This article explores the history of North American educational research in an attempt to offer readers a historically informed view of the field as a whole. The first part of the article situates many of the major research programs in their original social settings, showing how they emerged in response to various administrative and academic pressures. The second part acknowledges the textual underpinnings of educational research by underscoring the practical reality that researchers produce patterned forms of text, which are used in patterned social situations to accomplish anticipated goals.