Chapter 4:8 1921 - 1930 Education Programs that Supported the Growth of Amateur Woodworking

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Overview for Chapter 4:8: Redefining Industrial Arts in the 1920s

fred strickler training and experince of 480 ia teachers 1927, cites crawshaw and selvidge 1912

James Steel Smith,"THE DAY OF THE POPULARIZERS: THE 1920'S" South Atlantic Quarterly 1963 62(2): 297-309 Abstract: A trend toward literacy, improvement in mass communications networks, economic growth, and social change all contributed to the general popularization of knowledge in several areas of study, especially history, science, and psychology, during the 1920's.

Comprising six "parts", this long chapter directs attention to several concepts that, to a greater or lesser degree, in the 1920s, helped generate the emergence of large numbers of Americans interested in amateur woodworking in the 1930s and later.

Without a doubt, this chapter on education programs for woodworking in the 1920s is the most difficult to write. Why? Well, tellingly, at the decade's end, America's amateur woodworkers amassed as a virtual "army" -- see statistics on recorded woodworkers and home workshops here -- of amatuer wooddworkers and home workshops.

Where did these Americans interested in woodworking in their homes come from?

Electrification became widespread in urban residential areas in the 1920s, and the emergence of the fractional horse-power motor and scaled down woodworking tools made practible "power woodworking machines" for the home workshop. True, by today's standards -- where many amateur woodworkers have in their home workshop the trophy 10-inch-bladed 3-hp Powermatic table saw -- the 8-inch bladed "socket-driven" bench-top saws cut work-pieces more efficiently than hand saws, and the 4-inch bench-top jointer could "surface" rough-sawn lumber (4 inches wide or less, of course) faster than the hand plane.

Moreover, sensing opportunites of a market for magazines dedicated to woodworking and other handicrafts home workshops, publishers reacted by launching several magazines. (To promote their newly-launched power tools for amateur woodworkers, -- several manufacturers launched magazines.

And, of course, the automobile, the radio, buying on credit, and an increase in home ownership, promoted amateur woodworking, to a certain extent.

But here's the root of my puzzlement about the extraordinary growth of amateur woodworking in the 1920s:

What -- in generating interest in woodworking at home -- was the role of the woodworking course taken by boys while in high school?

I'm finding that solving this "mystery" isn't as easy as one would think. Look at the numbers of woodworker's manuals published in the 1920s that are directed toward amateur woodworkers.

I have examined many of these woodwoker's manuals intensely, and while in passing they acknowledge increased levels of interest by men in woodworking at home, none of the manuals that I have looked at speculate estensively on what is generating this interest in woodworking among men. In short, the "smoking gun evidence" that I want has eluded me so far.

I continue to look for the evidence that taking woodworking courses in high school recruited 1000s of amateur woodworkers. My intuition continues to tell me that this is true -- i.e., by taking woodworking in high school, many men had their creativity talents sparked, and continued their woodworking interests from the woodworking shop/classroom at home. None of the master's theses on the topic that I have have looked at address the matter of how amateur woodworkers were recruited, how men were motivated to do woodworking at home. I have yet to look intensely at the historical database, newspaperarchive.com. But I will keep looking.

This chapter is double-tiered

Directly below, the first tier -- the overview section -- gives highlights for the six "parts":

Part A:-- Programmatic Confusion, Turmoil in Industrial Arts in the 1920's; Part B:-- The Concept of the "General Shop"; Part C:--The Use of the "Project Method" as a Pedagogical Strategy: the Project Method Instruction Sheets; Part D:--The Use of "Instruction Sheets" as a Pedagogical Strategy; Part E:--The Emergence of the Home-Workshop Movement; Part F:-- Colonial Revival Designs as Student's Course Projects.

Finally, in the "parts" below, hyperlinks lead to extensive discussions and references for reading more of the details each of the six topics in the second tier.

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Ch 4:8 -- Part A: Programmatic Confusion, Turmoil in Industrial Arts in the 1920's

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As World War I ended, programs that fell under the umbrella of manual training became increasingly confused. For one, as a concept, manual training was misunderstood. Increasingly, pressures from many groups, professional and non-professional, sought make changes in the scope of manual training.

There was some hesitancy on the part of a few school systems to cooperate in the study, because of the large number of men on their staffs who had entered the work years ago, when less emphasis was placed on professional training than is now the case. This hesitancy was usually removed when it was explained that the aim of the study was the expression of the training and experience of all kinds of teachers and that trade-trained teachers could contribute as valuable data as professionally trained teachers. This was felt to be true because people with little training and much experience might be expected to be sensitive to teachers' problems and needs, and thus be able to give, from their own experience, suggestions that would be helpful in the preparation of other teachers. PERTINENT COMMENTS FROM MEN IN THE FIELD "My experience with new teachers shows that the great majority of normal school graduates lack practical training (the ability to do a job with tools), are full of a lot of ideas and have a superabundance of theory that is not practical." "I might add that the efficient teacher is the one who can adjust himself to meet changing conditions ; one who can 'fit in' any situation." "In industrial work a thing of prime importance is the teacher's ability to do the thing he is teaching." "One of the characteristic objections to this subject is the 'sloppiness' with which it is carried on. The teacher 'gets away with anything.' It is also just as true among superintendents and principals. There is an attitude of indifference in ninety per cent of the cases. The whole atmosphere of shop-work is given a degrading note." "In my several years experience as teacher, teacher-trainer, principal and supervisor, I have come in contact with many types of men and teachers. Our teachers who are attempting to train men for industrial arts work should have had actual training and practical experience in the subject which they are attempting to teach. We need more teacher-trainers, teaching such industrial subjects as methods, organization, classroom management and practice teaching, who have had trade experience and successful teaching experience out in the field. Many of our young teachers are short on classroom management, probably due to the fact that they have had but little experience and that not under existing conditions." "I have found that my practical experience in the shops has helped me greatly." "In general, I believe that normal and professional school teachers should personally teach a few classes of pupils in the grades or high schools, in order to keep in touch with the actual problems confronting teachers.. Too many industrial arts teachers in normal schools have taught only normal school and college students and have no practice to back up their theory." "Round-table meetings are useful and teachers should be urged to attend them in the hope of obtaining inspiration and solutions to old problems." "I believe that the greatest lack among industrial arts teachers is that relating to the handling of pupils, rather than a lack of technical or administrative ability." "One can investigate a trade with students, from the standpoint of exploration, with only a superficial knowledge of it." "Teachers should be trained to a high degree of skill but should have teaching ability also. They should not be 'masters' only." "A teacher should not be highly skilled in the older sense of the term, but he should be proficient in the work he is attempting to teach." "How can a person be an 'all-around craftsman' when he has not yet attained craftsman's standards ?" other comments include mention of instruction sheets -- ambivalence, though, some suggesting they like instruction sheets, others state that instruction sheets are note useful. Source: Fred Strickler, Training and Experience of 480 Industrial Arts Teachers New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1927, pages 2-3, 10-11.

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Next, manual training was largely overshadowed by the popularity of the vocational education movement. The passage of the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 drove many to anticpate that subsequent legislation would support greater numbers of vocational education programs.

Thinking along the lines above came from a realization of one outcome of World War I was a stress on the importance of preparing vocationally proficient citizens.

