LC 5751 
 .P4 
 Copy 1 
 
 No. 56 
 
 VACATION SCHOOLS 
 
 CLARENCE ARTHUR PKRR^■ 
 
 IN (HARCK OK THK SCHOdl rl.ANT I lUl/MION IXQIIKY OF IHK RISSKI.I. SACK KOUNOATION 
 
 Published by the 
 
 Df.partmknt of Child Hygiene of the 
 
 RussEii. Sage Foundation 
 
 r Madison Avenue, New York City 
 
 U9(io§raph 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 The information upon which the following article 
 is based has been gathered from the reports of school 
 authorities and voluntary organizations, and also by 
 means of correspondence, questionnaires and per- 
 sonal investigation. A portion of it was published 
 in the June, 1910, issue of The American City, 
 under the caption "Summer Use of the School- 
 House." 
 

 Vacation Schools 
 
 ONE hot July morning I visited a school 
 house down in New York's east side. 
 The streets were so full of people, push- 
 carts and wagons that it was difficult to make 
 one's way. The iron fire-escapes, jutting out 
 from the tenements, were hung with trailing 
 sheets and soggy pillows. Here and there a 
 woman lolled in a window, to catch a moment's 
 respite from the suffocation of her apartment. 
 
 Passing through a small yard 1 entered a stone 
 building and found myself in a long, cool corridor 
 where presently 1 was met by a woman in fresh 
 summer attire. On my expressing a desire to look 
 through the building, she smiled and led the way. 
 We had not gone far before the buzz of many 
 voices and the sounds of hammering and sawing 
 were heard. Entering a class-room we came upon 
 a group of boys working at benches with hammer, 
 chisel and fret-saw. They were so busy over the 
 brackets, key-racks and wisp-broom holders they 
 were making that many of them did not even look 
 up. The instructor was entirely engrossed with 
 the difficulty a pupil was having with a joint and 
 it was easy to see that matters of discipline gave 
 him no trouble, in the next room boys were 
 caning chairs, most of which had been brought 
 from home. The bottoms they were putting in 
 were as even and tight as new ones. In another 
 room boys and girls, scattered about in little 
 groups, were sitting on benches and desk-tops 
 weaving baskets. When they got into difficulties 
 
 3 
 
Of ii«M-(lr-<i iirw Mi.ilrn.il lliey Wt*nl U|) to iIm- 
 fc;i())t^r, wlio otcijpif!] a (lt'%k-lo|) hfr^rll m lli<- 
 hoiii |,.ui ol \\\r i<»>\\\. A » l;^^^ III Venetian iron- 
 work \)fi)\ wrouglil iron ^lrl|)^ mio |>rn:^racks 
 an<l t;nul)e-?>li(:k*>, I lie work wa-^ beinf, done jn 
 an ordinary chss-room, and ^acli desk was pro- 
 tected hy a board securely clamped lo and cover- 
 ing il^ lop, 
 
 I lu-rt- were classes of girls leanniij.'^ to .cw, and 
 upon .1 iiiii- '.iMiii}-', aloiij.' ilir vvaii were displayed 
 llie lian<lkrr( lin^ls, aprons and pellicoals alrea<ly 
 made, In another class each member was making 
 a real dress for herself. In one of the room* 
 girls were twisting thread-wound wire mio hat- 
 frames, while some, more advanced, were- liiimiiing 
 iIm- hat-franies lliry had |)rrvionsly (on^trll( tcti, 
 I iiihtoidery engaged lli«- .ilhnlion ol jiinlhri 
 giou|), l)own in tli<- donirslic science kitchen a 
 largf class of girls, many of them foreigners, was 
 learning to cook and iii the model dining-room 
 across the hall my guide and I were served with 
 dtlicious lemonade an<l wafers, I lie kindergarten 
 looms wrrc crowded with iilljr l)oys and girls, 
 III. my ol whom had brought, and were keeping a 
 wall liful ryr oiii hn, baby brollirrs and sisters. 
 I hese litllf lot-, did nol \tfin to bother either 
 teacher or pupil-., ili< marching, singing and 
 paprr-cut ling going on pl^l .r. il liny h-id not 
 brni there. 
 
 Only one class was occupie<l wiih book work 
 It contained mainly pupil-, who h.id l.nlcd m ihr 
 |iiiie fxaniiiialioir, and who were studying in the 
 hope ol making up their dehciencies in tinu- logo 
 on with their classes in September, A ainller 
 
number were studying elementary subjects with a 
 view to completing the number of days of school- 
 work required to secure the certificate which 
 permits them to go to work. A still smaller 
 number were endeavoring through this summer 
 study to jump ahead of their classes and thus 
 to hasten the day of graduation. 
 
 The June examinations were barely over. The 
 compulsory attendance law was not in operation. 
 Yet here were 700 children coming regularly 
 to school every morning. The principal, as well 
 as most of her thirteen assistants, had just finished 
 a hard year in regular day-school work. She 
 had reports to make and an organization to keep 
 in smooth operation. The work of each teacher 
 was subject to the inspection of a sharp-eyed 
 supervisor. No school regulations or professional 
 advantages compelled these men and women to 
 do this summer work, and yet they were giving 
 up six weeks of their summer's rest and staying 
 in the hot, expensive city when they could have 
 been in the mountains or at the seashore; neither 
 would they have taught day-school classes for as 
 little money as they were receiving for this 
 work. 
 
