HISTORY AND DESIGN 
 
 AMERICAN 
 
 ;NSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 BY GEORGE B. EMERSON, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTION. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS, 
 
 Cunier of Washington and School Streets. 
 M.DCCC.XLIX.
 
 HISTORY AND DESIGN 
 
 AMERICAN 
 
 INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 BY GEORGE B. EMERSON, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTION. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS, 
 
 Corner / Washington and School Streets. 
 M.UCCC.XLIX.
 
 AT a meeting of the AMERICAN INSTITUTE OP IXSTBITCTIOX, held at 
 Bangor, Maine, in August, 1848, it was Voted, That the Presi- 
 dent be requested to furnish a copy of his Address on the " History 
 and Design of the Institute " for publication. 
 
 (The remarks Mr. Emerson then made were from notes hastily 
 prepared. In arranging them for the press, he has taken the lib- 
 erty to go somewhat more fully into the history and objects of the 
 Institute, and to repeat some things which he had said in other 
 places.) 
 
 Printed by John Wilson, 21, School-street, Boston.
 
 Stack 
 Anna* 
 
 Cage 
 
 L 
 
 /3 
 
 AMERICAN 
 
 INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 Ax the meeting of the AMEKICAN INSTITUTE OF Iy STKUC- 
 TION at Bangor, in Maine, on the 16th of August, 1848, 
 the President of the Institute, Mr. G. B. EMEKSOX, of 
 Boston, at the request of several gentlemen of Maine, 
 consented to give some account of the history of the 
 Institute, and of the ends it has in view. 
 
 IT has been repeatedly asked (he said), and it will 
 naturally be again asked by many who hear the name 
 for the first time, What is the American Institute of 
 Instruction ? What has it done ? What does it 
 propose to do ? Who are they who come here to 
 represent it ? What do they wish to effect ? Why 
 have they come here ? 
 
 I shall endeavor briefly to answer some of these 
 questions. 
 
 Eighteen years ago, a few teachers and other 
 friends of education met together in Boston to see 
 what could be done to strengthen and advance the 
 cause in which they were interested and engaged. 
 After several meetings, they agreed to extend their 
 invitations to all, in other parts of the country, as 
 well as in Massachusetts, who should feel inclined to 
 meet with them. The invitations were widely cir- 
 culated ; and, in August of 1830, several hundred 
 
 881915
 
 persons, most of them teachers, assembled in Boston 
 from at least eleven different States, and formed this 
 Institute. 
 
 The teachers from Massachusetts had proposed to 
 give the contemplated association a somewhat mod- 
 est name, The Associated Teachers of Massachu- 
 setts, or some similar title ; but the votes from other 
 States prevailed, and the more ambitious name by 
 which the Institute is now known was adopted. 
 
 The leading object of the American Institute of In- 
 struction is to promote the cause of popular education, 
 by diffusing useful knowledge in regard to it. The 
 members met originally, and they have continued to 
 meet, for the purpose of elevating the character of in- 
 struction, of widening its sphere, of ascertaining more 
 clearly what should be its objects, and of perfecting 
 its methods ; for the purpose of raising the teacher, by 
 making him feel how high and noble is the work in 
 Avhich he is engaged, how extensive and thorough must 
 be his preparation, and how entire his devotion ; for 
 the purpose of making more apparent to our fellow- 
 citizens the absolute importance of education to the 
 existence and continuance of our free institutions, 
 and to the advancement of our race ; and thence the 
 duty of improving our schools, especially our Com- 
 mon Schools. They have met, and they continue to 
 meet, to compare observations and opinions, and 
 to contribute the experience of each to a common 
 stock for the benefit of all. In short, they meet to 
 quicken to a warmer glow the fire in their own 
 breast, and to kindle it as far as possible in the breast 
 of others. 
 