"Vocational education had an immediate purpose and, equally important, it had the financial means necessary to support this cause.... Manual training, as the most popular of the manual training subjects at this time, had the remnants of a past glory".

Compulsory education laws was evidence that no longer was a high school education reserved for youth of the privileged class.

And much confusion existed over terms that defined vocational education programs. To identify this area of education, no single term used consistently. In Chapter 1:8, I explored briefly the numerous forces -- European and American -- that helped shape the direction of America's manual training programs.

For John Henry Sredl, writing in the 1960s, suffused through the contemporary literature are three major terms, often used interchangeably:

(1) manual training, (2) manual arts, and (3) industrial arts,

even though each term did in fact evolve from a different philosophy of manual education.

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Ch 4:8 -- Part B: The Concept of the "General Shop"

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The General Shop Idea

In the currucula of Industrial Arts in the 1920's, the General Shop was still a "new" idea. It differed the traditional or "unit method" of teaching, because in a General Shop, students were organized into multiple activities, simultaneously in one or more "laboratories".

General Shop Method organized classes on the following ideas: assigning groups of students to specific stations, with subsequent rotation through the different activities.

(On the left is an image of the title page of a well-known "genral shop" textbook.)

Groups were treated individual classes, where as appropriate instruction repeated, group by group, station by station.

In general, formal class instruction was not practiced. Why? Because experience showed that application by students of the lecture information was largely remote, with the implication that the instruction would need to be repeated anyway.

This "... type of program has been classified as a general shop. ... The general shop proposes to place the emphasis upon the boy rather than upon the subject. ..."

Source: The Teachers College Journal 1929, page 140.

Ch 4:8 -- Part C: The Use of the "Project Method" as a Pedagogical Strategy

Part C: The Use of the "Project Method" as a Pedagogical StrategyAs Knoll's timeline shows, the Project Method has been used successfully for many generations, with all ages and grades, from the kindergarten to the college.

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Throughout the entire history of the teaching of the Manual Arts, the Project Method was -- to a greater or lesser degree -- used, even though the Method was not always recognized by this name.

It needs to be pointed out, though. that the general interpretation of the term "project" in shopwork -- meaning any article produced in the shop -- has no connection with the "project method" as here interpreted.

Rather than the output determining whether the product is a project, it is instead

the origin

the purpose

the approach

the relationships and attitudes of teacher and students

One of the standard teaching methods. the Project Method is a means for students

(a) develop independence and responsibility,

(b) practice social and democratic modes of behavior.

Genuinely a product of the American progressive education movement, the project method was described in detail and definitively delimited for the first time by William Heard Kilpatrick in his essay, "The Project Method", cited below.

The Project Method, in other words, is an example of Critical Thinking. Also here

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Chapter 4:8 -- Part D: The Use of "Instruction Sheets" as a Pedagogical Strategy:

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Part D Survey of Instruction Sheets Concept:-- portion of Chapter From Wood-Working Tools: How to Use Them, 1881, first of a survey of Instruction Sheets

"A Sturdy Chair for Little Ones"

This image comes from Popular Science Monthly November 1929, page 115

THE INSTRUCTION SHEET

Now considered one of the standard means of employed in shop teaching, Instruction Sheets make possible changes in shop organization and layouts that allow a variety of mechanical activities in woodwork classroom schools in place of the old program activities.

The instruction sheet is a teaching device of great value where directions are to be given or where general principles or facts are to be presented to members of a group who are unequal in attainment, ability or aptitude. It has found quite general application in the school shop, the science laboratory, and in industry, but its value is not confined to those fields. It is, perhaps, the most efficient and economical system of individual instruction yet devised. It permits independent progress among the members of a group and makes it possible to take into account individual differences. The favor it has found in shop and laboratory is not because the individual differences among pupils are greater in such work but because the differences are more readily recognized and more effectively dealt with.

When we give a piece of work to a number of students in a shop we can readily determine the degree of progress of each student by an examination of his work, but it is far more difficult to determine the relative degree of progress of students in a class in history, or science, or even in mathematics. When we develop an effective method -- of measuring the efficiency of our instruction -- we will realize that it is important that we reduce the size of our groups or devise a system of instruction that will provide for independent progress of members of the group.

Source: R W Selvidge, Individual Instruction Sheets Peoria, IL: The Manual Arts Press, 1926, page 3.

Ch 4:8 -- Part E: The Emergence of the Home-Workshop Movement: Household (or Home) Mechanics

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"Household Mechanics", a popular comprehensive shop program in the twenties, originated in 1908. The program grew under several names Home Mechanics, Household Mechanics, and the Home Workshop Movement.

"Shopwork properly taught in the school", argues Emanuel Ericson, "should encourage the boy to establish a workshop at home." Lamentably, Ericson continues, "The home workshop among boys is not so common as it should be."

Source: Emanuel Ericson, Teaching Problems in Industrial Arts Milwaukee: The Manual Arts Press, 1930, page 186

As the decade progressed, the popularity of the household mechanics programs increased. Included in this rubric were all of the industrial arts areas, until household mechanics became a catch-all phrase for varied shop work. By the end of the decade, the term was not only used synonymously with , but -- sometimes -- was used to identify the entire field of Industrial Arts.

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Ch 4:8 -- Part F: An Emphasis on Colonial Revival Designs as Student's Course Projects

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Below are the Extended "Parts" of the Six Lettered Topics above:

Ch 4:8 -- Part A:-- On Programmatic Confusion and Turmoil in 1920s Industrial Arts

