Blackwell History of Education Collection: Research

The Blackwell Museum is dedicated to supporting, encouraging, and disseminating history of education research. For those interested in conducting research, the Blackwell offers an excellent history of education reference collection containing a large assortment of research reports, reference books, and journals. There is also a massive collection of original school texts and teacher education material in a variety of subjects, as well as an expanding body of oral histories.

The Blackwell currently has completed 109 oral histories of individuals who attended or taught in one-room schools. This on-going project provides both an audiotape of each interview along with printed transcripts. Each packet also includes biographical and key historical information concerning each person interviewed.

Checklist of Materials

Emma Willard Papers Project
The Emma Hart Willard Papers is a 25-volume microfilmed collection related to the life and writings of Emma Hart Willard (1787-1870), a leading women's educator, educational philosopher, and common school reformer.

The project began in 1989 when Lucy Townsend, Curator of the Blackwell Museum, invited Barbara Wiley, Head Librarian of the Emma Willard School, in Troy, New York, to collaborate in an effort to find, edit and publish all of Emma Willard's papers. For the next 13 years, the researchers sent hundreds of letters to libraries throughout the United States and Europe, and visited over 25 states and the United Kingdom to hand search collections, including those of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the British Library. Emma Willard School and Amherst Library had the largest number of documents, and when these were combined with first editions of Willard's influential textbooks, the collection grew to some 15,000 pages of documents and texts. The collection was published by LexisNexis in 2003. Townsend and Wiley also published a Guide to the Papers of Emma Hart Willard, which is now available through LexisNexis. Both microfilm and guide may be purchased.

Townsend has donated a copy of the entire microfilm collection, including the guide, to the Blackwell Museum.

Rural School Journeys was researched, written and published by the DeKalb County Historical - Genealogical Society in 2006 and includes an introduction by Lucy Townsend, curator of the Blackwell History of Education Museum. DCHGS researchers looked through archives and attics, microfilm and museums, farmer's fields and retirement centers. They have interviewed former students and teachers, and have unearthed old documents and photographs. This is a hard-cover, 300-page, glossy book that includes the history of 160 rural schools, as well as approximately 300 photographs, and a list of teachers by school, all of which is endnoted and indexed.

If you are interested in purchasing your first edition copy (or two or three) of this book, click here. Act fast though, as supplies are quickly dwindling.

Educational Technology Essays
The Blackwell History of Education Museum has over 50 essays exploring the artifacts in the Blackwell Technology Collection and the AECT (Association of Educational Communications and Technology) Archives. Most were written by NIU students for their Educational Technology/Instructional Technology 640 class. The Blackwell is continuing to expand this collection and is always accepting more essays.

To view the essay lists and accession sheets please click here