Society to honor legacy of education pioneer

The first McGuffey Reader was published 170 years ago.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society is celebrating three anniversaries this year and will mark the date with the presentation of its first Pioneer Award.
The honor, to be given to a person who has shown significant contributions and leadership in the field of education or historic preservation, will be presented during a 2 p.m. Aug. 22 program at McKay Auditorium in the Beeghly College of Education at Youngstown State University.
The society, the last remaining chapter in the National Federation of McGuffey Societies, is dedicated to the memory of William Holmes McGuffey, who grew up on a family farm in Coitsville Township.
McGuffey was the author of the McGuffey "Eclectic Readers," an educational tool that earned him the nickname of "Schoolmaster to America." He went on to serve as president of Miami University of Ohio.
The first publication of a McGuffey reader was in 1836, 170 years ago, and that's one of the three anniversaries being celebrated, said Richard S. Scarsella, society president.
This year also marks the 45th anniversary of the founding of the local society as well as the 40th anniversary of the designation of the McGuffey homestead site on McGuffey Road as a Registered National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Scarsella said the society at one time wanted to develop a national educators hall of fame at the site, but, when state funding for the project failed to materialize, the society decided give the land to Mill Creek MetroParks.
"There are still a lot of people around who remember his name," Scarsella said.
Maintaining the memories
He fears, however, that McGuffey, is in danger of being forgotten in his own hometown.
The society has taken steps to ensure that doesn't happen.
In 1998, it donated the 78-acre McGuffey homestead site to Mill Creek MetroParks as the McGuffey Wildlife Preserve, along with $15,000 to help maintain the site.
The gift was a boon to the park system, providing open space and a passive recreational area, said Carol Potter, MetroParks director of development and marketing.
"It's very much serving its purpose," she said, noting that Mill Creek does run some programs there, and the area's hiking trails are always open to the public.
Scarsella said groups do ecological studies at the preserve and YSU classes use the facility as well.
The society also bought the McGuffey Family Archives and donated them to the Butler Institute of American Art.
The society also sponsors an annual essay contest for seventh- and eighth-graders in the Youngstown city schools to help foster McGuffey's legacy and improve writing fluency.
It also continues to offer storytelling programs for local schools. The society can be reached at (330) 726-8277.
William Holmes McGuffey believed people improved their lives through education and that women should be educated as well as men. He also believed that nature should be respected and preserved, and he advocated fair treatment of American Indians, Scarsella said.
The McGuffey Readers were still in use in American classrooms in the early 1960s when the advent of the space race shifted American's educational focus to science, Scarsella added.
A family endeavor
Nine descendants of the McGuffey family are now society members.
"You have to be a little bit interested in genealogy," said Ruth Smith of Poland, whose husband, Dan, is the great-great-grandson of Anna McGuffey, a sister of William Holmes McGuffey.
The Smiths joined the society only recently, Ruth Smith said, adding that her husband always attended the McGuffey reunions as a child.
The legacy of William Holmes McGuffey is important and should be remembered, she added.
The "McGuffey Readers" were an anthology of stories that McGuffey compiled, Scarsella said, noting that William Holmes McGuffey did the first several versions to be published and his younger brother, Alexander, did the rest.
The books used illustrations to draw the attention of their young readers.
gwin@vindy.com