The following paragraphs are adapted from John Henry Sredl's 1964 dissertation, "A History of the Industrial Arts From 1920 to 1964". Sredl studied at Ohio State University. Programmatic Confusion, Turmoil in Industrial Arts in the 1920's By the end of the second decade of the 20th century, the concept of manual training was greatly misunderstood. Given the turmoil in the 1920s -- pressure to change manual training came from many groups, professional and non-professional. First, manual training was largely overshadowed by the popularity of the vocational education movement. The promoters of vocational education -- rejoicing in the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 were anticipating that new legislation would encourage vocational education programs. Second, supporters of  vocational programs were encouraged because one outcome of World War I was a stress on  the importance of preparing vocationally proficient citizens. "Vocational education had an immediate purpose and, equally important, it had the financial means necessary to support this cause," Says Sredl, "Manual training, as the most popular of the manual training subjects at this time, had the remnants of a past glory". Third, With growing compulsory educa­tion laws, no longer was a high school education reserved for youth of the privileged class. Fourth, much confusion existed over terms employed to define vocational education programs. No one definite term used consistently to identify this education. In part, confusion came from the fact that manual training subjects were an amalgamation three European systems of manual education and one American movement. Literature contemporary to the time used three major terms interchangeably: (1) manual training, (2) manual arts, and (3) industrial arts, even though each term did in fact evolve from a different philosophy of manual education. (1) As we saw in Chapter 1, Manual training, developing from the Russian system of education, was a subject centered on the completion of specific exercises. The emphasis was primarily on skill development. Although defended through numerous arguments as a phase of general education, the value of this teacher-centered program was under much criticism from liberally-minded individuals. (2) Manual arts, a merger of (1) the sloyd system, which stressed the completion of projects or useful items and of (2) the arts and crafts movement, was project-centered although its supporters claimed that the child was given the opportunity to create and to express himself through the manipulation of industrial materials. Although the emphasis was also on the development of skill, the skills emphasized were hand skills and the project was the vehicle used to achieve objectives. Finally, (3) industrial arts, the result of critical examination of the former subjects, reportedly was devoted to the study of industry. While the project was still the vehicle used to obtain most of the objectives of industrial arts, its supporters stressed the individual differences of pupils and attempted to establish their program to allow individuals to express themselves independ­ently. This program was student-centered. Continued Growth and Confusion: Curriculum Goals, Teaching Methods, Program Terminology A major consequence of the multilateral existence of the manual training subjects was confusion, both professional and non-professional. Verne. C. Fryklund, an instructor at the State Teachers' College, Kearney, Nebraska, described the fluctuating views regarding manual training from its inception to its position in the early 1920: So much was said of the rigidity of early manual training without accompanying interest that another extreme took its place. . . . Progress was lost and the boy in the eighth grade was at liberty to make over again things that he had made in the sixth grade. . . . Next followed an extreme in inductive teaching, which completed the change; then the boy was allowed to make whatever his interest dictated, using a trial and error method with some individual instruction. Source: Verne C. Fryklund, "Lest We Forget," Industrial-Arts Magazine, 12 No. 5 May, 1923, pages 185-87. Fryklund, stressingthe absence of the application of scientific principles in the manual training approach, thought it encouraged waste in the use of materials. Writing in the same magazine a month earlier, Arthur B. Mays, Associate Professor Industrial Education at the University of Illinois, called for a reappraisal of the aims and objectives of the manual arts, warning that the young teacher who undertakes to study the various statements of objectives is soon bewildered by the variety, vagueness and multiplicity of aims. The almost interminable lists of objectives which are sometimes submitted as the aims of a teacher frequently become amusing for they contain nearly all of the desirable human attributes, and on their face are impossible of attainment with all of the school subjects combined, and certainly no one subject can be held accountable for their realization. Source: Arthur B. Mays, "Enrichment of Manual Arts", Industrial-Arts Magazine, 12, No. 4 April, 1923, page 131 An editorial in the Industrial Arts Magazine in January 1923 cited the confusion in industrial education terminology of the period: After all these years of discussion concerning the proper terminology for the field of vocational education, industrial education, industrial arts, manual training, etc., it is the most common thing to find the terminology wholly confused and frightfully misused. It  is not unusual to find the simplest forms of hand-work in the primary grades referred to by school people as "vocational work". . . Every cross-roads manual training shop is turning out "vocational work, " according to inspired reports. . . . The fact is that a lot of teachers became alarmed at the prominence given voca­tional education and widespread demand for it; they became ashamed of the old terms "manual training, " "manual arts," "industrial arts," etc., and took cover under the new and popular name of vocational education. Source: "The Misuse of the Term Vocational Education", Industrial-Arts Magazine, 12, No. 1 January, 1923, page 27. Regardless of the confusion over terminology, in the early 1920's, manual training programs seemed to increase in popularity and number. Perhaps a major reason for this movement was the increasing number of students who attended secondary schools in the 1920s. With growing compulsory education laws, no longer was a high school education reserved for youth of the privileged class.

In the Biennial Survey of Industrial Education, 1926-28, of the United States Office of Education, reported: The student body of the secondary school is no longer the selected, unified group it once was -- and with the inclusion, in large numbers, of groups with different attitudes, aptitudes, and opportunities relative to life occupational interests -- a necessity exists for providing educational training with functional values corresponding to the group needs commensurate with the time, effort, and money expended. Source: American Vocational Association Committee on Standards of Attainment in Industrial Arts Teaching, "Standards of Attainment in Industrial Arts, " Industrial Education Magazine, 31, No. 7 January, 1930, page 267.

part A:-- History of IA 1920-1964

Arthur B Mays, a professor of industrial arts at the University of Illinos in the 1920s, addressed "Trends in teacher preparation" in his book, cited below: The rapidly rising standards of teacher preparation is another marked trend in industrial education. Teachers are required to have both more thorough industrial training and broader general education. This is reflected in the tightening of the requirement of actual experience in industry, and of more college and professional training. Teacher-training institutions have been placed under the necessity of making correspondingly higher requirements for those charged with the professional training of industrial teachers. This tendency may easily lead to an overemphasis on certain theoretical phases of teacher preparation which will weaken the effectiveness of much of the shop teaching, but rightly controlled, the tendency is healthful and is to be encouraged. It is resulting in the lifting of the whole field of industrial education to a higher plane of efficiency, and is enabling it to command the respect and support of leaders in other fields whose help is necessary for its continued progress. Source: Arthur B. Mays, The Problem of Industrial Education, New York: The Century Co. 1927, page 395 Read More

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Ch 4:8 -- Part B: The Concept of the "General Shop"

Widespread adoption of the general-shop idea in the teaching of industrial-arts activities by the schools throughout the country has been very rapid. . . . The teaching of the several kinds of work simultaneously amounts to the conducting of several classes or groups at the same time and, therefore, requires a different teaching technique than has been employed in the teaching of a traditional shop class. Home-mechanics teaching due to the unusually large range of tools and materials used is one of the general shop courses, which if taught effectively, requires careful planning as to selection of content, shop organization, and methods of teaching.

43 By the end of the decade, household mechanics and its related terms were used as synonyms for the manual education subjects.



here

The General Shop Idea

In the currucula of Industrial Arts in the 1920's, the General Shop was still a "new" idea. It differed the traditional or "unit method" of teaching, because in a General Shop, students were organized into multiple activities, simultaneously in one or more "laboratories".

