The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-16
THE STUDY OF HISTORY.
TWO Important New Books for Schools
and Readers.

anu hedu6FSs
The Study of History in Schools. Re
port to the American Historical Asso-
citation, by the Committee of Seven.
The Macmillan Company.
In the early winter of 1896 the COM
mittee making the above report was
appointed by the American Historical
Association to consider the subject of
history in the secondary schools, and
to draw UP a scheme of college en-
trance requirements in history. This
committee is composed of Andrew c.
Mclaughlin (chairman), professor of
American history in the University of
Michigan; Herbert B. Adams profess
sor of American and constitutional
history in Johns Hopkins university;
George L. Fox, rector of the Hopkins
grammar school, New Haven Albert
Bushnell professor of history in Har-
ward university; Charles H. Haskins,
professor of institutional history in the
University of Wisconsin; Lucy M. Sal
mon, professor Of history in Vassar col
lege; ii. Morse Stephens, professor of
modern European history in Cornell I'M
iversity.
Its report has been awaited with ca
gerness by teachers, and will be re-
seven persons composing the commit
tee only one is a teacher in a second
airy school, three others have been sec
ondary school teachers and the others
have been practically interested for
years in the general problems under
discussion,
The committee recommends a course
of study covering four years, beginning
with ancient history and ending with
otif. !, 4lN3 1aAS TO-,
[ that Greek and Roman history is toe
| difficult for the first year with the state
ment that a number Of excellent teach
| ers give the subject in the first year
and that it is not necessary to fathom
all the mysteries of ancient government
in order to know the main outlines. In
American history the committee thinks
that too much tirie is devoted to colo
NAL history: that nothing should be
allowed to obscure the leading features
OF the development of our constitution
al system; and that history and civil
| government should be studied as one
subject rather than two distinct ones
AS to methods. 1t recommends the use
of text book, with collateral matter
used in all branches of the work. Some
! thing in the way of written work
should be done in every years work
| Written recitations and the keeping OF
4
! chapter is devoted to the present
conditions of history in American sec
| ondary schools, one to methods of in
| struction, one to college entrance re-
| quirements, and one to entrance exam
nations The teaching of history in
| German, French, English and Canadian
| secondary schools occupies a number
! of pages and is exclusively treated
While various lists of books, articles
| valuable works in foreign languages
! maps, etc, contain important informa-
| ton for the teacher. The report is wei
arranged, contains a mine of informa-
| ton and suggestion and may be accept.
ed as the most authoritative publication
| of its kind for American teachers.
Source-book of American History. BY
| Albert Bushnell Hart Phi. d., professor
of history in Harvard University. The
| Macmillan company, New York.
| In the words of the author, This little
| book is an attempt to do for the study
| of American history what the photo.
| grapher does for the study of art-tC
| collect a brief series of illustrations
! which, without including a hundredtl
| part of the whole field may give ex.
| amples of the things most important
| to know. What / hope is that these briei
records may awaken interest in the
books from which they came, and in the
men who wrote them; that a clearer idea
of what our ancestors did and thought
and suffered may be had from their owr
writings; that the book may serve as 8
part of the material necessary for topi-
cal study; and, above all, that it may
| throw a human interest about the
| necessarily compact and factful state.
ments of text books.'
| There are four fac-simile illustrations
| intended to suggest the kind of manu-
| script and other material with which
| historians are famiisr. Prof. Hart has
carried out his idea admirably, and the
manner in which he has selected topics
brought together authorities, and edited
the whole, IS deserving of all praise.