
1902, p.59, 5May
Teachers'
Club and hospitalization
1902, p.68, Box 9, Series VI, StPFT. On theMinneapolis
1894
undated newsclipping, Folder: Beginnings ofMFWC,
fund, see "Educational Work,"
1901, Box
1,MFWC.
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History ofEducationQuar-ter-ly
184
order.4Seeking to be "to theworking
firstexclusivelyfemalefraternal
her sisterof theleisureclass,"itmight
the
woman's
club
is
to
womanwhat
but itsmembershipwas comprisedofworking
have appealed to teachers,
of insuringa housewife's
classhousewives.They stressedthe importance
of her children,believingthatmen were "oftenmore
lifeforthesecurity
Whereas theseworking
helpless thanamother" aftera spouse's death.48
meant staying
homes,which forthem
classwomenorganizedtoprotecttheir
women teacherssoughttoprotecttheirincomes.
out of thelaborforce,
more thantheir
Female teachershad longneeded incomeprotection
In the 1870s,justthree
monthsbeforeteachers
organized
male counterparts.
theLTA, localnewspapersexposed thegender inequityof school board
The headmasterof a SouthBoston schoolwas stricken
policyon sickness.
andwhile hewas ill,twofemalesubordinates
performed
with typhoidfever,
his administrative
and classwork in addition to theirown.The women
receivedno additionalpay and theheadmaster'ssalarycontinuedin full.
thosetwowomen teachersbecame illand confinedto
Shortlythereafter,
bed rest,however,theirsalariesdid not continueas theheadmaster'sdid.
They were requiredtopay forsubstitutesto takeover theirclassrooms.
foritsheartlesstreatment
shamedtheschoolconmmittee
The localnewspapers
asmanydependents
was
a
with
one
of
them
widow
of thewomen,arguingthat
man fromfinancial
Vhile theschoolboard"freed"thesick
as theheadmaster.
circumstances.
a sickwomanofhersalary
underidentical
worries,it"deprived"
As theeconomy
However unjustthepolicy,no changewas forthcoming.49
sankintoa depressionat theendof 1873,schoolboardmembersweremore
likelyto takeawayprivilegesgrantedto a fewprincipalsthanextendthem
to an armyofwomen.
was tohelp theirsickcolleagues,
While teachers'immediate
priority
as evidenceofwhywomen
Stone
this
incident
suffragist
Lucy
publicized
for
needed politicalequality.Stone insistedthat"charitablecontributions
relief.
The vote,
wouldmerelyprovidetemporary
thesewronged teachers"
Stone's editorialcallingon teachers
sheargued,could remedytheinjustice.
47Asearly as 1868, the Odd Fellows established female auxiliaries called Rebekah
lodges.
were founded in 1892. See
of theMaccabees
George Neil Emery and John Charles
Herbert Emery, A Young Man's Benefit: The Independent Order ofOdd fellow and Sickness Insurance
in theUnited States and Canada, 1860-1929
(Montreal: McGill-Queens
University Press, 1999),
21-22. Emery and Emery date the Foresters'
inclusion of women to 1899, but Robert L. Reid
Catholic Order of the Foresters operated inChicago from 1891.
indicates that theWomen's
The
Ladies
theWomen's
Catholic Order
Reid's evidence suggests that, like the Ladies of theMaccabees,
of the Foresters provided
insurance for women,
and may have included more unmarried
women. See Margaret A.
Haley, Battleground: The Autobiography of
Margaret A. Haley, Robert
L. Reid, ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982), 29 nl 1, 31.
48DavidT. Beito, "To Advance the 'Practice ofThrift and Economy': Fraternal Societies
and Social Capital,
1890-1920," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (Spring 1999): 599.
49"Not An Uncommon
1873, 348.
Case," Woman's Journal, 1November
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
185
"tomake common causewith the suffragists"
likelypiqued principals'
suspicionsthattheformation
of theLTA threatened
theirprivileges.50
Like
Stone, the teachersdid notwant charity,
but unlikeStone, they
worried
aboutpreservingtheirtenuousindependence.
To LTA members,mutual aidwas not charity;itdemonstrated
their
commitment
tomiddle-class
valuesof self-reliance
andcooperation.