The General Shop Idea General Shop Method organized classes on the following ideas: assigning groups of students to specific stations, with subsequent rotation through the different activities. Groups were treated individual classes, where as appropriate instruction repeated, group by group, station by station. In general, formal class instruction was not practiced. Why? Because experience showed that application by students of the lecture information was largely remote, with the implication that the instruction would need to be repeated anyway. This "... type of program has been classified as a general shop. ... The general shop proposes to place the emphasis upon the boy rather than upon the subject. ..." Source: The Teachers College Journal 1929- Page 140. [ in file folder, under sylvan a yager, "the general shop in the small community", teachers college journal, 1, no 5, may 1930, pages 139-142:-- "The general shop proposes to place the emphasis upon the boy rather than upon the subject. In other words, the traditional type of industrial arts' placed the emphasis upon the skills involved in the activity, and the work was well done only to the extent that the skills were mastered. In the general shop, skills are involved to be sure, but they are only secondary in importance. Here, we are more concerned with the possibilities the work has in the development of the student. We are not so much concerned with the projects made, while in the traditional type, the project was the big thing. It was valuable then because it reflected directly the degree of skill acquired by the worker. The general shop proposes to give each student an opportunity to develop his original native _interest by providing for him a variety of industrial shop experiences." ] The General Shop Louis Vest Newkirk, George Dinsmore Stoddard - Manual training - 1929 CHAPTER I ORGANIZATION AND CONTENT OF THE GENERAL SHOP Meaning of the Term. The general shop is a broad group of educative industrial arts activities ... [is the book's title "manual training" or "the general shop"? Education Through Woodworking, a Series of Prize Winning Essays: Practical ...? - Page 203 by American wood working machinery company Educational dept, Arthur Dean - Woodwork (Manual training) - 1924 "... place in the woodworking shop, as witness the growth of the 'general shop' idea. Our woodworking classes have gone to the extent of building and ..." From: Fryklund and LaBerge, General Shop Woodworking Bloomington, IL: McKNIGHT & McKNIGHT, Publishers, 1936, pages 3-4. ( more on authors: VERNE C. FRYKLUND, Ph. D., Assistant Professor Industrial Education, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and ARMAND J. LABERGE, Instructor in Industrial Arts, Bryant Junior High School, Minneapolis, Minnesota.) Foreword This workbook is written primarily for use in the junior high school. It is designed to provide instruction in elementary and intermediate woodworking as offered in the several types of shop organization. It is as readily adaptable to the unit shop as to the general shop. In fact, the lessons are prepared for use by anyone desiring to learn the fundamental practices of elementary woodworking. The instructional units herein presented are extremely flexible and can be used in connection with any teaching methods. They satisfactorily meet the needs of either individual or group instruction. They have been successfully used in both school and homecraft shops. There have been guiding subject aims in the preparation of these materials. These aims have been conceived from well known general educational and industrial educational aims, and were guides in the preparation of these units. These aims are: 1. To provide experience in manipulative phases of woodworking, and give information about a variety of woodworking industries dependent upon wood and its uses. 2. To teach certain general and usable skills in handling and modifying wood in order to make it conform to one's needs. 3. To inspire appreciation of good workmanship and good design in wood products. 4. To develop the habits of careful planning and methodical procedure in pursuing construction in wood. 5. To foster development of intelligent discrimination in the selection and use of wood products, such as woodwork in the home and furniture. 6. To develop appreciation of one's dependence upon wood and wood products, and upon importance of conservation. 7. To give training in the reading of working drawings (the world language) used in woodworking. 8. To inspire avocational interests in woodworking. to read more, click on link to read more, click on link part B:-- General Shop

An Application of the General Shop Concept: Eric Ericson on "The Use of Books in Shop Teaching" 1928

Eric Ericson on "The Use of Books in Shop Teaching" 1928

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Chapter 4:8:-- Part C: The Project Method

Part C:-- Project Method

Part C1: The Project Method The Project Method: With a Long History, it is an Attempt toward Injecting Critical Thinking Skills into Education "Whenever constructivist concepts, inquiry-based learning, problem-solving, and design are discussed in vocational and industrial education as well as in other fields of American education, the 'project' is considered to be one of the best and most appropriate methods of teaching." Source: Michael Knoll, "The Project Method: Its Vocational Education Origin and International Development", Journal of Industrial Education 34, No. 3 Spring 1997. Project Method Promoted in 1920s Woodworking Courses Couched in today's vocabulary of scholarship on teaching/learning, perhaps the quote above doesn't mean much to many reading this section. Nonetheless, in the context of the 1920s, "the project method" and its cognate, "instruction sheets as a teaching/learning tool" were prominent issues in education circles. For evidence, you can simply scan the table of contents of the monthly issues of the Industrial Education Magazine, the mainline journal in the field in that decade. Education leaders in Industrual Arts -- Emanuel Ericson, Verne Fryklund, R W Selvidge, Paul Woolley -- regularly published articles. (Ericson had an article each month.) Quick-and-Dirty Frederick A. Adams, "Manual training and educating for the use of leisure", Industrial Education Magazine 27 (August 1925) page 50 JOSEPH J. EATON, "GENERAL METHOD IN THE USE OF THE UNIT INSTRUCTION SHEET", I E M 26 pages 7-8 (Eaton is Director of Industrial Arts, Yonkers, N. Y.) EMANUEL E. ERICSON, "THE HOME WORKSHOP", I E M 28 June-July 1926-1927 (Professor, State Teachers College, Santa Barbara, California) EMANUEL E. ERICSON, "Student Planning for the School Shop", I E M 34 August 1932 page 35 (Ericson was Director, Division of Industrial Education, State Teachers College, Santa Barbara, California) HARVEY ARTHUR WITT, "The Use of Lesson Sheets" I E M 28 J-J 1926-1927, pages 253-254 (Instructor in Printing, Lathrop Trade School, Kansas City, Missouri) The lesson-sheet plan is built upon the generally accepted theory that the average mind can grasp only one thing at a time. It may take in several impressions in rapid succession, but each one must be as clear and distinct as the exposures in a motion picture film The advantages of the lesson sheets are twofold. One of which is the strengthening it gives to the instructor. He must consider carefully and organize his presentation of the subject in the best possible manner. This makes his teaching of each lesson unit of a high order and of standard quality. For this reason, alone, they are worth while. On the other hand, the lesson sheet covers, step by step, the unit of instruction that is to be conveyed, or put over to the student. Every statement, or illustration is clean-cut and to the point. The lesson sheet does not deal in generalities nor stop by saying, "Do this, and then do that." It goes right to the point and tells how to do it. If the lesson sheets are bound into books or some other permanent form the students will soon form the habit of reviewing the points that are not quite clear to them. Some will be interested to the extent of reading forward beyond the thing at hand and thus pave the way for future rapid progress. ... Perfunctory service on the part of the teacher or satisfying the minimum hours, will never produce home workshops. A knowledge of subject-matter alone will not inspire students to home activities. A knowledge of boy temperament must be, added, as well as an interest in what he does with his leisure time; and most important of all, the energy and willingness required to become more to the boy than just his "teacher." The teacher who is able to do these things and willing to make the sacrifice which they demand, need not worry about the enrollment for his shop for the following semester, nor will he need to complain that the manual arts are losing ground in the schools.... Source: MANUEL E. ERICSON, "Student Planning for the School Shop", I E M 34 August 1932 page 35 VERNE C. FRYKLUND, "The Place of Reasoning in the Shop" I E M 32 page 223 (Professor of Industrial Arts, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota) R. W. SELVIDGE, "What Shall We Teach?", I E M 32, pages 43-45 (Professor of Industrial Education, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri) Project Method a Mainstay for Centuries As Knoll's timeline shows, the Project Method has been used successfully for many generations, with all ages and grades, from the kindergarten to the college. Throughout the entire history of the teaching of the Manual Arts, the Project Method was -- to a greater or lesser degree -- used, even though the Method was not always recognized by this name. It needs to be pointed out, though. that the general interpretation of the term "project" in shopwork -- meaning any article produced in the shop -- has no connection with the "project method" as here interpreted. Rather than the output determining whether the product is a project, it is instead the origin the purpose the approach the relationships and attitudes of teacher and students One of the standard teaching methods. the Project Method is a means for students (a) develop independence and responsibility, (b) practice social and democratic modes of behavior. Genuinely a product of the American progressive education movement, the project method was described in detail and definitively delimited for the first time by William Heard Kilpatrick in his essay, "The Project Method", cited below. The Emergence of Applications of Project Methods in Russia and America Around 1870, Stillman H. Robinson, a Dean of Mechanical Engineering at Urbana's Illinois Industrial University, combined theory and practice:-- the student must be a craftsman in order to become an engineer. Robinson's students learned how (1) to apply the laws of science and technology, and (2) to develop machines, apparatuses, and turbines, (3) to carry out the "complete act of creation." This meant both drafting their "projects" on the drawing board and constructing them in the workshop. For Robinson, "In practice instruction consists mainly in the execution of projects, in which the student is required to construct machines, or parts thereof, of his own design and from his own working drawings" "Through this 'construction' requirement", claims Knoll, "Robinson wanted to achieve two purposes: enable students to become "practical" engineers and "democratic" citizens (i.e., citizens who believed in the equality of men and the dignity of labor)". Sources: Winton U. Solberg, The University of Illinois, 1867-1894: An Intellectual and Cultural History Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1968, pages 140-145; Michael Knoll, "The Project Method: Its Vocational Education Origin and International Development", Journal of Industrial Education 34, No. 3 Spring 1997 (In this article, Knoll cites a German-language article in where the details are outlined.) to read more, click on link Part C:-- Project Method

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Much has been said about the "project method" of teaching.