 There were twenty-eight other schools in New 
 York and some sixty other cities in the United 
 States where teachers were likewise spending their 
 vacations in the class-room for merely nominal 
 wages and in some instances for no compensation 
 at all. There were over 9,000 other boys and 
 girls in New York, and in the whole country 
 hundreds of thousands, maintaining a regularity 
 of attendance at school, during the hot season 
 
and under no compulsion whatsoever, that would 
 have been quite respectable during the regular 
 dav-school term. 
 
 The explanation of it was clear that morning 
 in the east side school. The boys were so busy 
 making things, putting themselves into broom- 
 holders, brackets, candle-sticks, that represented 
 their ability which they could show to others, 
 — they were so intent on all this that it did 
 not occur to them to annoy their neighbors or the 
 teacher. The girls were so occupied in learning 
 how to make dresses and hats that they forgot 
 to talk loudly or laugh boisterously. When the 
 teacher helped them over a difficult step in their 
 work their faces gleamed with gratitude; when 
 she gave some general directions they all listened 
 intently. On entering school their countenances 
 reflected the satisfaction felt at home over the 
 fact that they were neither in the street nor under 
 foot in the house impeding the work that had to 
 be done. Aside from the joy of making things, 
 the children were glad to escape from their hot 
 stuffy apartments into the cool, well ventilated 
 schoolrooms. In a word, both teachers and pupils 
 were happy because they were doing what they 
 liked to do. The teachers taught and the pupils 
 attended this school because it was a "school 
 of play." 
 
 Whether one considers this highly developed 
 New York vacation school or the one which some 
 woman's club in a small city has just started, 
 the essential characteristics are the same. For 
 both teacher and pupil the vacation school affords 
 the occupation of their choice and one which, 
 
making small demands upon the head, satisfies 
 the heart and fills the hands. 
 
 The Activities Found in Vacation Schools 
 
 Most Common 
 
 Basketry 
 
 Sewing 
 
 Woodwork 
 
 Cooking 
 
 Sloyd 
 
 Kindergarten 
 
 Drawing 
 
 Cardboard work 
 
 Nature study 
 
 Singing 
 
 Games 
 
 Dressmaking 
 
 Common 
 
 Iron work 
 Raffia 
 Reed work 
 Household arts 
 Physical training 
 Excursions 
 Chair caning 
 Clay modeling 
 Millinery 
 Embroidery 
 Story telling 
 Knitting 
 
 Least Common 
 
 Paper work 
 Dancing 
 Leather work 
 Burnt wood 
 Shoe making 
 Gardening 
 Stencil cutting 
 Picture study 
 First aid 
 Nursing 
 Toy making 
 Academic work 
 
 This list represents a composite of the subjects 
 taught and the kinds of work given in a dozen 
 different cities. They are set down in the order 
 of frequency with which they are found. No one 
 school system affords them all. 
 
 In most schools a pupil receives instruction in 
 no more than two subjects during a daily session. 
 Cambridge gives its boys a choice between sloyd 
 and basketry while the girls may take either 
 basketry or cooking and sewing. At one time 
 the two-hour sloyd period in Cambridge was 
 divided between sloyd and drawing. It was found, 
 however, that the boys were averse to the drawing 
 and it was omitted. With the two hours given 
 entirely to sloyd the boys are now able to finish 
 more articles and their interest is greatly aug- 
 mented. In St. Louis pupils are divided into 
 
groups according to their rank in tiie regular day- 
 school. 
 
 Grade in Elementary 
 (jROUP School 
 
 Kindergarten Kindergarten 
 
 Primary I and 1 1 
 
 Intermediate 111, IV and V 
 
 Advanced Classes VI, VI 1 and VI 1 1 
 
 The activities of the vacation kindergartens 
 are the same as those carried on during the regular 
 school term. The primary boys and girls have 
 games, sewing, drawing, raifia and reed work. 
 The girls of the intermediate and the advanced 
 grades take lessons in housekeeping, which for 
 the oldest ones include instruction in cooking. 
 The boys of these two grades are taught bent iron 
 work and wood carving and the oldest ones 
 manual training. Twenty minutes of singing 
 and story-telling open the session, after which 
 follow four recitation periods of forty minutes 
 each. Manual training, housekeeping and cook- 
 ing each receive one hour and twenty minutes. 
 Games are introduced for both educational and 
 social purposes. The instructor teaches the chil- 
 dren how to play checkers, dominoes, parchesi, 
 backgammon, authors, geographical games (dis- 
 sected maps and card games of countries, cities, 
 manufactures, products and races), games of 
 the names of great persons, presidents, battles, 
 historical places and epochs, indoor baseball, 
 charades, guessing and observation games, pris- 
 oners' base, blindman's buff, and many other 
 amusements. In the selection of these regard 
 
lO 
 
 was had to their cheapness, so that the families 
 of the children would be able to buy some of the 
 games, learned for the first time at the vacation 
 schools, for home amusement during the long 
 winter evenings. 
 
 The housekeeping course in the St. Louis 
 vacation schools is very thorough. Children are 
 taught the details of washing (rinsing, starching, 
 blueing and drying), ironing, sweeping, dusting, 
 scrubbing, polishing pans, washing dishes, clean- 
 ing windows, setting and serving a table, making a 
 bed, hanging pictures, the care of lamps, and keep- 
 ing the rooms in order. New ideals of personal 
 cleanliness are inculcated through the daily use 
 of the baths connected with the school house. In 
 Buffalo the pupils are given instruction in swim- 
 ming through the courtesy of the Y. M. C. A. 
 gymnasium instructor. 
 
 Cleveland lays more emphasis than St. Louis 
 upon purely academic work. The Central high 
 school and six grammar school buildings are 
 thrown open for class-work to aid students in 
 making up studies in which they had failed during 
 the year. Pupils from the fifth grade up are ad- 
 mitted to these summer classes. In Cincinnati 
 also the summer academic work is held in separate 
 buildings quite apart from the other vacation 
 classes. 
 