Moreover,
mutualaiddidnot entailconflict
with schoolauthorities;
thewomen created
theLTA to operate independently
of theschools.Most importantly,
it
representeda commitmentto each other:"What strongerbond can bind
us together-whattieof friendship
ismore sacredthanwhen affliction
&
adversity
assailsus ... thanthehelpingand sympathizing
hand of a fellow
sisterstretchedforthforsuccor& helpunitedwith love."Like a fraternal
order,LTA membersimaginedthemselves
as an extendedfamily,
and they
rejectedthenotion thatteachers'financialneeds signified
moral failings,
agreeingthatsickness"comes to all some timeor other."'5'St. Paul and
Boston teachersboth established"friendly"
and "visiting"committeesto
visitand sympathize
with sickmembers, turningtheelitepractice that
of thepoor intoa supportiveritualamongequally
emphasizedsurveillance
vulnerablewomen.52
In contrast
withmale-dominatededucatorassociations,theselocal
members'economicneeds.In 1878,LTA members
organizations
championed
theorganization'sprovisionsformutual relief,agreeingthat
strengthened
ithad become thekey advantageof theirassociation.They also began
publishingamonthlyjournal,aptlytitledTheBudget.The St. Paul Grade
Teachers Federationplaced an evenhigherpremiumon pay andwelfare
discussions
centered
on new ideastosecuretheirincome,
issues;theirspirited
increaseit,or savemore of it.53
After twofailedinitiatives,
firsttoobtain
St.Paul teachers
employment
contracts,thento securepensionlegislation,
turnedto sicknessprovisions,
developingprogramsthatcouldbe sustained
"Ibid.
51Minutes of meetings,
18 February
1875. On teachers' use of the word "sister," see
11March
18
minutes of meetings,
1875, 10 June 1884; Report of Executive
February 1875,
to Sisters Howard
Committee Meeting
for 1879 & 1880, and M. Bragdon
and Danforth,
undated and loose inVolume
I, Box 2, LTA records; Colburn, "Lady Teachers'
Associations,"
the Practice," 589.
254; Beito, "To Advance
"Minutes ofmeeting, 19 June 1883, Volume
4 Dec
I, Box 2, LTA; Minutes
1899, p.26,
Volume
1898-1901, Series VI, Box 9, StPFT. On friendly visiting as social control, see Roy
Lubove, The ProfessionalAltruist: The Emergence ofSocial Work asa Career, 1880-1930 (Cambridge:
"Toward a Redefinition
Harvard University Press, 1965); Clarke A. Chambers,
ofWelfare
1986): 418.
History," Journal ofAmerican History 73 (September
"Minutes of meetings, February and March
1878 and 14 December
1880, Volume
I,
Box 2, LTA. McDonough,
18May
1898, p.l, 20
p.3, Folder 1, Series V, Box 8, andMinutes
March
1899, p.ll, 4 December
1899, p. 26, 7May
1900, p. 34, 2 December
1901, p. 54, 3
March
1902, p. 59, 5May
1902, p. 65, 29 September
1902, 68, Series VI, Box 9, StPFT.
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186
Histoiy ofEducationQuarterly
withorwithoutschoolboardsupport.4InBoston,aswell as St.Paul, sickness
benefitsbecame themainstayof theirorganizations,
while pensions for
elderlyand disabled teachersremainedgoals forthefuture.
Receiving reliefwas not theironlyobjective;givingreliefprovided
Itdemonstrated
important
returns.
that
wageworkdidnotprecludeladylike
selflessness.
When Mary Howard proposedholdinga fairto raisemoney
fortheLTA, she emphasizedthather interestin fundraising
"wasnot for
thesakeof increasingour bank account forourselves,but thatwe might
havemoremeanswithwhich to do good."Unlike fraternal
orders,which
restricted
benefitstomembers,theLTA sometimesextendeditsprotection
tononmembers,opening theirpurses topay forsubstitutes
or providea
smallcashgiftto teachers
whomightotherwisebe "reducedtowant."And
evenwithnonmembers,theLTA attemptedto"undertakethedelicatetask
of bestowingthegift,so thatitwould not seem tobe charity"but rathera
symbolof theirsharedpredicamentaswomenwho taught.55
In sickness,disability,and death, teachersassertedtheircollective
LTA by-lawscodifiedprocedures"to visitthesick
entitlementtodignity.
and offersympathyto them,"so thatno teacher
would have to endure ill
healthwithout theassistanceand comfortof friends.