See Michael Knoll's 1997 online article

The long and distinguished history of the project method can be divided into five phases:

1590-1765: The beginnings of project work at architectural schools in Europe.

1765-1880: The project as a regular teaching method and its transplantation to America.

1880-1915: Work on projects in manual training and in general public schools.

1915-1965: Redefinition of the project method and its transplantation from America back to Europe.

1965-today: Rediscovery of the project idea and the third wave of its international dissemination.

In 1925, an instructor in an Muncie, Indiana High School published his first of two bibliographic Bibliographic Guides on "projects" in the high school woodworking course.

In 1926, in a follow-up publication, Woolley outlined more of his theory on "the importance of projects in the education of boys"

In the box below are the first two paragraphs from Paul V Woolley
's 1925 Bibliographic Guide. Notice that while Woolley makes no no mention of is as a significant aid to individual instruction, their usefulness is strongly implied.

The text of Woolley's theory is in the scrollable inline frame below:

PREFACE Several years' experience teaching and supervising academic, as well as shop subjects, has convinced the [Woolley] that to be effective and successful in any line of work one must be able to find the information needed when one wants it and to do it quickly. For the busy teacher, particularly, both in the class room and in daily preparation, it is often hard to ascertain the several references he should read and present to his pupils. Often we do not know just where to send a pupil to find the answer to his question, or just where to make our assignments for outside reading and special reports. It [was Woolley's] aim in the production of this book to provide a real time-saver as well as a reliable means of helping teachers and students to higher success in the field of woodworking. Source: Paul V. Woolley, A Guide to the Study of Woodworking: A Handy Reference for Woodworkers, Teachers and Students of High Schools, Colleges and Industrial Schools Peoria, IL: The Manual Arts Press, 1925 Woolley was Head of the Department of Manual Arts Filson High School Muncie, Indiana. Read more here

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Paul Woolley Importance of projects in the education of boys 1926

Paul V. Woolley, A Guide to the Study of Woodworking: A Handy Reference for Woodworkers, Teachers and Students of High Schools, Colleges and Industrial Schools Peoria, IL: The Manual Arts Press, 1925

Woolley was Head of the Department of Manual Arts Filson High School Muncie, Indiana.
Read more here

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Ch 4:8 -- Part D: The Use of "Instruction Sheets" as a Pedagogical Strategy

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Now considered one of the standard means of employed in shop teaching, Instruction Sheets make possible changes in shop organization and layouts that allow a variety of mechanical activities in woodwork classroom schools in place of the old program activities.

"Instruction sheets actually came into prominence during the period when [there were] few or no textbooks ... ."

Source: Joseph William Giachino and Ralph Ora Gallington Course Construction in Industrial Arts and Vocational Education? - 1961, page 206. [ at wwu --1977 4th ed. English Book Book 355 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. Chicago : American Technical Society; ISBN: 082694065X 9780826940650 ]

Part D:-- Instruction Sheets

to read a more extensive account of Instruction Sheets, click on link:

Part D:-- Instruction Sheets

chapter 4:8 Education programs part d: -- From Instruction Sheets to Woodworker's Manuals

Schematic of an Instruction Sheet

[need to integrate theses by edison elbert field and hoyt h london; london yet to be photocopied, field in file folder]

Now considered one of the standard means of employed in shop teaching, Instruction Sheets make possible changes in shop organization and layouts that allow a variety of activities in woodwork classrooms, in place of the old program activities. [examples of old program activities]

However, the use of Instruction Sheets need not be confined to classroom settings. Instead, as proven by such authors of woodworker's manuals as Verne C. Fryklund and Armand J Laberge -- in General Shop Woodworking -- the concept of the Instruction Sheet can be incorporated into woodworker's manuals.

Ca 1800, was pestalozzi the first to use the concept "instruction sheet"? Manual Work and Physical Training. Of this Pestalozzi says : "In endeavouring to impart to the child those practical abilities which every man stands in need of, we ought to follow essentially the same progress as in the communication of knowledge; beginning from an alphabet of abilities, if I may so express myself: that is to say, from the simplest practical exercises, which, being combined with each other, would serve to develop in the child a general fund of ability, to be applied to whatever purpose circumstances might render it necessary in after life. "Such an alphabet, however, has not yet been found, and that from the obvious reason that it has not been sought for. I am not inclined to think that it would be very difficult to discover it, especially if the research were made with the same zeal with which even the trivial abilities connected with the operation of money-getting are attended to. If once discovered it would be of essential benefit to mankind. It ought to comprise the simplest performances of the bodily organs of action, such as striking, carrying, throwing, pushing, pulling, turning, twisting, swinging, etc. Whatever manipulations may occur in any calling may be reduced to some one or more of the simple actions and their combinations. The alphabet of abilities should therefore consist of a complete succession of them all, arranged in the order in which they follow each other ... Many principles underlying manual training school practices come from kindergarten pedagogical theories, and for much of the theories , we are indebted Friedrich Froebel, and thus indirectly to Pestalozzi, but also , before 1900, Johann Amon Comenius, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and even Francis Bacon. But it was reserved for Russia to solve the problem of tool instruction by the laboratory process, and make it the foundation of a great reform in education. The initiatory step was taken in 1868 by Victor Delia-Vos, Director of the Imperial Technical School of Moscow. The following statement is extracted from the account given by Director Della- Vos of the exhibit of the Moscow school at Philadelphia (Centennial of 1876), and at the Paris Exposition in 1878, as best showing the inception of the new education: If Pestalozzi had applied his idea of an alphabet of abilities to the teaching of the manual arts," argues Charles Bennett, "he would, in all probability, have developed a system similar to that outlined in Russia in 1868". Sources: Henry Holman, Pestalozzi:An Account of His Life and Work London: Longmans, 1908; Charles Alpheus Bennett, History of Manual and Industrial Education Up to 1870?, page 122. After 1900, we can add to the earlier theorists, such names as John Dewey, Lev Semnovich Vygotski, and Jean Piaget. (In my other life, these names were very familiar, because they are associated with the current literature of critical thinking, even though they worked in the first half of the 20th century. However, as this article -- Anuradha A. Gokhale, "Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking", JTE 7 NO. 1 Fall 1995 -- notes, the theories of Dewey, Vygotsky, and Piaget have also been appropriated into Industrial Arts scholarship.) . to read more, click on link Part D:-- Instruction Sheets

Emanuel Ericson on the Use of Instruction-Sheets.

Now considered one of the standard methods in shop teaching.

Their value not doubted, it is puzzling why introducing Instruction Sheets into woodwork courses took so long.

