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University Daily Kansan
Friday. March 26, 1954
Early Kansas Readers Had Wide Book Choice
By AMY DE YONG
Early Kansans who found time for reading during their busy days were supplied with the works of a great many writers who have remained famous in the annals of American literature. Here are works popular both in the 1850s and in earlier and later periods.
On the best sellers' list in 1854 were P. T. Barnum's "Strugles and Triumphs" and Henry David Thoreau's "Walden." Other books which were best sellers during the decade included Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." 1850, and "The House of the Seven Gables," 1851, and Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick." 1851.
Harriet Beecher Stowe topped the list in 1852 with "Uncle Tom's List" and "Tom Arthur" "Ten Nights in a Bar-Room" "Man in a Man's 'Leaves of Grass'" led in 1855, and Thomas Hughes "Tom Brown's School Days." in 1857.
While the pioneers built their homes and sketched the outlines of our country, men and women who were later to write America's history were growing up throughout the continent. George Bancroft and John Fiske, Justin Winsor and James Ford Rhodes were among hisiors of the period.
Charles Gayarre's "History of Louisiana" entitles him to a place among the leading American historians. The Western experiences of the Theodore Winthrop were related in his book, "John Brent." Later settlers read of the wrongs done to the Indian race in Helen Hunt Jackson's novels, the best of which is "Ramona." Cincinnati Miller, better known as Joaquin Miller, also wrote of the Far West.
Slavery was a heatedly discussed subject which received attention from Henry Ward Beecher, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Charles Stephen Collins Foster's immortal "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was the most notable book in this field. Nature was another popular subject, and it was the chief topic of John Burroughs and Bradford Torrey. John James Audubon died in 1851, but his "Birds of America" was undoubtedly widely read by the settlers.
For the reader of poetry, there were the poems of Emily Dickinson. Alice and Phoebe Cary, and George Prentice. Margaret Sangster, author of "Poems of the Household," lived during the period, as did Clemeth Moore, who wrote
"Twas the Night Before Christmas." Our national poem, "America," was written by Samuel F. Smith in 1832.
Humer abounded in the works of Benjamin P. Shillaber of "Mrs. Partington" fame, and Charles Browne, who created "Artemus Ward." William Tappan Thompson and Robert Burdette ranked high as humorists.
For those who sought religious discussions, there was a multitude of writers, led by Henry Ward Beecher, whose "Yale Lectures on Preaching" are still widely read, and Phillip Brooks. James Gibbons, a Roman Catholic Cardinal, wrote "The Faith of Our Fathers."
Political essays included the "Easy Chair" papers by George William Curtis, and orations were published by Edward Everett. David Ross Locke, a political satirist, created "Petroleum V. Nasby."
The settlers sang with fervor the words of Albert Pike's "Dixie" or Julia Ward Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," which are echoed today by thousands of voices. Many other songs of the pioneer period came down to us, including Stephen Collin Foster's immortal "Old Folks at Home" and "My Old Kentucky Home."
Children were delighted with Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" and "An Old-Fashioned Girl" and Mary Mapes Dodge's "Hans Brinker." They read "The Drummer Boy" by John Townsend Trowbridge and innumerable books by such authors as Adeline Whitney and James Baldwin.
Goethe's "Faust" was translated by Bayard Taylor and was widely read. Edmund Clarence Stedman, co-editor of "The Library of American Literature," was later called one of America's fairest critics."
Jacob Abbott wrote about 180 volumes, including the "Rollo Books," "Two Years Before the Mole was written by Richard Dana.
A search for public school textbooks used in the Territory of Kansas in 1858 is being made by Robert Vosper, Kansas Centennial committee secretary.
1858 or Earlier Books Are Being Sought
Baptist Mission Once in Ottawa
An important farm trade center lying in a valley around the Marais des Cygne river is Ottawa, which has railroad shops, mills, and factories.
The city dates to 1832, when Ottawa Indians ceded their Ohio lands to the United States in return for 34,000 acres in the area where Ottawa now is located. In 1837, the Rev. Jotham Meeker and his wife opened the Ottawa Indian Baptist mission. They were aided by the government agent on the reservation. John Tecumseh (Tauy) Jones, half-breed Potawatomi and abolitionist.
Ottawa university, a Baptist school, was incorporated in 1865. Tauy Jones hall dates to 1869.
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The search was prompted by discovery of a news story in the Lawrence Herald of Freedom of June 12, 1858, which reported a "convention of the friends of education" held in Leavenworth. A committee was appointed at that convention to examine school books and select a list to be recommended for use in the public schools of the Territory.
Mr. Vosper, University director of libraries, found one of the books on the list, a copy of "Ray's Primary Arithmetic," among a group of scientific books purchased last year by KU from a Nebraska collection. The Centennial committee decided to put this book and others on display during 1954—the Centennial year—if more can be found.
Books on the first adopted list were "English Grammar," Allen Hayden Weld: "Rhetoric and Composition," George P. Cuackenboss; "First Lessons in Composition" and "Advanced Course of Composition and Rhetoric" both by Appleton; "United States History," Wilson; "Geography," Cornell's Series; "Arithmetic," Ray's Series; "Physiology," Cummings; Readers and Spellers, Saunders' Series; "Chemistry," Porter; Dictionaries, Webster, and "Physical Geography," Fitch's Outlines.
To fit the theme of the display—the books must be dated 1858 or earlier.
Anyone who has one of these books in his possession and is willing to lend it for the Centennial, should contact Mr. Vosper.
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