They also developed
genteelmourning ritualsto expresstheirdeep senseof loss.When Miss
Mary E. Stubbsdied,LTA memberspassedan elaborateresolution
regarding
theirobligationsto a fellowteacher.Seeking to "performsomeactworthy
of hermemory,"LTA membersattemptedtoaffirmtheirlatecolleague's
gentilityaswell as theirown.Likewise,when IsabelKelren passed away,
members declaredhermemory "a precious legacytous." Inmourning,
LTA memberstransformed
themselves
intoa genteelproxyfamily,
providing
eachotherwith theassurancethatno spinsterteacher
would go toa pauper's
grave."
54Entries dated 6 November
1899, p. 26; 3March
1902, p. 59; 5May
1902, p. 65, 2
1898-1901 volume, Series VI, Box 9, and "Yearbook,
1902, p.72, Minutes
1905-1906,"
Folder 7, Box 1, Series 1, StPFT. See also entry dated 14October
1903
1907, p.69, Minutes,
1915 volume, Series VI, Box 9, StPFT.
March
55Minutes ofmeetings, 15 September 1896, p. 96, Volume
2, Box 2, LTA. Beito describes
fraternal orders' reverence for mutuality also included "constant reminders of the sad
fate suffered by those outside the reciprocal fraternal
family." Beito, "To Advance the Practice,"
589. In contrast, teachers repeatedly took up the cause of nonmembers.
Murphy, "From Artisan
to Semi-Professional,"
of meetings, 9 June 1885, 15 December
161; Minutes
1885, and 27
1886, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA.
September
how
19 June 1883 and 12 Sept 1883, 4 and 12
56By-laws and minutes ofmeetings,
February
"South Boston Woman
1875, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA;
Suffrage Club," Woman's Journal, 19
a
was
1879:
126.
Halttunen
both mark of respectability in themid
argues thatmourning
April
nineteenth century and a profound experience that could transform a common laborer into a
of society. "Middle-class
she explains, "were obsessed with
Americans,"
genteel member
their dead because
in their sentimental scheme of social status, the
mourning
capacity to
experience deep grief demonstrated true gentility. For the same sentimental reason, theywere
almost equally obsessed with the act of offering sympathy to those who mourned." Halttunen,
134-13 5, 144.
Confidence Men,
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
187
maintain a semblanceof collectiveself
Mutual aid helped teachers
sufficiency
while theysoughtto improvetheirfinancialconditions.In a
haltingandunevenmanner,Gilded Age teachersbegan tomake claimson
thestatein exchangefortheirservices.In additionto "theassuranceof a
comfortablelivingso longaswe continuetogiveour servicesforthegood
women teachersdeclaredthatafter"serv[ing]
ofour fellows,"
our dayand
generationin school-work,"theyshouldbe entitled"to have a sufficient
reserve
againstthe'rainy
days'of theteacher'slife."57
They petitioned
public
officials
service.
askingthemtoacknowledgeteachers'faithful
Though their
decision topetitionfollowedtheexampleof a generationof antislavery
were notpetitioning
on behalfofdisenfranchised
women, in thiscase they
others,but fortheirownbenefit.
The difference
gaveBoston teachers
pause,
but aftera secondroundof salaryreductionsin 1878, theygathered
more
than700 teachers'
Their petition
didnot asktheschoolcommittee
signatures.