Instruction Sheets are used all the way from a complete substitute for -- on one hand -- all personal instruction to -- on the other hand -- simply an auxiliary to instruction.

The General Shop curriculum -- covered in Part B -- is where Instruction Sheets were used most extensively, but their use was not confined to that particular type of classroom organization.

Briefly, following Newkirk and Stoddard, the General Shop is a broad group of educative activities. General Shop can embrace strategies of shop organization and teaching methods designed to enable a community, -- large or small -- to present a unified core of content, based on life needs, as summarized in these aims:

a) developmental experience, interpretive of the major phases of the world's industrial work,
b) "handy-man activities,"
c) consumer's knowledge and appreciation,
d) guidance,
e) hobbies,
f) social habits, and (for a very small per cent)
g) vocational preparation.

Source:Louis Vest Newkirk and George Dinsmore Stoddard, The General Shop Peoria, IL: The Manual Arts Press, 1929, page 19

Ericson's Nine "Advantages of Instruction-Sheets in Shop Teaching"

Ericson argues that Instruction Sheets should be employed in many types of schools or shops, as part-time continuation schools, evening classes, in the unit shop of the junior high school, and in all-day trade-preparatory classes.

Instruction Sheets have limitiations.

While such sheets constitute a most valuable teaching device, Instruction Sheets are not intended to supersede all other forms of instruction. Instruction Sheets required considerable preparation, with the work by students organized with this specific method of teaching in mind.

Deftly applied, Instruction Sheets replaces oral instruction. Clearly written and used effectively, Instruction Sheets offer a number of advantages as a method of instruction:

1. Instruction Sheets are a means for offering a greater variety of work in the shop. Such variety could not be covered by individual personal instruction.

2. They save time of the teacher. The time so saved can be used effectively in perfecting organization, and in other phases of the work.

3. They save time of students that would otherwise be used in waiting for attention of the instructor.

4. Interest of students is maintained, because they can proceed with the work without waiting for demon­strations and personal instructions.

5. They furnish printed directions to be followed. Success in a great number of occupations depends upon ability to understand and follow directions set forth in this way; consequently the practice is of high impor­tance.

6. Students are left on their own resources in carrying out the work. The habit of "leaning on the teacher" at all times does not produce an adequate sense of independence. Our schools are now being criticized by industry for failing to develop initiative and self-reliance.

7. Instruction Sheets are of great value as an aid to and follow-up of the demonstration. They eliminate the need for copying directions, and thus enable students to concentrate upon the processes demonstrated.

They also serve to establish uniform checking levels in the progress of the work.

8. Compared to oral instructions from the teacher, Instruction Sheets are better organized guides to procedures and materials students need for projects.

9. Instruction Sheets assist the teacher not expert mechanically in all phases of work in a shop. Such shortcomings on the part of the beginning teacher are unavoidable, in the early stages of a career, where a great variety of operations is covered.

Examples of Instruction Sheets

Adapted from Verne C. Fryklund, "How to Lay Out and Cut a Thumb Mold" Popular Homecraft March -April 1933 page 563; also "To lay out a thumb mold." In Verne Fryklund and Armand J La Berge General Shop Woodworking. 1940 ed., pages 67-68.

(There is an "irony", here, I think, because General Shop Woodworking is designed for woodworking courses at the "junior high school" level! On the strength of the cross-reference to the instructions on making the "thumb nail mold" in PH, impulsively I ordered a copy of General Shop Woodworking
. When it arrived, I was astonished. For its attention to rudimentary details about technques and skills in woodworking, this woodworker's manual -- over one hundreds pages -- rivals those manuals that I have vigorously commended: Charles G Wheeler and Chelsea Fraser.)

"Creating Thumb Mold for Table Top"

Unit 32. To Lay Out and Cut a Thumb Mold It is frequently necessary to form the edges of a taboret or table top as shown in Fig. 194A. This is called a thumb mold. There are other shapes than the one shown, but the principle of laying out and cutting is much the same in all of them. Of course a machine, if one is available, provides the ideal means of cutting this mold. One need not refrain from making a mold because of lack of machinery, however. It can be made with hand tools.Determine the dimensions from the drawing and proceed as follows: 1. Lay off by thumb gauging, lines 1, 2, and 3 in A, Fig. 196. 2. Clamp a straightedge on line 1 and use it as a guide to saw down to line 3 as in sawing a rabbet. B, Fig. 196. 3. Keep the straightedge in place. With a chisel as wide as the mold, and with the bevel down, chip the stock as shown at C. Take solid blows with the mallet. 4. Remove the chips by chiseling inward as shown by the arrow in C. Be careful to cut horizontally. 5. With a bullnose plane or a rabbet plane, shape the mold in steps as shown in D, E, and F. Keep in mind that the arris, line 1, must be carefully preserved. In the absence of a special plane a block plane may be used. The block plane does not work well into the corners and, therefore, the corners must be trimmed out with a chisel. 6. Having shaped the mold carefully with the plane, sand with No.1/2 sandpaper wrapped on a block. 7. Feel carefully with the fingers to see that there are no bumps or rough places. High places can be seen by holding the work toward the light. 8. Finish with No. 00 sandpaper. 9. Observe how the corners are finished in F, Fig. 196. The side and end molds meet to form a straight line. This line can be made straight by perfecting the intersecting curves with sandpaper. Questions 1. Sand ........................................ when sanding end grain. 2. Two planes that can be used in cutting the ...................... mold are the .................... and .................... planes. A ................ plane can also be used. 3. After planing, the mold should be finally shaped with (1) a chisel, (2) a file, (3) sandpaper, (4) a thumb gauge. 4. Hold the bevel of the chisel .................... when chiseling the chips. Cut .................... and .................... to remove the chips. 5. Clamp a ........................................ to the line as a guide in..................... Source: Verne C. Fryklund and Armand J LaBerge, General Shop Woodworking Bloomington, IL: McKnight and McKnight, 1936, pages 67-68. I use this example of a thumb -- on the right -- because it testifies to something that I actually did myself, on this table edge.

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Ch 4:8 -- Part E: The Emergence of the Home-Workshop Movement: Household (or Home) Mechanics

Many attempts were made to broaden and enrich the manual arts subjects in the 1920s. One suggestion: give students an understanding of products and materials utilized in the home. One definite consequence of this activity was the growth of a program called, among other things, Home Workshops or Household Mechanics.

There appear to be a number of reasons for the growth of this subject whose name at times was used to identify the entire field of manual training. First, increasing attacks on the value of manual training as a general education subject prompted supporters to assume defensive positions while attempting to justify, superficially at times, the place of their subject. The other,

"Shopwork properly taught in the school", argues Emanuel Ericson, "should encourage the boy to establish a workshop at home." Lamentably, Ericson continues, "The home workshop among boys is not so common as it should be."

Moreover, "Where such shops exist there is usually no correlation between them and the school shop or instructor", Ericson adds, although "many parents desire that their boy have a workshop because of the possibilities of occupying what would otherwise be idle time, but too often they know nothing of how to equip such a shop or how to encourage mechanical work".

