First Book In English by William Henry Maxwell
date: label: date made
content: 1894
name: label: publisher
content: American Book Company
notes: label: Description
content: <i>First Book in English</i> is an elementary school text divided into three parts. It contains lessons on sentence construction, verb tenses, the parts of speech, and general grammar. It also contains exercises in composition and letter writing, as well as several poems. Featured are several black and white illustrations. The green front cover is illustrated with an intricate floral and vase pattern. The back cover is imprinted with the publisher’s insignia of a lit torch, an open book, and eagle’s wings.
label: Description
content: Author William Henry Maxwell was an educational influencer who promoted Americanization and championed immigrants’ education. He was born in Stewarston, County Tyrone, Ireland on March 5, 1852. He was educated in the classics by his father, a noted scholar and Presbyterian minister; and then at the College of Belfast and Galway and at Queen's University, obtaining an A.B. in 1872 and an A. M. in 1874. In 1874, he emigrated to the United States.
label: Description
content: Denied a teaching job at first because of being an Irish immigrant, he became a reporter for the <i>New York Herald<i> and later the <i>New York Tribune, Metropolitan Tribune</i>, and <i>Brooklyn Times</i>. In 1881, Maxwell became an evening lecturer teaching practical topics of reading, spelling, composition, bookkeeping, and technical drawing. He became such a popular teacher that by 1896 students were being turned away.
label: Description
content: From 1887 to 1898, Maxwell was the Superintendent of the Brooklyn public schools. During this time, he wrote <i>First Book in English</i> and a series of other English books. He was elected to serve as the first Superintendent of Public Instruction for the consolidated Greater City of New York from 1898-1917. Maxwell was president of the National Education Association from 1904-1905 and editor of <i>Educational Review</i>.
label: Description
content: As an immigrant from Ireland, he was sympathetic to the difficulty of foreign-born students during the N.Y. public school system’s unprecedented expansion from the late 19th to the early 20th Centuries. As a result, he is credited with promoting steamer classes and advocating for health, English, and citizenship classes for students and parents. He also championed Kindergarten classes, community recreation centers, vocational training, and child labor laws.
label: Description
content: The American Book Company was an educational book publisher formed in 1890 and based in New York City that specialized in elementary school, secondary school and collegiate-level textbooks. The company was absorbed into D. C. Heath in 1981. Any remaining K-12 assets of the American Book Company were acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 1995.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Education
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Dr. Richard Lodish American School Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2017.0095.296
label: accession number
content: 2017.0095
label: catalog number
content: 2017.0095.296
objectType: label: Object Name
content: book
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 1/2 in x 5 in x 1/2 in; 19.05 cm x 12.7 cm x 1.27 cm