CONTENTS. Paga REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION.... Library, v; publications of the Bureau, vii; governmental provision for education, X; educational reports, xiv; table of facts relating to State reports, xix; recess or Do recess, xxiv; school legislation, xxvi; statistics of correspondents of the Bureau, xxviii; growth of education in the United States, xxix ; school ages, xxxi; summary of statistics of State systems, xxxii; summary of the statistics of the last ten years, xl; school population, enrollment, and average attendance, xliii; comparative view of school attendance in tho more densely populated States, xlv; defective adminis. tration of common schools, xlvii; status of the teaching force, xlis; supervision of country schools, 1; graded course of study, lii; compulsory attendance, liii; sum. mary of the educational condition of the Union, liv; education of the colored race, . Ixvii; statistics of institutions for the education of the colored race, lxviii; teach- ers for colored schools, lxxv; illiteracy in the South, lxxvi; industrial training for colored youth, lxxvii; Peabody fund, lxxix; John F. Slater fund, lxxx; summary of statistics of city systems, lxxxii; table of average expenses per capita for city schools, xcviii; school population, enrollment, and attendance in cities, o; exam. inations, cv; an experiment in disciplino, cvi; supervision, cvii; free text books and stationery, cix; gymnastics, cx; tenure of oflice of teachers, cx; administra. tion, cxiii; the teaching of vocal music in public schools, cxiv; statistics relating to city superintendents, cxvi; summary of statistics of normal schools, cxxviii; ap. propriations for normal schools, cxxxiii; character of normal training, cxxxvii; information concerning particular schools, cxxxix; teachers' institutes, etc., cal; schools, clv; measures for improving secondary instruction, clvi; overwork in - secondary schools, clvi; statistical summary of students in classical and scientific preparatory courses, clxiii; statistical summary of students in institutions for su. porior instruction, clxiv; summary of statistics of institutions for the superior in. struction of women, clari; summary of statistics of universities and colleges, clxxii; distinction between colleges and universities, clxxiv; movements in certain colleges, clsxviii; graduate departments, clxxx; the university of the nineteenth century, clxxxi; colleges whose main work is in the undergraduate department, clxxxii; catalogues of American colleges, clxxxiv; statistics of alumni of colleges and universities, clxxxvi; summary of statistics of schools of science, cxcvii; classi- fication of scientific students in a number of institutions, ccv; meaning of the ex. pression, "industrial education," ccvi; tho Workingman's School, New York, ccvii; experiments in connection with city public schools, ccviii; exercises of universal application, ccxii; exhibitions of industrial work by school children, ccxii; indus. trial training in normal schools, ccxiv; in the South, ccxv; special schools, ccxV; instruction in cookery, cesti; summary of statistics of schools of theology, ccxviii; summary of statistics of schools of law, ccxx; summary of statistics of schools of medicine, etc., ccxxi; statistical summary of all degrees conferred, ccxxiv; sum- mary of statistics of training schools for nurses, ccxxxi; education of the deaf and dumb, ccxxxii; summary of statistics of institutions for the deaf and dumb, ccxxxvi; education of the blind, ccxxxviii; summary of statistics of schools for the blind, ccxlii; education of the foeble-minded, ccxliv; summary of statistics of schools for feeble-minded youth, ccxlvi; statistical summary of benefactions, ccxlvii; list of historical societies in the United States, cel; education in foreign countries, ccliii; Page 1-325 318 328-837 328 336 417 552 567 584 Å0872469.... betracts of the official reports of the sehool officers of States, Territories, and cities, with other inirmation Educational agacetations and conventions II. School statistics of cities containing 7,500 inhabitants and over V. Statistics of kindergärten ..., X. Statistics of schools of science... Naval Academies....... professional schools, and by schools for the superior instruetion of women. €37 650 654 663 670 691 783 788 734 XX. Statistics of schools and asylums for feeblo-minded children. XXL Statistics of educational benefactions..... INDEX 798 800 839 REPORT. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., June 30, 1885. SIR-I have the honor to submit my fifteenth Annual Report, for the year ending June 30, 1885. In all the work of this Office it, has been my endeavor to regard with the utmost care the spirit and letter of the law providing for its operations." The appropriations for the Office have never been sufficient to enable it to do all the work legitimately required of it within the law. For the year covered by this Report the items of the appropriation were as follows: Salaries... $44, 022 60 Library... 500 00 Current educational periodicals 250 00 Other current publications. 225 00 Completing valuable sets 200 00 Collecting statistics. 2, 200 00 Distributing documents 2,000 00 Total... 