 The vacation school work proper is carried on 
 by separate schools known as the kindergarten, 
 primary, and manual training summer schools. 
 Instruction in the primary schools is entirely oral 
 and embraces the following exercises : story telling, 
 the teaching of songs and poems, games, nature 
 
II 
 
 b- 
 
 f- 
 
12 
 
 study, excursions and light work in manual 
 training. The latter includes plain sewing and 
 embroidery, paper-cutting, weaving and pasting, 
 raffia and reed work, drawing and water coloring, 
 clay modeling and some constructive work. 
 
 The time allotted to the various subjects is 
 indicated in the following sample program: 
 
 Daily Program, Primary School 
 Cleveland 
 
 8:30 to 9:00 Songs, stories told and read 
 
 by teacher and children. . .30 minutes 
 9:00 to 9:30 Marches, drills, skipping, 
 
 games in Assembly Hall . .30 minutes 
 9:30 to 10:30 Manual training, sewing, bas- 
 ket making 60 minutes 
 
 10:30 to 10:50 Recess 20 minutes 
 
 10:50 to II :oo Song, short story, poem 10 minutes 
 
 1 1 :oo to II :30 Occupation work, clay, pa- 
 per-cutting, dolls, nature 
 
 work, painting 30 minutes 
 
 1 1 :30 Dismissal 
 
 The summer manual training schools are at- 
 tended by boys from the four grammar grades and 
 the first year in the high school. The course is 
 planned on practical lines and consists in making 
 simple pieces at first and then gradually working 
 up to such articles as ironing-boards, plate and 
 towel racks, book shelves, picture frames, tab- 
 ourets, tables, chairs and shirt-waist boxes. All 
 the instruction is given by thoroughly trained 
 men and the schools are completely equipped with 
 tools and benches. White wood and chestnut 
 
'3 
 
 and oak lumber are provided, and the pupils are 
 required to pay part of the cost of the articles they 
 make and take home. 
 
 In both Cleveland and Pittsburgh the public 
 libraries co-operate with the vacation school 
 authorities by sending trained story tellers who 
 interest the children in good literature and some- 
 times distribute books among them. A feature 
 of the Cincinnati work is a mothers' meeting 
 held one afternoon a week at each of the vaca- 
 tion schools. A program of music and recitations 
 is given by the children with the help of talented 
 persons from the neighborhood and is followed by 
 a social time at which flowers are frequently 
 distributed. 
 
 In several of the cities the outing is one of the 
 most enjoyable of the summer school activities. 
 In Chicago excursions are made to the large open 
 areas of the outer parks or to the suburban wood- 
 lands. Sometimes the managers of resorts grant 
 concessions and the children are taken to them. 
 In St. Louis and Cleveland the children are given 
 a free outing every other week to one of the parks, 
 where they play games, pick flowers and study 
 nature. Sometimes the Cleveland children are 
 taken to the Zoo and served with ice cream and 
 cake. The expenses of the outings in Cincinnati 
 are met by private subscription. One Friday 
 morning the teachers and children attended a 
 concert given by well-known musicians in the 
 Music Hall and at another time they saw the 
 "Hiawatha" play at the Zoo. In Haverhill, 
 Massachusetts, the children in company with 
 their teachers visit the rooms of the historical 
 
14 
 
 society, the birthplace of Whittier, the beach, or 
 the park of a nearby lake. 
 
 In the New York vacation schools talks on city 
 history are made more impressive by excursions 
 under the care of the teachers to various historical 
 places. The children are prepared in the class- 
 room for the trips, by being told what they are 
 to see, and why it is significant. Some seasons 
 over 200 excursions are made to points of histori- 
 cal interest in and about New York. 
 
 Some cities include academic work with the 
 handwork. In Rochester reading, language work 
 and drawing in color are taught in addition to the 
 usual subjects. New Orleans also provides in- 
 struction in arithmetic, geography and history. 
 Boston gives the opportunity to study whatever 
 book subjects the pupils demand, and in some 
 New York schools the foreign born children are 
 specially instructed in English. Previous to the 
 recent Hudson-Fulton celebration in New York 
 one of the east side principals arranged historical 
 exhibits for each room in the school. They 
 portrayed the life on Manhattan from the time 
 of the first settlers up to the Revolutionary War 
 and included Indian sketches, portraits of the early 
 Dutch colonists and pictures showing costumes 
 and customs. 
 
 In Pittsburgh, according to Miss Beulah Ken- 
 nard, the president of the playground associa- 
 tion, the endeavor has been "to base each de- 
 partment on a normal play instinct and to 
 keep them spontaneous, childlike and joyous, 
 without strain and without self-consciousness. 
 In the 'carpenter shops' boys are given play 
 
'5 
 
 models and allowed to use the saw and plane 
 like men. In the art classes Indian or war stories 
 are illustrated on large sheets of paper, while the 
 girls paint flowers and birds and stencil dainty 
 patterns which they have themselves designed. 
 They use live models whenever possible, and 
 parrots, puppies, cats, geese and chickens are 
 carried from school to school, to the great delight 
 of the children. Dancing and rhythmic gym- 
 nastic exercises receive much attention, as the 
 children do not know how to use either hands or 
 feet well. They can neither stand nor walk nor 
 throw a ball straight. Classes in cooking and 
 nursing have been fitted in wherever space can be 
 found, the boys being as anxious to cook as the 
 girls. But to the over-industrious teachers and 
 children one inflexible rule has been given — 
 'The play period must not be encroached upon.' 
 Every teacher has her game book and must learn 
 to play if she has forgotten how." 
 
