This author describes herself as someone who has questioned the role of theory since she first began studying educational history several decades ago, and who has attempted to use theory. She sees contradictions in what she is researching and how she is doing it, contradictions that arise from her graduate training, the developments in…

Historians such as Seth Koven and Carolyn Steedman have shown how visual and literary depictions of children helped move late-nineteenth-century middle- and upper-class audiences to join in child-saving philanthropy aimed at the deserving poor. This essay focuses on an analysis of the promotional literature of the free kindergartens. Starting from…

The author introduces William Barton Rogers, conceptual founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who pursued two interrelated careers in nineteenth-century America: one centered on his activities in science and the other on his higher educational reform efforts. This essay explores one theme in Rogers' scientific and educational…

The Basque School, as well as a type of school, is an educational phenomenon that emerged and underwent most of its development during the twentieth century. Some initial confusion existed between the terms "Basque school," "bilingual school" and "ikastola," due to the undefined nature of the Basque model of schooling…

Examines dominant 20th century liberal philosophy of social and educational reform, discusses research on the topic, criticism engendered, and areas which need more careful and extended inquiry. (Author/KC)

Discusses the influence of the research environment on the educational history produced in Great Britain. Points out that a number of historical works are influenced by political circumstances. Concludes that, although the history of education in the context of teacher education courses has become less important, social and political interests…

Discusses the educational experiences of historians during the middle 1800s. Describes changes in historical research methods and historical interpretation that developed a new type of professional historian. Asserts that the school environment for adolescent boys directly was related to changes in historiography and historical writing. (CFR)