49, 397 60 LIBRARY. The Office may very properly be described as an agency for collecting and disseminating information on the subject of education. The collected information forms already a professional library of great value. This library, its collection, preservation, and cataloguing, have been objects of my constant care during my sixteen years in this Office. Not a hundred volumes belonged to the library when I assumed direction. Now there are 17,500 volumes and 45,000 pamphlets. There was no official pedagogical library for a model by which to shape my efforts. But the plan which I adopted for the general work of the Office was applied to the collection of this library. Keeping in mind sound pedagogical principles First, I sought to answer as far as possible the reasonable demands made for information. Second, I did not seek to communicate my own opinions, but facts and the opinions of others, and to treat all subjects by historical and comparative methods. 1 According to the Revised Statutes of the United States, the purpose and duties of this Ofice shall be "to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and to diffuse such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise prcmote the cause of education throughout the country." Again, it provides that "the Commissioner of Education shall present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which the Office is established." In this way all data naturally had a habitation and a name, and the organization ou the information became geographical instead of purely logical. Demands came for facts about education as conducted at places. Persons reported education at places. Its history was always located. Necessarily the Annual Reports were made on a geographical basis. All the information, whether about a system or an institution, appeared in connection with its place, whether in descriptive text or statistical tables. The same principles substantially determined the arrangement of the library, the logical element, however, being allowed to come in wherever it could facilitate the work to be done. The intelligent conduct of the work of the Office, as required by the law for its establishment, demanded, it seemed to me, that there should be at hand all current publications on education. These werc, First, reports of systems, State and city, and of institutions of education,-catalogues, announcements, etc. Second, educational periodicals. Third, treatises on educational topics,--pedagogical works. Fourth, dictionaries and encyclopedias and other books of reference in different languages. Beyond these printed materials imperatively demanded in our work, there was a great variety of other publications to which our inquiries naturally led us, and which we sought to supply as the means furnished the Office permitted. There were, therefore, Fifth, biographies and local histories, for these often supply, in this country especially, the only recorded data of the history of education. Sixth, travels often were the only source of information on education in foreign countries. Seventh, general history, although in the main its construction did not give due importance to education. Eighth, works of eminent men who had specially thought or written or spoken on the subject of education. Ninth, looking upon education as I did, as the means given man for changing his condition, I naturally sought to arrange around this agency all the tests of its results as they are to be found in reports or discussions on sanitation, insanity, charity, pauperism, crime, the improvement of labor, or the advancement of health ; a great variety of these publications are statistical, and are now made by general, State, or city governments. Tenth, general magazine and newspaper literature, which occasionally is the exclusive source of educational information. Eleventh, a great variety of ephemeral publications, often the only source of names and dates. A special embarrassment connected with the organization of the library has arisen from the fact that we never have had suitable room for the installation of books and pamphlets. We have always had to use the rooms of the library for the general clerical purposes of the Office, and several times the removal of the Office from one building to another has necessitated a perilous carrying of the books to and fro. It is hoped that only one more removal may be necessary, and that when the appropriate building has been erected for the Office, where the library will take its permanent place. Every opportunity has been improved to add value to the library. The largest amount appropriated by Congress has been $1,000 a year for the purchase of books, with addi. tional small amounts to be expended for periodicals, completing sets, etc. For the last several years only $500 per annum has been appropriated for books. The most valuable collection of books and pamphlets in the country relating to education was that made during his life-long labors with much difficulty by my eminent predecessor, Hon. Henry Barnard, LL. D., and was still in his possession. Fortunately he was prepared to sell this collection to the Office and to receive his pay in small amounts from year to year, as appropriations to the Office warranted and other demands permitted. This formed an admirable nucleus for all additions, and saved great expense and labor. Many gists have been made to the collection by those who have gratuitously aided in furnishing information used annually by the Office. These gifts have been largely reports, pamphlets, catalogues, etc. A large share of the foreign material has been obtained by exchange. Great foreign interest has been shown in the publications of the Office. |