 With such a guiding principle it is not strange 
 that the children should co-operate in the main- 
 tenance of order. In one of the schools a basketry 
 class of small boys composed and wrote on the 
 blackboard the following rules: 
 
 You must not sass the teacher. 
 You must not chew gum. 
 You must not talk loud. 
 You must not break the rules. 
 
 The length of the vacation school session in 
 most cities is six weeks. In a few the session 
 lasts only five weeks. In one city it continues 
 onlv four, while in Cleveland the period is eight 
 
i6 
 
 weeks. The date of opening the schools varies 
 from a week after the end of the day-school 
 term to the middle of July. The usual hours are 
 from 9 to 12 a. m. or 8.30 to 1 1.30 a. m. Usually 
 there are no sessions on Saturday. In Cincin- 
 nati there is no class-work on Friday, that day 
 being devoted to the weekly excursions. 
 
 THEIR ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Each instructor in the New York City vacation 
 schools is a specialist chosen from an appropriate 
 eligible list in the order of standing. Details of 
 instruction are looked after by a supervisor for 
 each subject and district superintendents have 
 general charge over the work of their respective 
 districts. 
 
 In St. Louis the conduct and management of 
 the vacation schools is in the hands of a supervisor 
 who, under the direction of the superintendent of 
 instruction, plans the course of study and program 
 for each school and supervises the work of the 
 principal. Each school has as many teachers as 
 the work demands, provided that the quota of 
 pupils for each paid teacher is not less than twenty- 
 five; and the supervisor may with the consent 
 of the superintendent of instruction employ a 
 limited additional number of qualified volunteer 
 teachers, such as Teachers' College students or 
 members of the senior class in the high school. 
 In Cincinnati, Cleveland and Newark the vaca- 
 tion school work is in charge of a supervisor who 
 reports to the superintendent of schools. These 
 three cities employ mainly day-school teachers. 
 Applications are usually so numerous that a 
 
'7 
 
selection can be made of those best fitted for 
 special lines of work. 
 
 Many cities, like New York, Cleveland and 
 Cincinnati, organize their teaching on the depart- 
 mental plan, but Newark, whose board of educa- 
 tion was the pioneer in municipal vacation school 
 work, has recently abandoned this scheme. There 
 an effort is made to secure a teacher who can do all 
 of the work required in each grade; it has been 
 found that teachers of special subjects fail to 
 become as intimately acquainted with their pupils 
 as the grade teachers who are with their classes 
 throughout the session. In Chicago, St. Louis, 
 Cincinnati and several other cities there are many 
 volunteer workers on the teaching staff. School- 
 work relieved of the trials connected with disci- 
 pline has lost its most forbidding element, while 
 the joyousness and satisfaction which pervade 
 the vacation class-room constitute a strong appeal 
 to all who like to help children. In Boston and 
 St. Louis it has been found that this work serves 
 as an admirable training for young people study- 
 ing to become teachers. 
 
 Special training classes for teachers desiring 
 summer school work are held in Newark under the 
 director of manual training and thus properly 
 qualified candidates are available for all the 
 positions. In Pittsburgh a teachers' institute is 
 held three days prior to the opening of the schools 
 and weekly teachers' meetings are conducted 
 throughout the term. The superintendent has 
 also arranged with the University of Pittsburgh 
 to give Saturday courses in psychology, sociology 
 and education for the benefit of the vacation 
 
19 
 
 school and playground teachers, in Cincinnati 
 and several other cities vacation school teachers 
 are organized and hold meetings throughout the 
 year. 
 
 The salaries of the St. Louis teachers for the term 
 of six weeks aie as follows: Supervisor $250.00; 
 principal |8o. 00; teacher $60.00; assistant teacher 
 I30.00. In Chicago the regular teachers re- 
 ceive I75.00 for the six weeks' term, and the 
 assistant teachers $50.00 and $30.00. Cincinnati 
 teachers receive a uniform rate of $2.00 per day. 
 The salaries in New York are as follows: 
 
 Supervisors $6.00 per day 
 
 Principals 4.50 
 
 Teachers 3.00 
 
 Kindergartners 3.00 
 
 Kindergarten helpers 1.50 
 
 Substitutes i . 50 
 
 Cost of Vacation Schools 
 
 City 
 
 Buffalo.. . . 
 Cambridge. 
 Chicago . . . 
 Cincinnati . 
 Cincinnati* 
 Newark. . . . 
 New York . 
 Pittsburgh. 
 St. Louis . 
 
 
 
 Cost of 
 
 Average 
 
 Per 
 
 
 
 Mainie- 
 
 Atten- 
 
 Capita 
 
 eason 
 
 Schools nance 
 
 dance 
 
 Cost 
 
 1909 
 
 9 
 
 $5,724.87 
 
 2.333 
 
 $2.45 
 
 1908 
 
 6 
 
 1 ,79 1 . 1 8 
 
 907 
 
 '■97 
 
 1908 
 
 lb 
 
 23,217.59 
 
 6,003 
 
 3.86 
 
 1908 
 
 4 
 
 2,900.00 
 
 1,480 
 
 1.96 
 
 1908 
 
 1 
 
 1 ,200.00 
 
 357 
 
 3.36 
 
 1909 
 
 27 
 
 31.34400 
 
 9,016 
 
 3.48 
 
 1908 
 
 27 
 
 7049577 
 
 14,586 
 
 4.83 
 
 1908 
 
 10 
 
 8,2=56.99 
 
 2.544 
 
 3.24 
 
 1908 
 
 2 
 
 2,869.08 
 
 577 
 
 4.97 
 
 * Summer academic school which is run separately. 
 