Emanuel Ericson on Home Workshops in 1930

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[under construction 1-16-09]

The Home Workshop Movement Early Beginnings. In the 1920's "Household Mechanics" was a popular term used to describe a multiple-activity type of shop program. The Household Mechanics idea originated in Eau Claire, WI, in 1908. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ adapted from sredl -- Summary The start of the third decade of the twentieth century found the manual training subjects obscured by the vocational education movement. Three terms were used to identify the area of study whose principal objectives were of a general education nature: manual training, manual arts, and industrial arts. But however under­emphasized and confused were the manual training subjects, the decade saw growth and expansion, though not real clarification, in the field. One of the strongholds of the manual training subjects existed on the elementary school level. Resulting from earlier influences and from the contemporary influence of Bonser and others, the subject enjoyed a central position in many educational programs. It was at this level of education that the name industrial arts was most prominently used. The junior high school of the twenties was still in the exper­imental stage in many communities and was experiencing the growth problems associated with new programs of education. Widely accepted in the junior high schools, primarily for its exploratory values, was industrial arts. A much discussed industrial arts program in the junior high school was the general shop. Based on the promotion of an exploration of numerous shop areas as opposed to a study in depth of a few areas, the general shop advocates supported the program from comprehensive and unit points of view. Perhaps the outstand­ing acceptance of the general shop, both as a program and as a facil­ity, took place in the suburban schools which served a comparatively small number of students and which consequently could not justify the financial expenditures necessary to present a multi-shop indus­trial arts program. Household mechanics was a popular comprehensive shop program in the twenties. Originating in 1908 the program grew under several names such as home mechanics. As the decade progressed, the popularity of the household mechanics program increased. Included in this study were all of the industrial arts areas until household mechanics became a catch-all phrase for varied shop work. By the end of the decade, the term was not only used synonymously with general shop but was sometimes used to identify the entire field of industrial arts. One of the more promising experimental programs to affect the cross section of educational subjects in the twenties, including industrial arts,wasthe Dalton Plan of Education. However, though heralded by its advocates as the answer to many existing scholastic problems, the plan lost much favor by the end of the decade. 108 Perhaps the specific event which was to have a most pro­found influence on industrial arts in the decades to come was the formation of the American Vocational Association. The result of a merger of the National Society for Vocational Education and the Vo­cational Education Association of the Middle West, the move estab­lished one powerful organization for the purpose of the promotion of vocational education and related fields. The place of art in the public school curriculums and its relation to industrial arts was another controversial highlight in the third decade of the twentieth century. Resulting from the increased use of machines in the manufacture of consumer products, there was much concern among educators and administrators regarding the aesthetic values of youth specifically and society in general. With the increasing number of compulsory education laws, an ever larger number of youths attended school while employed on a part-time basis. To specifically meet the needs of this group, the part-time or continuation school was developed. Although the success of this program was disputed, industrial arts played a prom­inent part in the curriculum. The end of the decade found an increasing demand from edu- cators and administrators for some standardization of industrial arts objectives, content, and methods. Called upon to investigate 109 the existing problems and to propose feasible solutions was the Amer­ican Vocational Association. The immediate consequence was the formation of the Committee on Standards of Attainment in Industrial Arts Teaching. The close of the decade found this committee func­tioning vigorously. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ As a result of the work of E. H. Harlacher, a graduate of the Stout Institute at Menomonie, it soon grew in popularity and approximately five years later was a firmly established course in the Detroit elementary schools. By the middle 1920's "every boy in Detroit. . . [received] instruction in household mechanics. 39 Although Harlacher is given credit for the initiation of home mechanics in the school system, the program spread as a result of Fred L. Curran and his work on the higher education level at the Stout Institute. Probably the man primarily responsible for the spread of the program to the large cities was J. H. Trybom, Director of Industrial Education in the Detroit Schools. 40 Status and Content. In the early 1920's home mechanics courses were gaining popularity. C. A. Bowman and F. E. Justison of the Stout Institute described four particular situations in which home mechanics was being emphasized; . . . first, as the small town's solution of the junior high school industrial-arts philosophy; second, as a means of providing shopwork for students in junior high schools in the larger cities not particularly in the industrial group; 39 Charles A. Bennett, "The Origin of the Home Mechanics Course," Industrial Education Magazine, XXVIII, No. 11 (May, 1927), 345-46. 40 Charles A. Bennett, "The History of Home Mechanics in Detroit , " Industrial Education Magazine, XXVIII, No. 7 (January, 1927), 211-12. third, as one form of shop in which a variety of occupational work may be represented in the school in the larger city where it does not seem feasible to have a number of single activity shops; and fourth, it is being used in some places as the shopwork to give the part-time pupil in the vocational school who comes without any basis for intelligent choosing of occupational work. 41 As the popularity of the household mechanics program spread, so did confusion regarding it. Under the guise of household mechan­ics, almost every shop activity was justified. A superficial review of many programs reveals a theoretically ideal situation; however, a more intensive investigation indicates a thoroughly confused state of existence. Trybom described an operational program stating its purpose as giving to the "boy a thoroughly [sic] knowledge of the use and maintenance of the various household appliances, involving various kinds of repairs, so as to secure efficient use of these appliances. " The following twenty-five units composed the contents of this course: building materials, building construction, the city building code, sharpening tools, soldering, glazing, nails and screws, paints and varnishes, locks, hinges, furniture repair, the water supply, the range boiler, faucets, traps, flush tank, electric bells, house wiring, 41. A. Bowman and F. E. Justison, "Home Mechanics Instruction at Stout, " Industrial-Arts Magazine, XII, No. 12 (December, 1923), 454. heating by electricity, motors, fuel, hot-air-furnace, steam-heating plant, hot-water heating plant, refrigerator. 42 Household mechanics became a term to denote a kind of general shop as the decade progressed. E. L. Shoenike, an instruc­tor of home mechanics in Wisconsin, and Roy R. VanDuzee, a super-visor of industrial arts in Wisconsin , wrote; to read more, click on link Emanuel Ericson on Home Workshops 2930