 The Institute has continued to meet annually until 
 this day, holding a session of three or four days, and 
 hearing from twelve to seventeen lectures, each year. 
 It has enlisted in its service many of the ablest and 
 most distinguished friends of education; and, at its 
 annual meetings, it has had lectures, reports, and
 
 discussions upon most of the subjects of interest to 
 the practical teacher, and to the community as acted 
 on by him. Many of these reports and lectures, de- 
 livered by men eminent in their respective professions, 
 and by skilful teachers, upon subjects with which they 
 were most familiar, are published, and form a body of 
 science, thought, and practical wisdom, unsurpassed, 
 we think, by any series of works in the language on 
 the subject of education.* 
 
 It has had lectures and discussions, and has 
 published prize essays and reports, by men thor- 
 oughly versed in the subjects, upon the construction, 
 arrangement, furnishing, warming, ventilating, and 
 apparatus of school-houses and school-rooms ; and 
 has done something, we trust, towards the vast im- 
 provements, in all these particulars, Avhich have within 
 a few years been made. 
 
 It has had lectures upon physical education, from 
 some of the most eminent physicians and physiolo- 
 gists of New England ; upon methods of instruction 
 and discipline, from many of the most experienced 
 teachers ; upon the moral relations of education, 
 from some of the deepest thinkers and best men ; 
 upon numerous points in literature, as directly affect- 
 ing education, from some of its best scholars ; upon 
 its political and legal relations, from profound civil- 
 ians and jurists ; upon leading points in natural, 
 mathematical, and physical science, from some of 
 the most scientific men of the country. 
 
 The special office of a teacher, and the object of his 
 science, have been pointed out to us by that clear and 
 original thinker, Francis Way land. Modes of instruc- 
 tion in the mathematical and physical sciences have 
 been explained to us by those who united the necessary 
 knowledge with practical skill in teaching ; in Arith- 
 
 * The meeting at Bangor was the nineteenth, and the volume 
 containing the lectures delivered there is the nineteenth of the 
 series. 
 
 1*
 
 melic, by Warren Colburn and Adams ; in Geometry, 
 by Shenvin and Grund ; in Geography, by Wood- 
 bridge, Carter, Fleming, and Fowle ; in Language, 
 ancient and modern, by Ticknor and Cleveland, 
 Crosby and Felton, Packard and Mulligan, Howe 
 and Weld, Huntington and Winslow ; in Natural 
 History, by Gould, Durgin and Miles, President 
 Hale and W. Channing, W. A. Alcott and J. L. 
 Russell, Alonzo Gray and Charles Brooks ; in Read- 
 ing, by Russell, Pierce, and Greene ; in Spelling, by 
 G. F. Thayer ; and on Spelling Books, by H. Mann ; 
 hi Composition and Rhetoric, by Newman, Parker, 
 and Rand ; in Elocution, by Stone and Fosdick, 
 Russell and Murdock ; in Grammar, by Brown and 
 Parker ; in Penmanship, by Foster. Judge Story has 
 told us how much of the theory of Government should 
 be taught in schools ; and Mr. Lawrence, how much 
 of the principles of Law. J. L. Parkhurst and S. R. 
 Hall have told us how a school may be managed with- 
 out appealing to emulation ; and Leonard Withington 
 and Joseph Emerson, how it may be managed with. 
 We have had lectures on the Relations of Education 
 to a Republic, from Bellows and Horace Mann ; on 
 Chemistry, from C. T. Jackson ; on Physical Sci- 
 ence, from J. Pierpont ; on Music, from Wood- 
 bridge, Harrington, and Johnson ; on History, from 
 G. S. Hillard and S. Adams ; on Moral Science, 
 from A. H. Everett ; on Physical Education, from 
 Drs. Warren and Hayward, Jackson and Ware, of 
 Boston, Parsons of Providence, and Peirson of Sa- 
 lem ; on Physiology, from Drs. Reynolds, Metcalfe, 
 Alcott, and Jarvis ; and on School Architecture 
 and Furnishing, from Adams and the elder Wood- 
 bridge. We have had an elaborate Report upon 
 School-rooms, by Bailey, and a Prize Essay, by 
 Alcott ; lectures on School Discipline, by M'Kean, 
 S. R. Hall, and J. Hale ; on School Management, 
 by T. Dwight and R. S. Howard ; on Elementary
 
 Education, by Russell, Brooks, Alcott, Perry, and 
 Palmer ; on Moral Education, by J. Abbott, Blan- 
 chard, Robinson, Waterston, Dr. Bartlett, and Pres- 
 ident Bates ; on Religious Education, by Professor 
 Stowe and President Humphrey ; on Moral Influ- 
 ence, by Mr. Hooker, Professor Stowe, Mr. Belcher, 
 and Jacob Abbott. 
 