 These figures have in most instances been 
 compiled from school reports. There is no as- 
 surance that uniform methods were employed 
 in arriving at the cost of maintenance, so they 
 
20 
 
 have no value for the purpose of inter-city com- 
 parisons. They are to be regarded simply as 
 examples of vacation school expenditure. 
 
 The cost of the Haverhill vacation schools in 
 
 1907 averaged 78 cents per pupil. The same sea- 
 son St. Louis conducted summer school work the 
 cost of which^ computed on the average daily at- 
 tendance, was $5.58 per capita. The Des Moines 
 schools during the season of 1909 cost about I3. 00 
 per pupil, which is a fair average for the country. 
 The expensiveness of these schools varies with 
 the size of classes, salaries of teachers, kinds and 
 amount of material used, and equipment in- 
 stalled. With volunteer workers, contributed 
 material, borrowed tools and the use of idle school 
 rooms, a large number of children can be provided 
 with many hours of useful happiness at little or no 
 expense. The per capita cost in New York for 
 the 1906 vacation schools was I4.84; in 1907 it 
 jumped to I5.03 and in 1908 it sank to the 1906 
 figures. In St. Louis the second year of its vaca- 
 tion work showed a reduction of 61 cents in the 
 cost per pupil. Cambridge vacation schools in 
 
 1908 decreased I0.41 per pupil below the cost in 
 1907. This was due in part to an increase in the 
 average attendance and in part to the omission of 
 drawing, since more teachers were required when 
 drawing was given in connection with the sloyd 
 work. The Newark summer school work increased 
 in cost from I1.77 (based on average attendance) 
 in 1 90 1 to I3.68 in 1907. The reasons given for 
 this increase are mainly rise in the salaries of 
 teachers, reduction in size of classes, introduction 
 of new kinds of work requiring additional teachers, 
 
21 
 
 greater expense for supplies and equipment, and 
 the enlargement of the supervising corps. 
 
 In the Cleveland schools the children pay one- 
 half the cost of the material used in making the 
 articles which they take home, in Haverhill a 
 considerable sum was realized from the sale of 
 baskets at the end of the term. In most schools, 
 however, after the usual closing exhibition of the 
 vacation school work, the children are given the 
 articles they have made. 
 
 HOW THHV START 
 
 The first vacation school in this country of 
 which there is any record was held in 1866 under 
 the auspices of the First Church of Boston, but 
 it was in no way connected with the public schools 
 of that city. The report of the Providence super- 
 intendent of schools for June, 1870, states: "For 
 two years past schools have been opened in the 
 summer vacation for such children as wished to 
 attend. These have been a great blessing to the 
 city. All lessons are made as attractive as pos- 
 sible by apt illustration and familiar conversation. 
 Sewing, drawing and object teaching occupy a 
 prominent place." These schools were under a 
 volunteer committee. In 1876 they were dis- 
 continued, but in 1894 they were revived and 
 carried on for six years, when they were finally 
 turned over to the school committee. The first 
 municipal board of education to incorporate 
 vacation schools as a part of its system was that cf 
 Newark, where they were established in 1885. 
 
 In 1894 the Association for the Improvement 
 of the Condition of the Poor in New York Citv 
 
22 
 
 obtained the use of four public schools and main- 
 tained classes in manual training and allied sub- 
 jects during the vacation season. In 1897 vaca- 
 tion schools were adopted as a part of its public 
 school system by the New York Board of Educa- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1896 at a conference of the Associated 
 Charities in Chicago a committee was appointed 
 to take up the matter of establishing vacation 
 schools in that city, and through the efforts of this 
 committee the Civic Federation was induced to 
 conduct one vacation school. In the summer of 
 1897 a school supported by private contributions 
 was also maintained in the Seward School, under 
 the auspices of the Chicago University Settlement. 
 The Chicago women's clubs became interested in 
 1898, and assisted by several charitable associa- 
 tions, formed an organization for the purpose of 
 carrying on summer schools until they should 
 become an organic part of the municipal system. 
 In 1908 this body was known as the "Permanent 
 Vacation School Committee of Women's Clubs." 
 It expended 123,217.59 upon sixteen vacation 
 schools, of which amount $15,000.00 were con- 
 tributed by the Chicago Board of Education. 
 The sessions were held in public school buildings, 
 but were directed by a superintendent in the em- 
 ploy of the Vacation School Committee. 
 
 The introduction of vacation schools and play- 
 grounds in Pittsburgh was due to the activity of 
 the Civic Club. As early as 1896, while looking 
 about for some needed thing to undertake, it was 
 impressed by the number of forlorn homes and 
 crowded streets in the city and resolved to secure 
 
23 
 
24 
 
 the use of the school yards for the children who 
 had no place to play. After the grounds had 
 been secured the astonishing discovery was made 
 that most of the children did not know how to 
 play. Chiefly the children of immigrants, they 
 came from mill neighborhoods and foreign settle- 
 ments and had never had an opportunity to learn 
 the games and sports which have always been the 
 birthright of American boys and girls. The boys 
 seemed to be animated solely by a feverish de- 
 sire for work and the girls would not come unless 
 bribed with sewing classes. The parents also con- 
 tinually asked that their young children be given 
 some kind of manual work. In response to these 
 demands more and more hand work was included 
 in the playground programs, and thus after several 
 years' experimentation the activities of the vaca- 
 tion school came to be combined with those of 
 the playground. For the younger children kin- 
 dergarten methods were still employed, but for 
 those over eight years of age the daily program 
 was revised to include some form of industrial 
 work, music, nature study and clay modeling or 
 drawing and coloring. 
 
