The National First Reader or Word Builder, 1860 edition by Richard G. Parker and J Madison Watson
date: label: date made
content: 1860
name: label: maker
content: A. S. Barnes & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This textbook claims to follow a new and innovative teaching approach. Instead of introducing all the letters of the alphabet, each chapter concentrates on a single letter and its pronunciation. The first section starts with monosyllabic words and then progresses from there. The 1860 Revised Edition of 128 pages contains numerous black and white illustrations that refer to the mostly bucolic storylines presented in each chapter.
label: Description
content: The book is covered with a brown and white fabric with a vertical striped pattern and secured with white threads. The series was meant as competition for the popular McGuffey Readers and the Webster Blue Back Speller, combining elements of each with more illustrations than both. The book was written by Richard Green Parker and James Madison Watson and illustrated by John William Orr.
label: Description
content: Author Richard Green Parker was born December 26, 1708 in Boston, the son of Episcopal clergyman Samuel Parker, he graduated Harvard in 1817 and became an educator and author. He was a grammar schoolteacher, owned a private school and became a prolific author of textbooks. He died September 20, 1869.
label: Description
content: James Madison Watson was born in Onondaga County, New York, February 8, 1827. and educated in public schools before he was admitted to the bar in Syracuse, NY. He was employed by Barnes publishing and worked with Parker on the National Reader and Speller series from 1853-1855 and became an educator in New York and New Jersey. In 1871, he became president of the board of Education for Elizabeth, NJ and later became involved in both the Temperance Movement and in Physical Education Training. He died September 29, 1900, in Essex County, NJ.
label: Description
content: John William Orr (1815-1887) was an Irish American wood engraver and illustrator who became active in 1830. He owned his own printing and engraving business. He was born in Ireland and died in Jersey City, New Jersey
label: Description
content: The Parker & Watson's Series, No. 2 was published by A.S. Barnes & Company of New York. Alfred Smith Barnes established the A.S. Barnes & Co. in New York City in 1865. Barnes successfully published books aimed at the educational market including mathematical and historical texts. The company also published Watson’s Readers, Davies’ Arithmetic, Monteith’s Geography, and the National Series of Standard Science Books. The family company continued into I958, when A. S. Barnes was acquired by Thomas Yoseloff, who merged his namesake publishing company into Barnes as an imprint.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Education
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Rosetta Marantz Cohen
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2018.0189.02
label: accession number
content: 2018.0189
label: catalog number
content: 2018.0189.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: book
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 4 3/4 in x 1/2 in; 17.78 cm x 12.065 cm x 1.27 cm