 We have had lectures on the development and 
 education of the mental faculties, from Messrs. Carter, 
 Burton, Fowle, May, Rodman, and Brooks ; and 
 on the philosophy of mind, from Gregg and Emer- 
 son Davis. 
 
 Few of the manifold institutions for instruction 
 which have sprung up of late years, have been 
 passed by without notice ; their principles, excel- 
 lences, and defects, have been laid before us by 
 persons amply competent to present them. The sub- 
 ject of Infant Schools and Infant Education has been 
 fully exhibited and discussed by Russell, A. B. Al- 
 cott, Perry, and Carll ; Monitorial Instruction, by 
 Oliver and others ; Schools of Arts, by Professor 
 Johnson ; Manual Labor Schools, by Green ; Edu- 
 cation for an Agricultural Population, by Samuel 
 Nott ; and Education for the Laboring Classes, by 
 Theodore Parker ; Academies and High Schools, 
 by Fowler ; Lyceums, by Cleaveland ; Common 
 Schools, by Farley, May, Northend, Putnam, Page, 
 and others ; and Education for the Blind, by Dr. 
 Howe. 
 
 We have had lectures upon visible illustrations ; 
 upon the classification of a school, and the man- 
 agement of recitations ; upon school systems and 
 school discipline ; on the importance of reform, and 
 on the danger of innovation ; on securing the at- 
 tention, on cultivating the affections, and on form- 
 ing the taste ; on the importance of education to a 
 republic, and on our systems of Common Schools ; 
 on the duties of Committee-men, in relation to them ;
 
 8 
 
 on the duties of parents, and on the duties of men 
 of influence, to visit, examine, and oversee them ; 
 on the education of teachers ; on the duties of 
 teachers ; on the responsibilities of teachers ; on the 
 claims, on the hardships, and on the dangers of 
 teachers ; on the dignity of the teacher's office ; on 
 his social influence ; on his political influence ; on the 
 encouragements given to him, and on the complaints 
 made against him ; and on the beau-ideal of a per- 
 fect teacher. 
 
 The necessity of home preparation, and the duties 
 of parents, have been eloquently urged by Jacob 
 Abbott, D. P. Page, and Jason Whitman. Female 
 education has been presented by Kimball, Russell, 
 and Hawes. The responsibilities of the teacher's 
 office have been urged by Dr. Hawes ; the objects 
 of education, by Mr. Fox and others ; the value of 
 Teachers' Institutes has been exhibited by Mr. Town ; 
 the importance of a special and very thorough edu- 
 cation for teachers has been demonstrated by S. R. 
 Hall, E. Davis, and Charles Brooks ; and Cyrus 
 Pierce and Nicholas Tillinghast, and our lost and 
 lamented friend, David P. Page, the most successful 
 and distinguished pioneers in Normal School instruc- 
 tion, have, on these and kindred subjects, by lecture 
 and by discussion, by sympathy and by advice, en- 
 couraged, enlightened, and strengthened us. And 
 others, not less prominent, but in other walks of life, 
 such as Elipha White, William H. Furness, Caleb 
 Cushing, William Sullivan, F. C. Gray, and James 
 Walker, have been willing to aid us in the great 
 eause, which is equally interesting to all. Such are 
 some of the subjects which have occupied us, and 
 such some of the persons who have given us their 
 aid.* 
 
 * At the meeting of the Institute at Bangor, lectures were 
 given on Failures in Teaching, by John Kingsbury ; on the Co- 
 operation of Parents and Teachers, by Jacob Batchelder ; on the
 
 9 
 
 From these lectures, from the discussions which 
 have annually taken place, from the free interchange 
 of opinion, and from the acquaintance we have formed 
 with each other's feelings and character, we think 
 we have derived substantial benefits. We think we 
 have been getting higher views, and deeper and more 
 earnest convictions, of the extent and importance of 
 the teacher's work, of the objects at which he should 
 aim, and the motives by which he should be influ- 
 enced. We wish to extend these benefits to others. 
 