 In 1900, feelinar that more popular support was 
 needed, the Civic Club asked the women's clubs 
 to help them. A meeting was held and the joint 
 committee then formed from the delegates of the 
 various clubs conducted the work for the next 
 six years. The women became enthusiastic over 
 the undertaking and the playground and vacation 
 school work added a new interest to their club 
 life. There were many volunteer workers among 
 their members and liberal contributions were 
 
25 
 
 made out of their treasuries. The Central Board 
 of Education of Pittsburgh gradually increased 
 its financial assistance until in 1908 its annual 
 appropriation had reached the sum of 19,500. The 
 schools, however, are still (1910) under the direc- 
 tion of the women's clubs, though the organization 
 composed of their delegates is known as the Pitts- 
 burgh Playground Association. 
 
 On the north side of Pittsburgh, formerly the 
 city of Allegheny, vacation schools, started in 1905 
 by a joint committee of the women's clubs of Alle- 
 gheny, are conducted by the Playground and Vaca- 
 tion School Association of Allegheny, Incorporated. 
 The Association at the present time is made up 
 of delegates from over twenty women's clubs, 
 church societies and neighborhood committees. 
 The schools are supported by appropriations from 
 the city and from private contributions, and are 
 administered by officers selected by the Asso- 
 ciation and by a large number of voluntary workers. 
 
 Vacation schools in Cleveland were established 
 in 1895 under the auspices of the Ladies' Aid 
 Society of the Old Stone Church. These schools 
 were carried on by the Day Nursery and Free 
 Kindergarten Association from 1901 to 1903, 
 when the Board of Education assumed their 
 control. In Milwaukee, some public spirited and 
 philanthropic women began by obtaining the 
 use of one of the public school buildings. They 
 employed teachers and held classes for six weeks. 
 In 1904 the board of school directors, impressed 
 by the value of this instruction, established and 
 carried on one vacation school, while the women's 
 organization continued their work in a new 
 
26 
 
 locality. In the following year the school board 
 assumed the responsibility for both schools and 
 the women withdrew from the field. 
 
 In Rochester, the Women's Educational and 
 Industrial Union and the Playground League 
 played a prominent part in the inception of the 
 vacation schools in that city. In Johnstown, 
 Pennsylvania, they were first started by the local 
 civic club at the suggestion of a teacher who had 
 taught in the summer classes of another city. 
 Funds were raised by subscription. In Medford, 
 Massachusetts, vacation schools are supported by 
 a vacation school association composed mainly 
 of women who act in co-operation with the munic- 
 ipality. The business men of Minneapolis sup- 
 ported the vacation schools of that city during 
 the summer of 1906. Those of St. Paul ob- 
 tained their start through the co-operation of 
 the superintendent of schools and the St. Paul 
 Institute of Arts and Sciences. Soon after the 
 incorporation of the Institute its assistance in 
 starting vacation sessions in the public schools 
 was asked by the superintendent of schools. The 
 executive committee of the Institute promptly 
 put I500 of its slender resources at the disposal 
 of the school board. To this sum the Board of 
 Education added I650, and several organizations 
 contributed additional amounts, materials, tools 
 and services. With this help the school board in 
 1908 opened four buildings, the average attend- 
 ance at which was 846 pupils. The experiment 
 was so successful that the board introduced va- 
 cation schools into its regular system and in 1909 
 appropriated |2,ooo for their maintenance. The 
 
27 
 
 Institute being relieved from contributions for their 
 support, then devoted itself to securing a system 
 of school gardens to be conducted in connection 
 with the summer classes. Through co-operation 
 with several other societies and a newspaper, 
 some $800 were raised for this purpose. 
 
 In Indianapolis, vacation schools are carried 
 on by the Public Recreation Committee of the 
 Children's Aid Association. In Worcester, their 
 success is due largely to the co-operation of the 
 merchants of the city, who make generous dona- 
 tions of materials and supplies. Cincinnati owes 
 its vacation schools to the early efforts of a 
 woman's club of that city; and the Women's Club 
 of Brockton, Massachusetts, co-operated with the 
 school department in maintaining during the 
 summer months a kindergarten in one school and 
 a sewing class in another. 
 
 RESULTS 
 
 The president of the Pittsburgh Playground 
 Association reports that as a result of its vacation 
 school work, industrial and domestic science de- 
 partments have been placed in a number of the 
 day-schools. In other schools play has been given 
 a place on the regular daily program and a large 
 number of teachers have learned how to play with 
 their children. In districts where vacation schools 
 have been maintained it is reported that the chil- 
 dren have returned to school in a less demoralized 
 condition than is usual after the long holiday. 
 Especially in the densely populated portions of 
 the city the living conditions of families have 
 been improved. The instruction received in the 
 
28 
 
 summer classes has helped "to make the home 
 cleaner and the clothes less dependent on 'the 
 strained devotion of a pin.' Little girls have taught 
 their mothers how to cook wholesome, plain food 
 and their care of the spoiled tenement baby has 
 been more intelligent. At one school the girls 
 were asked if their baby brothers and sisters ever 
 drank coffee. Everyone answered 'Yes'. When 
 the babies are put on a milk diet instead of one 
 including coffee, doughnuts and bananas, they 
 will lie in a basket or hammock, and the little 
 sisters that tend them can themselves rest or 
 play with other children. . . . And the gang 
 has been tamed. The West End gang whose 
 ideals had been confined to baseball and pugilism 
 became enthusiastic carpenters. Their devotion 
 to the fine, clean young fellow who was their 
 instructor was pathetic. They followed him 
 around. In order to cure the sneak thieving he 
 would leave all the material out on the ball field 
 and go away without making any boy responsible 
 for it. The next morning every bat and ball and 
 glove would be returned." 
 
