Back to School Ephemera: A complete guide to previous posts

UPDATED: AUGUST 6, 2015

It's the time of year, especially in the United States, when students are returning to school or preparing to do so in a few days.

Last year, in recognition of this special time on the calendar, I posted a week's worth of nostalgic "School Days" ephemera. I'm going to do that again this year, starting Monday. In the meantime, I've put together a handy-dandy guide to all the previous posts about school, textbooks and teachers. Posts are cross-referenced and appear in more than one category. Enjoy!

Textbooks

• Best book ever: 1885's A Brief History of the United States. Part 1 and Part 2.
• Requiem for a 150-year-old McGuffey Reader
• Thomas's Blanks for Written Spelling, as used in 1895
• Memories of the Junior Deluxe Editions from Nelson Doubleday
• "Elson-Gray Basic Readers Book Six" (1936)
• "The Christmas Tree" (1951 Macmillan Reader)
• 1897 Riverside book of works by Edgar Allan Poe
• 1959's "Fun with Chemistry"
• "New Progressive Road to Reading" (1930)
• 1939 history textbook, "A Full-Grown Nation"
• "The Girl Next Door"
• "Monroe's Fourth Reader"
• "The Union Speller"
• "Jim and Judy"
• "Wag and Puff"
• "School Arithmetic Advanced Book" (and samples of its word problems)
• "Lippincott's Mental Arithmetic, Embracing the Principles of Analysis and Inductions"
• 1974 issue of National Geographic School Bulletin
• "New Language Exercises"
• 1904 teachers' edition of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
• "New Art Education (Book I)"
• "Junior Training for Modern Business"
• "Here and There" (safety textbook)
• "Hayes Bulletin Boards That Teach with Wit and Humor"
• "Composition and Rhetoric By Practice"
• "Practice Activities in English, Grade Eight"
• "World Civilizations"
• "Modern-School Arithmetic Advanced Book (New Edition)"
• "Hayes Bulletin Boards That Teach with Wit and Humor" and "Ideal Middle, Upper and High Bulletin Boards"
• "Industrial Arts in Pennsylvania"
• "Making Storybook Friends"
• Teacher's Triptik from 1954 (safety booklet)
• "Visualized American Government: Principles and Problems"
• "Guidebook for Round About" (The Alice and Jerry Basic Reading Program)
• "Industrial Physics: Mechanics"
• "New Geography (Book Two)" (Post #1 and Post #2)
• "Our Republic"

Photos & Illustrations

• Edmund Giesbert's wonderful artwork from 1943 German reader
• "The Schoolmarm" (1905 postcard)
• Nostalgic illustrations from 1961's Our Homes and Our School
• Mystery photo: Mid-century group of schoolgirls
• First grade Saint Peter's (Illinois) classroom photo from 1955
• Requiem for a 150-year-old McGuffey Reader
• Snapshots from a 1959 science fair
• "The Oak and the Mistletoe-Seed" in 1883's The Fourth Reader
• Rhoda Campbell Chase's illustrations for "Hansel and Gretel"
• A child's traced and colored health/hygiene pictures from long ago
• Old empty house used for hide-and-seek
• Pictures of animals in children's basal reader
• Colorful illustrations from 1939 history textbook
• Sounds of the English language
• Drawing an of an eight-pole generator
• Illustrations of athletes circa 1930s
• Ink blotter for Ticonderoga pencils
• End papers featuring a farm scene; Dad reading the newspaper; a sentient Little White House
• "The Little Match-Seller" (Christmas story)
• Little Brown Dog and Little White Kitten
• A bevy of vintage illustrations, including girl walking to school, children playing in hay, boy feeding cat, old school house...
• Girl reading, cats and a chicken
• Paper, mask and mural projects for art students
• 1920s photographs of students learning business vocations
• A school bus, a crossing guard and a girl on the phone
• Back-to-school bulletin board ideas
• Photo: Two youthful goatherds enjoying a noonday rest
• Christmas illustrations in 1951 Macmillan Reader
• Girls playing volleyball and oysters playing underwater baseball
• Vintage photo: Learning practical design in Boston
• Phonic Talking Letters from 1941
• Book sticker asking students to keep their hands clean
• Illustrated graphs in a math textbook
• Photo: A young red pine forest in York County, Pennsylvania
• Photos of the University of Delaware, circa 1937-41
• Thanksgiving bulletin board ideas
• Industrial arts classroom photos from Lancaster and Derry Township, Pennsylvania
• Boy raking up autumn leaves
• Illustrations from a U.S. government and politics textbook
• Postcard: 1912-13 West Chester Normal School basketball team

Inscriptions

• Sketch of Theodore Roosevelt inside 1902 U.S. history textbook
• Two sketches of women inside an old schoolwork binder
• Best book ever: 1885's A Brief History of the United States. Part 1 and Part 2.
• "Stella Gross is in love with Jim McCormic."
• Caesar Rodney High School's 1933 baseball results
• "Remember the Golden School Days and the fun we've had together Virgie Combs."
• John Doll's 1929 baseball predictions
• Book given as birthday gift from the Class of 1943-44
• "I pity old Simp if he steals this book"
• 1939-40 gradebook from Shippensburg (Pennsylvania) Senior High School
• "To Marie, For perfect attendance at school"
• Doodles in an old geography textbook (Post #1 and Post #2)
• "Steal not this book my honest lad"

Items Tucked Away Inside School Books

• Dubble Bubble Quiz tucked away inside an old schoolbook
• Newspaper clipping: Advertisement for the Weather Prophet
• An excuse note for Charlotte and Mary
• Delta Air Lines sticker inside 1930 textbook
• Piece of paper cut into the shape of a cat
• 1960 photo of a school band
• Cardboard protractor inside a math book
• Spelling test inside a tanned old copy of "Cyrano de Bergerac"

References to Schools

• First grade Saint Peter's (Illinois) classroom photo from 1955
• Available courses at the University of Delaware, circa 1940-41
• Helen Myers and the dandy 1926-27 West York girls' basketball team
• South Eastern Joint Schools/Stewartstown
• School District of York, Pa.
• Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, Delaware
• Spring Garden Township School District (York County, Pa.)
• Birdseye School District No. 32
• Mine Spring School (West Virginia) (and a second reference)
• Windsor Township (Pa.) School District
• St. Mary's Episcopal School for Indian Girls
• Red Lion (Pa.) Area Schools
• York (Pennsylvania) Collegiate Institute
• Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) School District
• Shippensburg (Pennsylvania) Senior High School
• Tenth Legion School in Rockingham County, Virginia
• Thomas Jefferson Grammar School in Staunton, Virginia (Post #1 and Post #2)

Scholastic Fest

Last fall, I counted down my 25 favorite vintage Scholastic book covers.

These are the paperbacks some of us grew up with and handed down to our kids and grandkids.

Check out every post here.