 You thus see what we have been doing, and what 
 we mean to continue to do. Most of us who have 
 come to represent the American Institute are practical 
 teachers, who have given and are giving our lives to 
 the work of instruction. We are all deeply and 
 devotedly interested in the advancement of the cause 
 of education. We have a strong fellow-feeling with 
 teachers, and we ask them to come and take counsel 
 together with us. 
 
 Many of us are, and most of us have been, teachers 
 in the Common Schools. These invaluable institutions 
 are the objects of our special interest. These we seek 
 to elevate, we pray that we may see elevated. As 
 brothers, sympathizing with those who are teaching 
 in them, and with those whose children are taught in 
 them, as patriots, as Christians, as men, we long for 
 the improvement of these schools ; where only are 
 the great masses of our fellow-citizens educated, and 
 where if they are not well educated, most of them 
 are never to be well educated at all, anywhere. 
 These schools, the Common Schools, we seek to do 
 something to make what they should be. 
 
 Qualifications of the Teacher, by Nathan Munroe ; on School Go- 
 vernment, by J. D. Philbrick ; on the Improvement of Common 
 Schools, by William D. Swan ; on the Power of Example in Teach- 
 ing, by Thomas Sherwin ; on the Common-school System of Ver- 
 mont, by N. G. Clark ; on the Claims of the Free School upon all 
 classes, by W. G. Crosby ; of which the first five are in the 
 nineteenth volume of the Institute's Lectures.
 
 10 
 
 We are here as citizens to assist in building up 
 schools, because we believe that a good school is a 
 temple of liberty ; that education is the most import- 
 ant pillar in the fabric of a free state ; that, in a polit- 
 ical as well as in a moral sense, it is only the ///////, 
 the knowledge of the TRUTH, which can make men 
 free. We may not present to you many strikingly 
 new truths ; yet we do not despair of even saying 
 some things which are new. Devoted, as many of 
 us are, life and heart, wholly to the teacher's work, 
 we humbly believe that we do sometimes discover 
 something new ; new methods, new modes of in- 
 fluencing the conduct, new modes of presenting 
 truth, and neAv modes of acting on the mind of a 
 child. We at least perceive new relations between 
 things old and familiar, and a new value in things 
 known and despised. Walking, as we often do, on 
 -the shores of the vast ocean of infinite truth, we 
 sometimes pick up a stone more beautiful and pre- 
 cious than we have seen before ; and we feel that we 
 are revived and invigorated by the air that breathes 
 from that ocean towards which we are looking. 
 
 But, if we cannot often offer you a new truth, we can 
 at least invite you to look with us at some truths that 
 are old. We believe, and we are here because we 
 believe, that the most precious thing under heaven, 
 if, indeed, it is to be considered under heaven, is 
 a highly endowed and highly educated human soul ; 
 but we believe that the soul must be educated; that 
 the completely uneducated soul is brutish, and little 
 better than the life of a beast ; that he therefore who 
 aids another in his education, in the awakening and 
 development of his faculties, offers him the most 
 precious gift that one human being can offer to 
 another. Souls of the highest endowments, of bound- 
 less capacities, AVC believe to be embodied, by the 
 hand of the Infinite Father, along these plains, 
 through these woods, on these hills, by these shores,
 
 11 
 
 to be gathered in these school-houses, as pro- 
 fusely as in any, even the most favored spot on 
 earth. We wish you to learn, with us, how to value 
 them, how to educate them, how to render their 
 minds to use the noble language of the first 
 President of this society " the fittest possible in- 
 struments for discovering, applying, and obeying the 
 laws under which God has placed the universe." 
 This we believe to be the great object of the science 
 of education. We believe, and we are here, again 
 I say, because we believe, in the almost boundless 
 influence of the teacher, the right-minded, right- 
 hearted, and rightly-informed teacher, in moulding 
 this priceless soul, in forming it to this great end. 
 But to do this, to do it well, to do it as it should 
 be done, indeed, to do it at all, the teacher must 
 become right-minded and right-hearted himself; that 
 is, he must have his intellectual and his moral nature 
 rightly and highly educated. 
 