 In the Buffalo vacation schools the boys showed 
 great enthusiasm over manual training. Mem- 
 bers of the chair-caning classes not only caned 
 all the broken chairs in their own homes, but at 
 one school eighteen chairs were caned for one of 
 the local churches, for which the boys were paid 
 at the rate of fifty cents each. At the close 
 of the summer session many went immediately 
 into the chair-caning business. One of the chief 
 benefits afforded by these summer schools is the 
 opportunity for manual training given to boys and 
 
29 
 
 girls who do not have it in their regular day-school 
 cdurse. 
 
 In the St. Louis vacation schools five boys who 
 had become wards of the Juvenile Court were en- 
 rolled. The offences for which they had been 
 arrested were not grave enough to warrant their 
 being sent tothe Industrial School, but thev needed 
 a term of several weeks under the eye of some 
 responsible authority other than their parents. 
 They were allowed to attend the summer classes 
 and weekly reports of their conduct and progress 
 were made to the court. The boys continued in 
 attendance up to the last day and gave no trouble 
 worthy of comment. In Cleveland one vacation 
 school was composed solely of 135 boys who had 
 been assigned to the detention home by the 
 judge of the Juvenile Court. They ranged in 
 age from three and one-half to seventeen years, 
 and in school rank from the first grade to the 
 first year in the high school. They were given 
 gardening, drawing, weaving, paper-cutting, clay 
 modeling and decorating, and raffia work. During 
 the summer they made three excursions to nearby 
 parks. 
 
 One of the rnost important utilities of the vaca- 
 tion school lies in the opportunity it affords back- 
 ward scholars to make up work left unfinished at 
 the close of the school year. The attendance at the 
 Cleveland summer high school for the past seven 
 years has averaged 252 pupils, and during that 
 time the instruction has enabled over 1200 boys 
 and girls to advance regularly with their classes in 
 the fall, and has undoubtedly been influential in 
 holding this large number of pupils until they 
 
30 
 
 secured the advantages of a complete high school 
 education. During the summer of 1909 over 700 
 grammar school boys and girls obtained promotion 
 as the result of attendance at vacation classes. 
 Eight}^ per cent of those in attendance at the 
 summer academic school in Cincinnati during 
 
 1908 were promoted in the fall. The zeal and 
 perseverance of these pupils surprised even the 
 teachers. Some of the children said it was the 
 first work they had ever done with all their might, 
 and those who were promoted, so far as reported, 
 have sustained themselves creditably in their new 
 classes. 
 
 Another way in which the vacation schools 
 may serve the community is illustrated by the 
 course of lectures given during the summer of 
 
 1909 in the Chicago vacation schools under the 
 auspices of the Visiting Nurses' Association. 
 These lectures were upon the proper care and 
 feeding of infants, the necessity of cleanliness and 
 suitable clothing, the preparation and preservation 
 of milk, and the use of barley water and the various 
 substitutes for milk which are employed during 
 the period when intestinal disease is prevalent 
 among infants. They were given by medical men, 
 nurses and other specially trained persons. To the 
 lectures were admitted the summer school students 
 of the upper grammar and high school grades. 
 A campaign of education was thus carried on for 
 the purpose of controlling and ameliorating the 
 diarrheal diseases in children. 
 
 The success of the vacation school work is 
 undoubtedly responsible in a measure for the 
 tendency, now noticeable in various parts of the 
 
3' 
 
 country, to extend the regular school instruction 
 beyond its traditional time limits. In Oakland, 
 California, the schools have been opened on Satur- 
 day forenoons so that those outside of the school 
 system may be instructed in sewing, cooking and 
 manual training. The school year which obtains 
 in the new ^650,000 technical high school in 
 Cleveland is divided into four quarters of twelve 
 weeks each with a week of vacation after each 
 quarter. y\s a result, one of the regular term 
 sessions takes place during the summer months. 
 During the summer of 1909 there were 450 pupils 
 whose daily attendance averaged 97 per cent of 
 the total enrollment registered in this school. 
 
 Any proposal to extend the regular term of 
 school throughout thesummerimmediately arouses 
 the apprehension of the public as to the effect upon 
 the health of the children. Even though the course 
 during the hot months were largely of a manual 
 character, many persons would still fear the con- 
 sequences of a compulsory attendance during the 
 summer. It has been pointed out that the success 
 and beneficial results of the vacation schools are 
 largely due to the voluntary nature of the at- 
 tendance. On the other hand evidence favoring 
 an extension of the school term is to be found in 
 the work of the Hebrew Technical School for 
 Girls in New York City, which has a continuous 
 session of eighteen months. The pupils attend 
 for eight hours each day, but throughout the 
 course they are given medical supervision, plenty 
 of fresh air, and exercise in the gymnasium and 
 swimming pool. At 10 a. m. daily each girl 
 receives a cup of milk or cocoa and at noon she 
 
32 
 
 has the opportunity to buy a bowl of soup for one 
 cent, and thus supplement the luncheon brought 
 from home. This long school day and the con- 
 tinuous session were forced upon the managers by 
 necessity, but up to the present time no bad 
 effects upon the health of the girls have been 
 noticed, while in many cases there has been a 
 decided improvement. 
 
