Teacher Mary Lane's 1911 Graduation Commemorative Souvenir with American Flag
date: label: date made
content: 1911
notes: label: Description
content: This 1911 graduation commemorative souvenir booklet depicts an academic, patriotic still life on its front cover. A globe and a stack of books sit behind a waving American flag. An inscription at the bottom reads, “Not for School but for Life we Learn.” In the center, there is a thumbnail black and white photograph of Mary Lane, the teacher of this class. This booklet was produced by the Seibert Printing Company of Canal Dover, Ohio, for the Greenville Methodist Episcopal Sunday School’s Little Sunbeams Class. The booklet design was standardized and advertised to schools around the country. This is style number 7, advertised as a 12-page booklet 3.5 X 5 in tied with a silk tassel printed and embossed. In 1909, these booklets were advertised for 6 cents each for orders of 40 or less with a photo of the teacher, 5 cents each for orders of 40 or less without an image. For orders of more than 40 which was unusual for country schools, the booklets were 5 cents with an image and 4 cents for those without an image. Transparent envelopes could also be ordered for 5 cents each. Seibert guaranteed that their booklets would not fade and promised to only reduce to size but not change the images that were submitted by the teachers. In keeping with the time period, if an order was greater than $1.50, the school would receive a 16 X 20 print of portraits of the presidents from Washington to Taft.
label: Description
content: Inside, the first page features an illustration of a young girl with the verse, “We feel both glad and sad today / And scarce can hide the rising tear / We’re glad for changes on life’s way / Yet sad to part from schoolmates dear.” The next page lists the school name, district, teacher, and pupils. The following pages contain poems acknowledging the hard work of both teacher and her students throughout the year, including one by Walter Malone titled “Opportunity.” The back of the booklet features an illustration of children ice skating. The booklet is made up of a heavy weight cream card stock for the cover, and includes a deckled edge. The interior inspirational sentiments were printed on both standard weight and lighter weight translucent "India" paper.
label: Description
content: The list of pupils suggests that this classroom contained students of varying ages. Multiple students shared surnames, suggesting that families in this district enrolled children in groups regardless of age. Multi-age schooling was contested by some as too community driven and diverse; detractors complained that one and two room rural schools contributed to the decline of white, Protestant culture as many were integrated.. Many progressive reformers spoke in favor of rural schools though, so they remained popular as the nation’s student population continued to increase, but eventually fell out of fashion as these schools began to age and it became more economical to transport students and centralize school services in district schools.
label: Description
content: Seibert Printing and Publishing was founded by Edward F. Deibert (1876-1967) the son of Margaret Bixler Hochstetler and Peter A Sebert and brother of William E. Seifert who owned a publishing company in New Philadelphia, Ohio.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: depicted
content: Teacher
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: 2017.0095.366
label: accession number
content: 2017.0095
label: catalog number
content: 2017.0095.366
objectType: label: Object Name
content: souvenir booklet
label: Object Type
content: souvenirs
label: Object Type
content: commemoratives
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: printed (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 3 1/2 in; 12.7 cm x 8.89 cm