 Come, then, teachers, and endeavor to learn with 
 us, how to educate ourselves that we may help to 
 educate God's children to understand his laws, and 
 be the ministers of His will ; to discover, apply, 
 and OBEY, the laws under which He has placed his 
 universe. Let us endeavor to learn to fill ourselves 
 with knowledge, that we may be able to dispel ignor- 
 ance ; to understand the laws of mind, that we may 
 act upon the mind ; to apprehend aright the truths 
 of science, that we may present them aright to the 
 ardent and inquiring mind of the child ; to study 
 his moral nature, and train our own, that we may 
 overcome his rising, angry, and fierce passions by 
 our gentleness and kindness ; prevent his falsehood 
 by our truthfulness ; overcome his stubbornness by 
 our patient forbearance ; his distrust by our con- 
 fidence ; his fear and his enmity by our love ; in one 
 word, his evil by our abundant good. 
 
 The world rings with the harsh and horrid sounds
 
 12 
 
 of war. Let us do what we can to raise up a gene- 
 ration of lovers of peace, by filling souls Avith peace, 
 in the spirit of Him whose blessing was peace, in 
 the spirit of the God of peace. 
 
 The happiness of thousands of homes is sacrificed 
 to the demon of intemperance and inordinate desires. 
 Let us learn and let us teach to be temperate in all 
 things. Let us show, by precept, and a thousand 
 times more by our example, the great lesson of self- 
 control ; that he that ruleth his own spirit is greater 
 than he that taketh a city. 
 
 The fair face of God's beautiful earth is deformed 
 by the fierce struggles that are going on upon its 
 surface for power and wealth ; each one, among 
 millions, clutching ravenously, and holding desper- 
 ately, whatever he can reach. Let us do what AVC 
 can, we may each do something, we may each do 
 much, Avith every one of those placed Avithin our in- 
 fluence, to supplant or prevent the groAvth of these 
 selfish passions, by awakening the soul to the love 
 of the true and the beautiful in the creation ; to a 
 perception of the loveliness of charity, and the great- 
 ness of humility and self-denial ; by endeavoring to 
 substitute the spirit of co-operation for that of com- 
 petition ; the ambition of helping one another for the 
 emulation of surpassing one another. 
 
 We have come here, then, because Ave think this 
 Avork of education is one of the best and noblest in 
 AA T hich men can be engaged ; and AVC have come to 
 ask you to aid us in it, to listen to our lectures, 
 to share in our discussions, to add your experience 
 to ours, to correct us if you think us Avrong, to help 
 us if you find us right.
 
 LK (' T I' It K C 
 
 I) KM VKI1F.U UEKullE THE 
 
 ^Vmevucm institute of Instruction, 
 
 (NEW SERIKS,) 
 IN 9 VOLS. 12mo. PRICE 50 CENTS per VOL. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS, 
 
 Corner of Washington anil Sc/wul Streets, 
 
 Boston. 
 
 Vol. I. 1840: Intellectual Education in Harmony with Moral and Physical, by Joshua] 
 Bates, late President of Middlelmry College. The Results to be aimed at in School In-j 
 struction and Discipline, by T. Gushing, jun. The Duty of Visiting Schools, by T. Greene.' 
 The Objects and Means of School Instruction, by the Rev. A. B. Muzzey. CMurtesv, and 
 its Connection with School Instruction, by G. F. Thayer. The Brain and the StomacliJ 
 by Usher Parsons, M.D. Common Complaints made against Teachers, by Jacob Abbott X. 
 
 Vol. II. 1841 : The Best Mode of Preparing and Using Spelling Books, by Horace ' 
 Mann. The Best Method of Exercising the Different Faculties, by W. B. Fowl,-. Tin; 
 Education of the Laboring Classes, by Theodore Parker. The Importance of the \atu- 1 
 ral Sciences on our System of Popular Education, by Professor A. Gray. Moral Culture 
 Essential to Intellectual Education, by E. W. Robinson. Simplicity of Character as ] 
 affected by the Common Systems of Education, by J. S. Dwight. The Use of Globes in ! 
 Teaching Geography and Astronomy, by A. Fleming. The Elementary Principles of \ 
 Constitutional Law as a Branch of Education in Coirimon Schools, by Edward A. Law- 
 rence. 
 