Ch 4:8 -- Part F: An Emphasis on Colonial Revival Designs as Student's Course Projects back to top What is the Origin of Interest in Colonial Design among Teachers of Industrial Arts? The reason for the rise of Colonial Revival designs as models for student projects for Industrial Arts is not that easy to sort out. Sorting out who -- among many Industrial Arts officials of the era -- who was a leader in the shift from Arts and Crafts designs to Colonial Revival is not, as far as I can tell, been a topic of any study. Nor has the motives for turning to CR design been examined, although Rhoads -- in his study of CR as nativism -- makes passing reference to Hjorth's 1924 book, The Reproduction of Antiques Furniture discussed below . Mistakenly, I think, Rhoads argues that Hjorth invokes the CR design for nativistic reasons. While there may be some patriot reasons for Hjorth's promotion of CR, I thik tha the over-riding one is aesthetcs, the same theme echoed by everyone of the aother author of CR manuals discussed here. As well, all authors voice dissatisfaction with the tradional arts and crafts design as models. This promotion of CR marks a significant shift in education: instruction sheets Hjorth first presented his ideas about CR in the IA courses in 1922 as a series of articles. Several years before Hjorth 1922 series on CR design, another prominent figure in IA, Frederick R Love, published an article, "Period Style Furniture For High School Work", Industrial Arts Magazine 1918 7 April 1918, pages 135-137. The article, including the six images of furniture and plans that accompanied Love's text are reproduced in the Inline Frame below. Clearly, CR is the central interest, because in his first paragraph, Love voices what seems to be a wide-spread dislike among IA instructors for the ubiquitousness of Arts and Crafts furniture designs as the easy choice fro student projects in IA courses. The Push for Colonial Revival Design Into High School Woodworking Courses Springs From Aesthetics, Not Patriotic Motives, Or, In Industrial Arts, "Why Was the Mission Style Popular?" At the end of the Great War, Frederick R. Love, Head of Manual Arts Department, Stockton High School, Stockton, CA, signals a shift in what is considered appropriate as a project in Industrial Arts woodworking courses. The selected material below (and the image) are from Love's 1918 article. The article contains several other similar images of period furniture and scale drawings for this table and for a gateleg table. A few years ago, says Love, shop projects were very easily chosen, as the predominant style was Mission with designs very simple and easy to reproduce. Times, customs and demands, however, have changed, he says. "If we wish to keep pace with the latest and best commercially", Love argues, "we will have to look to something besides mission furniture for an inspiration." Rhetorically we might ask, in Industrial Arts, "Why is Mission popular?" And the answer is, "Most of us continue in the Mission work because we were raised on it and believe it to be much easier designed and made." Now, he says, "Why pick the easiest for our work?" To challenge our students, "Does mission furniture really have enough variety in design, detail and construction for us to use it and nothing else?" Realistically, "work in period styles requires more study, closer supervision, but -- in the end -- it is worth it." Here, according to Love, are a few reasons for the shift. "You have an endless variety of designs and most any period style can be so modernized that a first-year high school boy can produce it." His schools, Love claims, have been doing period work for four years, and each new year brings added interest in it. We average one talk every two weeks on some particular style and the boys make reports on the different pieces shown in the display rooms of our furniture stores. The work is outlined to require a minimum amount of reading. Most of it is done from observation and reports made from these. For example, in the designing and construction of our work, we try to proceed the same as they do commercially. The boy chooses the particular style or period that he thinks he wants, then talks it over with the teacher. They decide whether that particular style will fit in and harmonize with the other furnishings in the room in which it is to be placed. Here he is given some idea in regard to the relation between architecture, interior decoration, and furnishing. back to top Source: F R Love "Period Style Furniture For High School Work", Industrial Arts Magazine 1918 7 april 1918 pp 135-137. another major player in the colonial revival movement, Frederick R Love -- and who most likely had an impact on Hjorth's decision to move forward with publishing designs for colonial revival pieces -- published an aritcle, "Period Style Furniture For High School Work", Industrial Arts Magazine 1918 7 April 1918, pages 135-137 back to top Herman Hjorth 1924: Reproduction of Antique Furniture Milwaukee: The Bruce publishing Company, 1924. In the Windows below are Hjorth's "Preface" and Frederick G Bonser's "Introduction" to Reproduction of Antique Furniture. Two years earlier, over several months of 1922, chapter-by-chapter, the text of this manual appeared as articles in Industrial Arts Magazine . Throughout this era, Bonser is a major player in industrial education, even though he was himself not a woodworker. Instead -- as I'm outline here -- he is one of the chief theorists of the project movement. For background on the project movement click here back to top The reasons for the attention to Hjorth's achievement as a director of a program of high school IA courses on furniture making are instantly obvious when you see images of the results: shifting of the emphasis from class instruction supplemented by individual instruction to individual instruction supplemented by class instruction Another tendency which is in keeping with the newer philosophy of education has been the shifting of the emphasis from class instruction supplemented by individual instruction to individual instruction supplemented by class instruction. Attempts were made at first to solve the problems of class instruction by means of indi­vidual oral instruction, but the method imposed considerably more work upon an already busy teacher. Since the period of the World War many forms of written instruction sheets have appeared in an effort to improve the efficiency of instruction. [69 : 4169. FRYKLUND, VERNE C. "Instruction Sheets and Principles of Teaching." Industrial Arts Magazine, XVI : 41-44, February 1927.] back to top As indicated in Chapter 4:8, a considerable enrichment in the course content has occurred both with respect to the related informational material and the shop activities. Industrial Arts in the 1920's By the end of the second decade of the 20th century, the concept of manual training was greatly misunderstood. Given the turmoil in the 1920s -- pressure to change manual training came from many groups, professional and non-professional. The box below reprints a 1927 fragment from Arthur B Mays Assessment of Industrial Arts back to top Frederick J Bryant Not stressed in Bryant's manual in the inline frame below -- at least not to the extent deserved -- is the shear determination required by the junior and/or senior high school students who undertake this project. Or maybe I am being too critical. However, to get an idea of the complexities involved in Windsor chairmaking, look at the entry on Michael Dunbar's classic manual -- click here -- on Windsor chairmaking, published a half century after Bryant, in 1976. Furniture Projects (1925) PREFACE back to top Burl and Bernice Osburn 1926: Burl N. Osburn and Bernice B. Osburn. Measured Drawings of Early American Furniture. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1926. Furniture Projects (1925) The Osburn's introduce their book with a lengthy -- the longest of all the Colonial Revival manuals presented here -- account of the cultural evolution of furniture. Chapter one, "Early American Furniture," outlines briefly -- 10 pages of text and images -- how early American furniture fits with designs from England, and then how American-based designers and craftsman helped develop a more distinctive American imprint on the nation's furniture. Particular focus is given the designer/craftsmen William Savery and Duncan Phyfe. Osburn's examples for projects fall into "aristocratic" or "high"-style; there are no examples of what middle-class homes would contain. I find this puzzling; typical students in woodworking courses, you would think, would come from middle-class homes, typically 1000 square-feet or below, meaning that most of furniture in this manual would seem out of place -- i.e., aesthetically, these pieces are designed for more spaciaous settings. I can only speculate about this, but I am following up with an examination of Osburn's other writings, most of which seem to focus on a concern for the creative interests of young people. Chapter one, "Early American Furniture," outlines briefly how early American furniture fits with designs from England, and then how designers and craftsman helped develop a more distinctive American imprint on the nation's furniture. Osburn's examples for projects fall into "aristocratic" or "high"-style; there are no examples of what middle-class homes would contain. Among the furniture pieces included is a Pendleton Sideboard; some small tables; banister-back chair; mahogany Mirror; Trestle-Footed Gate-Leg Table; Teakettle Stand; Mahogany Bureau-Chest; Signer's Table; Pine Chest; Mahogany Sewing Table; High Chair; Maple Table; Eighteenth Century Mirror; Vase-Back Chair; Butterfly Table-Maple; President's Desk; Tilt-Top Table; Tavern Table; Four-Poster Bed; Oval Tavern Table; Dresser; Miniature Tall Clock; Shield-Back Chair; Couch; Dining Table; High-Boy; Wing Chair; Tilt-Top Table; and Desk-On-Frame. back to top William Klenke 1930 William Klenke Selected Furniture Drawings Instructor in Woodworking in the Central Commercial and Manual Training, High School, Newark, N. J., registered architect in the State of New Jersey, author of Art and Education in Wood-Turning, Joints and How They Are Made, and the syndicated feature "Things Easy to Make." That Klenke is at heart a teacher emerges as the gist of his Foreword: I hereby wish to express gratitude to ... Arthur Wakeling of the Popular Science Monthly for permission to use the designs shown in this book. (For the background on Klenke's mention of Wakeling, click here -- .)