to reinstatetheirsalaries;itaskedonly thattheschoolcommittee
make no
cuts in them.Still,theschoolcommitteedenouncedtheirpetition
further
as "evil,"advisedteacherstodesist,and accusedtheteachers
ofputtingtheir
own pecuniaryinterests
beforethepublic schools.Boston teachersfaced
further
salarycuts in 1881 and 1882.Rather thanriska similarreproach,
thistimeteachersgatheredthesignaturesof one thousand"citizensand
taxpayers"to a statementaskingthatteachersbe treatedlikethefaithful
public servantstheywere.58
While Boston teachers
enlistedthehelpof elites,thoseinMinneapolis
mounted theirown defense.Attemptingto staveoffthewave of cutbacks
thathad alreadyreachedBoston andChicago,Minneapolis teachersissued
a bold freelaborappeal.They alluded toAbrahamLincoln's famousclaim
that"thereisno permanentclassof hired laborersamongus," protesting
that
While thegenerationthatfoughtfortheUnion
was, infact,theirfate.
wanted to believe thatfreecitizenscould better theirconditionsifthey
workedhard, teachersinsistedtheywere destinedforpublicdependency
because theygave theirlivesin theserviceof theschools.They appealed
to theboard of education:"mostof us arewomen forwhom thereisno
chanceof 'growingintoa largerbusiness,'of 'beingtakeninto thefirm,'
...hopeswhich buoyup theclerkworkingupon a smallsalary.
We always
workupon smallsalaries-we alwaysexpectto.Is ityourwish and intuition
Woman's Journal, 28 June 1879: 207, reprinted from "The
""Salary of Teachers,"
1879: 313.
Teachers'
Profession," Journal ofEducation, 15May
22May
58Minutes of meetings:
1878, Volume
I, Box 2, LTA; Petition dated 11 June
1878, Box June-July 1878, BSC; "Report on Salary Reductions," Annual Report of the School
Committee of theCity ofBoston, 1878 (Boston: Rockwell and Churchill,
1878), 17-18; Proceedings
1881), 78; "Report on
of the School Committee ofBoston, 1881 (Boston: Rockwell & Churchill,
Sue?es," Annual Report of the School Committee of the City ofBoston, 1881 (Boston: Rockwell
and Churchill, 1882), 14-15; Proceedings of theSchool Committee ofBoston, 1882 (Boston: Rockwell
& Churchill,
1882), 32.
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188
Histoiy ofEducationQuarterly
thatthedaywe cease to teachwe become paupers tobe supportedat the
Bolder thantheircounterpartsinBoston,Minneapolis
public expense?"59
teachersstressedthattheircircumstancesset themapart fromboth free
women.
laborersand protected
however,neither teachers'group used equal rights
Significantly,
argumentstomake theircase.Pointingout thatthecitywantedonly ladies
warned: "ifwe are so
as rolemodels in itsschools,
Minneapolis teachers
limitedby circumstancesthatwe lose caste and tone,youmust see the
ofyourcity."Even though
manywomen
adverseinfluence
upon thefuture
would gladlytakeup theirpositions,teacherscontendedthatfewhad the
desired educationor cultivation.If thecitywanted cheap labor, itwas
lifelong
available.If thecitywanted "scholarship,
moralityand refinement,
serviceofyears,"however,teachers
warned thatit
and thefaithful
training
wages. If their
shouldnot expecttoprocurethosemeritswith subsistence
failed,theystressedthe
argumentforclass and professionalentitlements
responsibility
of supportingothers:"thereare veryfewof your teachers
ofothers;
contributing
-here itisa daughter
who arenotaidinginthesupport
to thenecessitiesof awidowedmother, there,a sisterhelping to carrya
for
youngbrotherthroughcollege,or itmay even be awidow struggling
thedailybreadof her fatherlesslittleones.And who shallsay thatthisis
Likewise,Boston teachersinsistedthattheirprotests
not awoman's right?"
butmotivatedby theirprivateandpublicobligations:"the
were not selfish
expenseof livinghas not been reduced; [and]many teachershave others
ofgenderand redefining
Manipulatingconstructions
dependenton them."
was
needs as rights,teachersarguedthatthe"right"to supportone's family
but extendedtoprofessional
women.60
not unique tomale breadwinners
Moreover, theycontended thattheydeserved thisrightbecause of the
specialqualities theybroughtto thework of teaching,not because they
possessedrightsinequalmeasurewith others.
fromotherwage-seekers,these
Attemptingtodistinguishthemselves
teacherspursued gentility,not equality, as ameans of resistingwage
They insistedthattheschoolsowed ladyteachersa respectable
exploitation.
standardof living.Teachers talliedup theirlivingexpensesagainst their
smallsalaries,publishingtheirbudgetsineducators'andwomen's journals
tohighlighttheunreasonableeconomiesexpectedof them.Clara Jennison
59Lincoln quoted in Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition and theMen
It (New York: Vintage,
Board
Who Made
1973), 133; Petition addressed "To theHonorable
and petition addressed "The Board of Education,"
Folder: March-May
of Education,"
1879,
Box 1,Minneapolis
Board of Education Meeting Files, Minnesota Historical
Society (hereafter
MPLS Ed).