 Vol. III. 1842 : Moral Education, by George B. Emerson. Universal Language, by 
 Dr. Samuel G. Howe. The Girard College, by E. C. Wines. The School Room as ah 
 aid to Self-Education, by Rev. A. B. Muzzey. The Moral Responsibility of Teachers, by 
 W. H. Wood. 
 
 Vol. -IV. 1843 : The Bible in Common Schools, by Heman Humphrey, D.D. The 
 Classification' of Knowledge, by Solomon Adams. The Moral Dignity of the Teacher's 
 Office, by Prof. J. H. Agnevv. .A few of the " Hows " of School-keeping, by RoL'er S. 
 Howard. Advancement in the Means and Methods of Public Instruction, by David P. 
 Page. Reading, by C. Peirce. Some of the Duties of the Faithful Teacher, by Alfred 
 Greenleaf. Some of the Defects of our Systems of Education, by R. B. Hubbard. The 
 Importance of our Common Schools, by Rev. S. J. May. 
 
 Vol. V. 1844 : The Religious Sentiment in Education, by Rev. Calvin E. Stowe. 
 Female Education, by Wni. Russell. Some of the Obstacles to the Greater Success of 
 Common Schools, by Charles Northend. Some of the Dangers of Teachers, by Daniel 
 1*. Galloup. The Introduction of Natural History as a Regular Classic in our Seminaries, 
 by Rev. Charles Brooks. Classical Education, by A. H.AVeld. Common Schools, by 
 Joseph Hale. Methods of Teaching to Read, by Samuel S. Greene. The Duty of the 
 American Teacher, by Rev. J. X. Bellows. The Necessity of Education in a Republican 
 Form of Government, by Horace Manrn 
 
 Vol. VI. 1845: Dignity of the Teacher's Office, by Joel Hawes, D.D. The Forma- 
 tion and Excellence of the Female Character, by Joel Hawes, D.D. The. Duties of Ex- 
 amining Committees, by Prof. E. D. Sanborn. The Beau-ideal of the Perfect Teach, r, 
 by Dennison Olmstead, LL.D. The Necessity of the Study of Physiology, by Edward 
 Jarvis, M.D. Intellectual Arithmetic, by Rev. F. A. Adams. County Teachers' Insti- ] 
 tutes, by Salem Towne. The Best Method of Teaching Geography, by Win. P>. Fowle. 
 Vocal Music in Common Schools, by A. N. Johnson. The Connection between Geo- 
 graphy and History, by George S. Hillard. 
 
 Vol. VII. 1846 : Home Preparation for School, by Rev. Jason Whitman. The In-J 
 fluence of Moral upon Intellectual Improvement, by Rev. H. B. Hooker. The Essentials 
 of a Common School Education, and the Conditions most favorable to their attainment j 
 by Rufus Putnam. The Education of the Faculties, and the Proper Employment of. 
 Young Children, by Rev. S. J. May. The Obligations of Towns to Elevate the Character] 
 
 UUKUIII. v _^ J ft- % f 
 
 Vol. VIII. ]84%:?SThe Study of" Language, by Rey* H. Winslow. The Appropri- 
 ateness of Studies to the State of Mental Development, $y TP. Rodman. 
 
 Vol. IX. 1848 : Failures in Teaching, by John Kingsbury* The Co-operation of] 
 Parents and Teachers, by Jacob Batchelder. The Qualifications of the Teacher, by ; 
 Rev. Nathan Munroc. School Government, by J. D, Philbrick. The Improvement ! 
 of Common Schools, by Wm. D. Swan. ^ t 
 
 {/" The above-named volumes are for sale at thfrrrv loir price of 50 entt* each, 
 either separately orHojJtefljer. No teacher should be .without them. 
 
 N.B. A few of the earlier volumes (i>rsale.ad.abnre,. atyi-ieduced price. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 IX>S ANGELES