Teacher Zel Ellsworth Myer’s 1908 "Education is Wealth" Souvenir Card for Mt. Pleasants Public School No. 9 in Frankford, Pennysylvania
date: label: date made
content: 1908
notes: label: Description
content: This 1908 graduation commemorative souvenir booklet of 8 pages depicts an academic, patriotic decorative motif on its front cover, typical of the Americanization movement of the period. A bald eagle stands beneath a waving American flag with a stack of books and a globe highlighted by sun rays to its left. At the upper left, there is a black and white thumbnail photograph of Zel Ellsworth Myers (1885-1951), the teacher of this class. This booklet was produced by Seibert Publishers of Canal Dover, Ohio, for Mt. Pleasant Public School No. 9 in Frankford, Pennsylvania.
label: Description
content: Inside is a thin, almost translucent page with light lettering that reads “In memory of days spent together in the school room this token is presented with the compliments of YOUR TEACHER.” The next page, on standard middle weight paper appears to be a sewn-in insert listing the school name, district, teacher, and pupils. The following pages contain a poem accompanied by printed illustrations acknowledging the hard work of both teacher and his students throughout the year. The back cover features an illustration of a schoolhouse with an American flag flying outside and the cover is made of heavy weight cream colored paper with a deckled edge.
label: Description
content: Zel E. Myers was a male schoolteacher who left the profession sometime between the 1910 census when he is listed as a public-school teacher and 1920, when he was listed as a Pennsylvania farm operator in the United States census. Among the students listed on this souvenir card is Martha Isabel Mayberry (1893-1977), who became Myers’ wife in 1914, just six years after her graduation from Mt. Pleasant Public School. Myers instructed her when she was barely fifteen, and he was twenty-three. They married in Pennsylvania when she was twenty-one and he was twenty-nine.
label: Description
content: This list of pupils suggests that this classroom contained students of varying ages. Mayberry’s younger sister, Mary, was also in this class. Multiple other 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. 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 Publishers of Canal Dover, Ohio, was founded by Edward F. Seibert. The booklet design was standardized and used by schools in different areas of the county.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: used
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Cumberland county
topic: label: depicted
content: Teacher
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Education
label: See more items in
content: Photography
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: 2017.0095.362
label: accession number
content: 2017.0095
label: catalog number
content: 2017.0095.362
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 1/2 in x 3 3/4 in; 13.97 cm x 9.525 cm