^Petition addressed "The Board of Education," Folder: March-May
1879, Box 1,MPLS
ofmeetings, 22May
1878 entry,Volume
I, Box 2, LTA; Kaufman, Boston Women,
Ed; Minutes
1881,
1881, Box: March
84; Petition, 11 June 1878, Box: June-July 1878, Petitions, 29March
14 February 1882, Box: Jan-Feb 1882, BSC.
Petitions,
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
189
The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
of theMinneapolis Teachers' Club reportedthata teacher's"necessary
expenses" totaled$574 when theaverage salarywas $483.61Even more
teachers
egregious,
complainedthattheChicago schoolboardtookadvantage
of teachers'illnesstocontrollaborcosts,rulingthatany teacherreturning
froma periodof illnessshould"not expectherplace back, ... shemust be
A teacher
willingto takeanyplace theexigencies
of theschoolsmay afford."
reportedly
earning$800 a year returnedfromseveralweeks' illnesstobe
a positionat$350 or resigning.
offered
thechoiceofaccepting
Even capitalists
more respect,
declaredawriterintheJournalofEducation
showedemployees
who followedupwith a spiritedinquiryintowhetherotheremployers
used
the illnessof a "faithful
servant"as a "pretexttoplace a fresher
person in
The correspondent
hisplace"or tocut theirsalaries.
foundthat"thesoulless
don'tdo it;thedry-goods
men don'tdo it;thehardwaredealers
corporations
don'tdo
don'tdo it;thebutchersand thebakersand thecandlestickmakers
it;thefarmers
don'tdo it;thecontractors
don'tdo it;themembersof firms
don't do it; theother citydepartmentsof evenChicago don't do it;
nobody...does itbut theexecutiveofficersofChicago public schools."
Drawing attentionto thisunjust treatmentby theshelteringarmof a
benevolentstate,educatorssuggestedthat
marketemployment
supposedly
now gaveworkersmore respectthanthestategave itsloyalteachers.
Their
of an emergingstatebureaucracythat
protestsevoked thecontradictions
masterand slave,baron
clungtoold statusrelations-suchas thosebetween
the
and feme-while discarding paternalistic
expectationsthoserelations
entailedin favorofunencumberedcontractpractices."2
teachers
Having achieveda lady'seducationthroughtheirown efforts,
withnothinglessthanequal
arguedthatself-madeladiesshouldbe treated
respect.
Which womanmade a betterteacher,theyasked:"a girlbrought
in
or "onewho throughindustry,
perseverance,
up easycircumstances,"
and real forceof character,had acquired an education and reputation
The ethosof self-help
sufficient
[forteaching]?"
put a democraticglosson
class distinctions,justifyingteachers'pursuitof ladyhoodas a socially
endeavor.It also dissociatedthemfromthe
meaningful,not a frivolous,
teachers'
classwarfareof theGilded Age.Newspaper editorsdistinguished
from
workers'
pleas forsalary increases
demands,contendingthatthe
61"Teachers' Salaries," Journal ofEducation, 1 June 1882: 345; Untitled
item, Chicago
Teacher September
1873): 133; Solitude's Letter to the Editor, Chicago Teacher, December
1873: 191; "'Pauper Teachers'
inNatick," Woman's Journal, 16 January 1875: 23; "Reducing
the Pay of Teachers," Woman's Journal (30 October
1875): 345. On Jennison's membership
in theTeachers'
Club see Yearbook,
1897-8, Box 3,MFWC.
