Blackwell History of Education Collection: Educating Women

Clockwise from top left: Jennifer Wahlers, Homer C. Sherman, Donald Adkins, John Wredling.

DeKalb — On Saturday December 1st, The Blackwell History of Education Museum, Northern Illinois University, recognized four educators— Jennifer Wahlers, Donald Adkins, Homer C. Sherman, and John Wredling—during its annual “Honoring Teachers” ceremony, reception, and art exhibit, “Country School Memories.” Nomination letters describing the educational accomplishments of the honorees were read to an audience of more than 60 people, after which visitors were invited to view the exhibit.

Jennifer Wahlers was honored for her ability to inspire and develop the artistic ability of children in the District 158 schools of Huntley and Lake-in-the Hills. Wahlers teaches 14 classes of children in kindergarten through third grade, including special education and autistic classes. Eighty-eight pictures by the children depicted outdoor and indoor scenes of country schoolhouses.

Donald Adkins was honored for his work with the children of Mooseheart. Located in Mooseheart, Illinois and called “the city of children,” Mooseheart is a community and educational facility for children whose families have suffered tragedies, such as the death of one or more parents.

Homer C. Sherman, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations, was honored for a career that included teaching in Australia, Iowa and Illinois, and serving as an educational consultant in Nigeria. He was also recognized for his ability to stimulate new knowledge in other professors and especially to nurture the development of his daughter.

John Wredling was recognized for his contributions to educational developments in Kane County including the implementation of the consolidation of local school districts into functioning districts in the 1950s.

The Blackwell Museum has honored a total of 12 teachers and displayed the artwork of over 100 public schoolchildren during the past three years.

“Reading the letters of nomination for the teachers and viewing the creative work of the schoolchildren are very rewarding aspects of museum work,” said Lucy Townsend, Curator of the museum. “We plan to continue these activities for many years.”

DeKalb — Quilters at the DeKalb County Nursing Home presented Northern Illinois University’s Blackwell History of Education Museum with a “DeKalb County One Room Schoolhouse Quilt” at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9.

The attractive quilt features nine squares depicting one-room DeKalb County schoolhouses. The nine schoolhouses represent different regions of the county and are a sampling of the 160 one-room schools that once operated in DeKalb County.

Pat Barger, a seven-year volunteer at the nursing home at 2600 N. Annie Glidden Road, constructed the quilt with the help of the 13 members of a quilting group who gather every Tuesday morning.

“It’s exciting. This quilt is just another expression of interest by people in this county for their heritage,” said Lucy Townsend, curator of the Blackwell and a professor in NIU’s Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations.

“Quilting is a form of art that women have historically used to express themselves, and most of the teachers in these one-room schools were women.”

The quilt was pieced by Rena Becker, Adella Colby, Lucille French, Jewel Jennings, Marie Madison, Ruth Mosher, Barbara Naker, Alberta Scholl and Ruth Williams with help from Ellie Anthenut, Dorothy Laing and Vivian Slade. Barger machine- and hand-quilted the colorful creation with Mosher’s help.

The women, two of whom attended DeKalb County one-room schools, plan to complete a similar schoolhouse quilt to decorate the nursing home.

It’s just one of four or five projects the group will complete this year. Other projects the women have made include a 50-flag project following the Sept. 11 attacks. The women also produce crafts for a bazaar held every spring.

The gift is particularly meaningful to Townsend and the Blackwell.

NIU is home to the Milan Township One-Room Schoolhouse, located near Huskie Stadium and open to school and community groups from across northern Illinois for vivid lessons of living history.

Townsend also helped the DeKalb County Historical-Genealogical Society to create “Rural School Journeys,” a book of black-and-white photographs of local one-room schoolhouses.

Last year, Batavia elementary school students created three dozen paintings of one-room schoolhouses that were displayed in the Blackwell this spring.

“DeKalb County represents the best of the rural culture in that the soil is very rich. Most farmers struggled during the Depression but ours actually did quite well for themselves. The schools symbolize that whole way of life of the self-sustaining farm,” Townsend said.

“NIU was founded in part because of the rural school situation,” she added. “In the 1890s, there was a hue and cry that the country schools were poorly organized and that children were being deprived of a good education. Placing NIU where it is was the state’s response to that perceived problem.”

Members of the community are invited to view the quilt in the Blackwell Museum, located in the Learning Center of Gable Hall, beginning Wednesday, Oct. 10. For more information, call (815) 753-1236.

Lucy Townsend, Professor in the Foundations of Education and Curator of the Blackwell History of Education Society and Research Collections, Northern Illinois University, received a $5,000 grant from the International Society of Educational Biography in support of the Educating Women Project. This project is designed to provide support for the mentorship of young scholars interested in pursuing research on the education of girls and women.

Susan Laird, Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma and Susan Franzosa, Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions, Fairfield University, Connecticut, are collaborating with Townsend on the project.

“Each of us has developed graduate courses on the philosophy and history of women’s education,” Townsend stated, “but we lack sufficient numbers of students to hold the classes. The result is that graduate students sometimes lack sufficient opportunities to develop research on the education of girls and women.”

The Educating Women Project is designed to provide structural support for these young scholars, including a series of conferences, a website to foster continuing mentorship of young scholars by experienced researchers, a two-week institute, and an electronic refereed journal.

According to Townsend, the $5,000 grant will be used to host a summer 2008 conference at Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition, the team has acquired a University of Oklahoma grant to support the development and maintenance of the Educating Women website.

The International Society for Educational Biography is an academic society that encourages theory and research on the lives of educational philosophers, teachers, educational reformers, and students. Townsend stated that the participants in the Educating Women Project will be encouraged to present their research at the annual conferences of the ISEB and submit articles for publication in the society’s journal, Vitae Scholasticae.

Vintage photographs from the book Rural School Journeys show what life was like in one-room schools in DeKalb County the first half of the twentieth century. Now you can see the schools through the eyes of children at an art exhibit, "Country School Memories" in the Blackwell History of Education Museum at Northern Illinois University.

Under the direction of art teacher Nancy Legner, students from Batavia's Elementary Schools sudied vintage photograohs, talked about life in one-room schools, then produced their own version of life in one room schools using mixed media paintings. The children not only learned about perspective and other artisitic techniwues, they learned about the value of historical preservative and what can be learned from artifacts like old photographs and a Sears Roebuck catalogue. Their paintings will be on display in the Blackwell Museum Saturday, March 31st through April 15th.

Nancy Legner was recently honored as Illinois Elementary Art Educator of the year and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University where she recieved her M.A. and M.F.A. in drawing and painting. Currently, she is an art teacher at Louise White Elementary School where she has taught for the past 16 years.

The public attended an Opening Reception for the Art Exhibit in the Blackwell Museum on Saturday, March 31st. The Blackwell Museum is located in Gable Hall which is on Annie Glidden Road, directly across from Baker's Square. Students will be available to talk about their paintings and Nancy Legner will give a short talk about the art project and the importance of teaching the value of historical preservation.

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For more information, call the Blackwell Museum at 815-753-1236

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