 The gradual assumption of vacation school 
 work by boards of education and the tendency to 
 increase the sessions of academic instruction show 
 that municipalities are more and more recognizing 
 that their responsibility for the education and 
 welfare of children is not limited to the forty 
 weeks of the school year. 
 
 REFERENCES 
 American, Sadie: The Movement for Vacation Schools. American 
 
 Journal of Sociology, Nov., i8q8, pages 309-25. 
 Curtis, Henry S.: Vacation Schools, Playgrounds, and Settlements. 
 
 Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education for 1Q03, Vol. I, 
 
 pages 1-38. 
 DE Montmorency, J. E.G.: School Excursions and Vacation Schools. 
 
 Vol. xxi of Special Reports on Education Subjects, Board of 
 
 Education, London, 1Q07. 
 DuTTON AND Snedden: Administration of Public Education in the 
 
 United States. Pages 579-581. References to recent articles. 
 
 The Macmillan Company, New York, 1908. Price I1.75. 
 Houston, Marion: Bibliography of Playgrounds and Vacation 
 
 Schools. Charities, April 2, 1904, pages 358-60. 
 Lee, Joseph: Constructive and Preventive Philanthropy. Pages 
 
 109-122. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1906. Price 
 
 1 1. 00. 
 Milliken, O. J.: Chicago Vacation Schools. Amer. Journal of 
 
 Sociology, Nov., 1898, pages 289-308. 
 Whitney, Evangeline E.: Annual Reports of City Superintendent 
 
 of Schools to New York Board of Education. From 1902 to 
 
 1909. Miss Whitney was District Superintendent in charge of 
 
 Vacation Schools, Playgrounds and Recreation Centers. 
 See also Summer Schools and Playgrounds, by Morton L. Dartt, 
 Board of Education, Cleveland, 1908; Report of the Chicago 
 Permanent Vacation School Committee of Women's Clubs, 1908; the 
 annual reports of the Pittsburgh Playground Association; Vacation 
 Schools in Philadelpliia, The Plavgrovnd. [uly, 1908; and the annual 
 reports of the superintendents of schools of the cities named in the text. 
 
The Wider Use of the School Plant 
 
 By CLARENCE ARTHUR PERRY 
 
 with an Introduction 
 By Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick 
 
 The chapter heads of this book are as follows: The Wider Use 
 Evening Schools, Evening Schools Abroad, The Promotion of 
 Attendance at Evening Schools, Vacation Schools, School Play- 
 grounds, Public Lectures and Entertainments, Evening Recrea- 
 tion Centers, Social Centers, Organized Athletics and Folk Danc- 
 mg, Meetings in School Houses, Social Betterment Through 
 Wider Use. '"' 
 
 The book is fully illustrated. It shows the activities in actual 
 operation, describes the various forms of administration and gives 
 pertinent details as to cost, development, and the social amefiora- 
 tion which they are effecting. 
 
 Published for the 
 
 Depart.mf.nt of Child Hygiene of the 
 
 Russell Sage Foundation 
 
 by the 
 
 Charities Publication Committee 
 
 105 E. 22d Street, New York City 
 
 (Published October, 1910) 
 
 The Following Pamphlets are Extracts from the Book 
 mentioned above 
 
 51 The Wider Use of the School Plant 
 
 52 Public Lectures in School Buildings 
 56 Yacation Schools 
 
 Sample copies will be sent upon request. Address: 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF CHILD HYGIENE 
 
 1 Madison Avenue, New York City 
 
Some of the Pamphlets That Can be Furnished 
 
 by the Department of Child Hygiene of 
 
 the Russell Sage Foundation 
 
 I Madison Avenue, New York City 
 
 Play and Playgrounds 
 
 I. Games Every Boy and Girl Should Know. George E. John- 
 son. 
 
 11. Can the Child Survive Civilization? Woods Hutchinson, 
 
 M.D. 
 
 12. Children of the Century. Luther H. GuHck, M.D. 
 
 13. The City and the Child. Wm. H. Maxwell. 
 
 23. First Steps in Organizing Playgrounds. Lee F. Hanmer. 
 
 (Booklet, 10 cents.) 
 26. The Relation of Playgrounds to Social Centers. George 
 
 M. Forbes. 
 32. Bibliography on Play, George E. Johnson, and Stories for 
 
 Children, Miss Maude Summers. 
 34. Why Teach a Child to Play? George E. Johnson. 
 
 Athletics 
 
 16. Public Schools Athletic League of New York City. Lu- 
 ther H. GuHck, M.D. 
 
 (Girls' Branch) Public Schools Athletic League of New 
 York City. Luther H. Gulick, M.D. 
 
 Athletics for Boys. (Committee Report.) A. K. Aldinger, 
 M.D., Chairman. 
 
 Athletics for Girls. Mrs. Frank M. Roessing and Miss Eliza- 
 beth Burchenal. 
 
 Amateurism. Luther H. Gulick, M.D. 
 
 P. S. A. L. OF New York City, President's Address. Gen- 
 eral George W. Wingate. 
 72. Athletics in the Public Schools. Lee F. Hanmer. 
 
 Medical Inspection 
 
 40. The Effect of Physical Defects on School Progress. 
 
 Leonard P. Ayres. 
 
 41. Physical Defects and School Progress. Leonard P. Ayres. 
 
 Hygiene and Health 
 
 29. The Playground as a Factor in School Hygiene. George 
 
 E. Johnson. 
 38. Tuberculosis and the Public Schools. Luther H. Gulick, 
 
 M.D. 
 48. Health, Morality and the Playground. Elmer Ellsworth 
 
 Brown. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 029 900 873 3 *