62"The Looker-On," Journal ofEducation (8April 1880): 234-235. For a similar comparison
of postbellum sickness policies inwhich schools emerge as punitive toward women, see "Our
Boston Letter," Journal ofEducation (29May
1884): 345. On status and contract relations, see
toContract:
in theAge
and theMarket
Amy Dru Stanley, From Bondage
Wage Labor, Marriage,
ofSlave Emancipation
(Cambridge:
Cambridge
University
Press,
1998).
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190
History ofEducationQuarterly
teachers'"requestisnotmade in thespiritof a strike.It comes fromhigh
mindedwomenwho areputtingtheirbestpersonalforceintothework that
theyare doing,andwho feelkeenlythattheirservicesshouldbe properly
paid for."Teachers surelyfeltvindicatedbynewsmen'spronouncements
earnmuchmore thantheyarepaid for."
that"teachers
Editorsalsocontrasted
of them:
teachers'highpublic serviceand publicofficials'poor treatment
"When exhausted[from]labor,brokendown,perhapsin theprimeof life,
or diseasegrowingout of close school-rooms,
withnervousprostration
bad
ventilationandwant of exercise,theyaremade promptlyto retireforthe
withouta pensionor themeans to live,withyouthwasted and
successors,
power tocharmgone beyondrecovery."
Teachers, theyargued,deserved
thenation's"gratitude"and ought to receivethesamehonorspaid to "all
brave,heroic,and resolutesouls" inpublic service.63
women teacherssoughtto justify,
Banding together,
and sometimes
to
as
felt
ladies
replicate,theprotectionsthey
theyought enjoy
butwere
Rejecting theequationofmoral and
compelledtodowithoutas teachers.
their
moral responsibihties
material
as teachers
worth,theyinsisted
demanded
would suggest.
betterthantheirsalaries
Refusingtobe usedup anddisposed
of likea brokenmachinepartor thrown
upon outdoorrelieflikean injured
worker,women teachersattemptedto distinguishthemselvesfromthe
vulnerableindustriallaborersaroundthemand toprotecteachotherfrom
an effortto
Their pursuitof gentilityrepresented
such ignominiousfates.
resistbeing proletarianized.They insistedthatsocial and intellectual
were not luxuries
stimulation,aswell as a respectablestandardof living,
forwomenwho taught.
As loyalpublic servants,late
but fairentitlements
nineteenth-century
teachersbegan to feeljustifiedinmakingclaimson the
statethatotherworkerscould not.f64
Some historianshave portrayed
women teachersat the turnof the
who occasionally"seemedtowanderoff
centuryasnascenttradeunionists,
thecourse"when leadersproposed allianceswithwomen's clubs and the
homeswhere elderlyteacherscould liveout their
purchaseof retirement
As thisresearch
werenotaberrations.
daysincomfort.65
shows,thoseproposals
They were directlyin linewith twodecades of priororganizingamong
teachers.Not simplysocial clubs,Gilded-Age teachers'organizations
65"APlea for Justice," Journal ofEducation, 17 July 1875: 39; "The Women
Teachers
of Boston," Boston Herald,
Woman's
(21 January 1896): 6; "Wages ofWomen
Teachers,"
Journal (9 August 1879): 256.
of Self-Culture," Journal ofEducation,
64"The Necessity
31March
1881: 212; Mrs.
Esther W. Matthews,
"Sanitation and Education," Journal ofEducation, 18October
1883: 244;
Mrs. Eva D. Kellogg,
isResponsible?,"
"The Health ofTeachers,?Who
Journal ofEducation
9 October
1884: 228.
1900
isfrom Marjorie Murphy, Blackboard Unions: The AFT and theNEA,
^Quotation
1980
(Ithaca: Cornell
University
Press,
1990), 63.
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The GenteelRootsofTeacherOrganization
191
advancedwomen's occupationalinterests
by stressingfemininegentility,
mutual aid,and servicetoothers.
Meant todistinguish
and elevateteachers
aboveordinary
wageworkers,thesestrategies
surelycomplicatedteachers'
with labororganizations.
subsequentefforts
toaffiliate
Understandingthese
Gilded-Age teachers'organizationsshould lead us to amuch sharper
unionsat the
assessment
of theconflictsteachersconfronted
when forming
turnof thetwentieth
century.
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