Bordering the Familiar: Drawing Education Legislation in the Northeastern United States, 1871-1876.

In May 1870, legislators in Massachusetts ushered into law the first statewide drawing education statute enacted in the United States. This law, titled "An Act Relating to Free Instruction in Drawing," has been discussed frequently within art education (e.g., Bolin, 1986, 1990, 1995, 1997; Chalmers, 2000; Efland, 1990; Korzenik, 1985) and outside the field (e.g., Bennett, 1926; Bohn, 1968; Lazerson, 1971). Various and sometimes conflicting interpretations concerning the meaning and passage of the Massachusetts Drawing Act have emerged through the years, yet it is generally agreed that this law marked "one of the most significant episodes in the historical development of art education in this country" (Eisner & Ecker, 1966, p. 3).People and events within Massachusetts have received the lion's share of historical analyses related to 19th-century art education in the United States. The same is true for historical investigations undertaken within general education. Massachusetts is a primary and familiar focus for historians of education because this state, in the 19th century, "was a pioneer in both art and general education. School systems in Canada and the United States were deeply influenced by Massachusetts educational initiatives" (Soucy, 1985, p. 14). Nineteenth- and early 20th-century educators and art educators in Massachusetts, such as Horace Mann, Elizabeth Peabody, Amos Bronson Alcott, Walter Smith, Lowell Mason, and Henry Turner Bailey, have gained much attention as their substantial influence on educational, political, religious, and social conditions in this state and beyond has been well chronicled (see Briggs, 1995; Chalmers, 2000; Efland, 1985; Green, 1948, 1966; Saunders, 1961, 1990; Stankiewicz, 1995; Smith, 1992; Stirling, 1995).What has been overlooked in the many analyses of these personalities, and the influence of their activities in Massachusetts and outside this state's borders, is an investigation into the effect of the Massachusetts Drawing Act on the efforts of lawmakers active in neighboring states. What impact, if any, did the passage of the Massachusetts Drawing Act have on the enactment of similar legislation in three states surrounding Massachusetts (Maine, New York, and Vermont) in the years subsequent to passage of this law? This question is the prime motivation for this investigation.Influences of the Massachusetts Drawing ActOn May 16, 1870, the governor of Massachusetts signed into law the following legislative bill:AN ACT RELATING TO FREE INSTRUCTION IN DRAWINGBe it enacted, &c., as follows:SECTION 1. The first section of chapter thirty-eight of the General Statutes is hereby amended so as to include Drawing among the branches of learning which are by said section required to be taught in the public schools.SECTION 2. Any city or town may, and every city or town having more than ten thousand inhabitants, shall annually make provision for giving free instruction in industrial or mechanical drawing to persons over fifteen years of age, either in day or evening schools, under the direction of the school committee.SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. (Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1870, pp. 183-184)Although few references are made to other state legislatures that ratified drawing education laws in the late 19th century, Saunders (1976) pointed out that Maine (in 1871) and New York (in 1875) initiated drawing education laws soon after lawmakers took the action in Massachusetts (p. 5). This information was likely drawn from the writing of Isaac Edwards Clarke (1885), who cited legislative enactments on drawing education in Maine and New York in his exhaustive volume Art and Industry. Not referenced by either Saunders or Clarke, the state of Vermont enacted a drawing education law in 1876, the year subsequent to when such legislation was mandated in New York. The statute ratified by lawmakers in Vermont is mentioned in a footnote in Green's 1948 doctoral dissertation (p. …