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following institutions: The Kirksville State Normal School; Cape Girardeau State Normal School; Missouri Valley College, at Marshall; Central College, at Fayette; Lexington Female College; Westminster College, at Fulton; HowardPayne College, at Fayette; Drury College, at Springfield; Central Wesleyan College, at Warrenton; Liberty Ladies' College; William Jewel College, at Liberty; Christian College, at Columbia; Park College, at Parkville; Harden College; St. Cecilia Seminary, and Loretto Academy.

NEBRASKA.

BY ERWIN HINCKLEY BARBOUR.

THE EXHIBIT.

Shortly after the appointment of a director (or superintendent) of education by the Nebraska State commission to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, circular letters were addressed to nearly 10,000 schoolmen and schoolwomen of Nebraska. Through the courtesy of Mr. W. K. Fowler, State superintendent of public instruction, the mailing list was made up from his corrected manuscript list of the schools and teachers of the State, both public and private.

Later developments showed that circular letters were insufficient for the purpose and that considerable apathy existed, which had to be overcome by personal appeal. Because of the small legislative appropriation the commission found it necessary to limit the amount for educational exhibits to $4,250. This sum was made to cover all costs of installing and maintaining not only the educational booth proper, but also two classes and teachers from the school for the deaf and a booth in mines and metallurgy. It has been said, and it is doubtless true, that no other similar educational exhibit was prepared and maintained at less cost.

The architectural plans of the booth were prepared by Mr. Thomas Kimball, of Omaha, and consisted essentially of a plain four-column façade in white, suitably decorated with symbols of education, and with the great seal of the State and of the University of Nebraska in relief. Wide counters with curtained shelves beneath extended around the three walls, with two large tables and wings projecting from each of the two side walls. The color scheme was a subdued green, and all the draperies, furniture, card mounts, wall trimmings, counters, and floor were made to match.

The tables, counters and shelves were devoted to bound volumes of school work, portfolios of drawings, and show cases. Cabinets for card mounts and suitable show cases were provided. Card mounts paneled off by oak molding and corner blocks were arranged uniformly over all blank wall spaces. The rear wall was reserved for large drawings and paintings, and was enlivened by two double ornamental windows imitating leaded glass. Alternating panes were embellished by educational statistics and literary symbols. Suspended overhead was an original lantern in imitation of stained glass, designed and executed by a schoolboy of Lincoln, and near it a large circular stained-glass churchwindow designed and executed by the club women of Omaha. The entrance to the booth was rendered additionally attractive by large colored transparencies from the Morrill geological expeditions of the University of Nebraska. Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, Hastings, Beatrice, York, Fremont, Plattsmouth, Falls City, Peru, Crete, Crawford, Columbus, Craig, Tecumseh,

Belleview, Gering, Wahoo, and other towns and many rural schools were represented. Special exhibits were made by the Institute for the Deaf, Institute for the Blind, the State Normal School at Peru, the State Forestry Association, the State Forestry School, the University of Nebraska, Union College, the State library commission, the State geological survey, the State botanical survey, the State Engineering Society, the State Ornithologists' Union, the Nebraska weather bureau, women's clubs, etc.

The work of collecting, preparing, and forwarding material was shared chiefly by Miss Carrie A. Barbour, Miss Helena I. Redford, Mr. E. G. Woodruff, and Miss Edith L. Webster, assistants in the University of Nebraska. Miss Webster was given charge of the exhibits during the entire period of the exposition. Among the special features of the exhibit, the one cherished was that of honest representation. The work was not recast for special display, but was shown as it came from the pupils, with errors and corrections still in evidence. So far as can be learned, pupils were not generally forewarned and few knew that their work was to be displayed. In the case of the larger schools, where the notebooks and the written work are of exceptional excellence, the director of exhibits selected and made up the bound volumes out of material laid aside before the legislature had acted upon the State appropriation for the exposition. The exhibit was genuine throughout. The tendency toward laboratory methods and applied science was pronounced, even in the work of the rural schools. The rapid advancement of Nebraska's educational standard to its present position of lowest percentage of illiteracy on the western continent has depended, as does the survival of any pioneer, upon resourcefulness. Throughout the State great stress seems to have been laid on original work in every grade, resulting in many individual pieces of striking merit, some of the most interesting coming from isolated villages and rural schools on the western border.

Among the special features an important one was the work of women's clubsin their efforts for the establishment of parks, playgrounds, gardens, and more commodious schoolhouses; in the organization and maintenance of city and home-improvement societies, traveling libraries, and charity organizations; in original investigation and the education of certain worthy poor. The State Library Association made an extensive exhibit of large photographs of the exteriors and interiors of all the libraries of the State, carrying the matter even to the traveling libraries in the villages and rural homes. Accompanying this were published reports and statistical matter of value.

One of the striking features of the exhibit was the Omaha manual training display. The work was of such excellence and of such exceptional finish and beauty as to attract general notice. The work of every grade was shown in the order of progression, as well as the beautiful piecework, turned work, and inlaid work which certain students of the Omaha High School were allowed to make as a recognition and reward for proficiency in required work.

The school for the deaf at Omaha was represented by work in plain and fancy sewing and embroidery, by an especially large and creditable display of art work, by bound books of class work and statistics, and by two "live" classes. During the month of June a class of six pupils and teachers was maintained and was in operation daily, illustrating the method of teaching the youth of the institute for the deaf. Again, during the month of October a class of eight pupils and teachers in art work gave daily exhibitions of methods.

The Nebraska School for the Blind, at Nebraska City, exhibited lace, plain and fancy sewing, embroidery, knitting, weaving, beadwork, basket work, hammocks and nets, brooms and brushes, the exhibit being large and creditable in

every line of work. The State Forestry Association exhibited publications of the society. The State Forestry School exhibited the work of students, various forestry scenes, seeds, and sections of timber grown in Nebraska, photographs of the Dismal River, Government forestry reserve, 50 large colored photographic views of timbers and forests, 100 framed charts tinted to show the distribution of each tree in Nebraska and in the United States; also photographs of J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day, and his home at Arbor Lodge.

The State Normal School at Peru was represented by a series of enlarged colored photographs and by the work of its art department.

The University of Nebraska was represented by colored enlarged photographs of its campus, buildings, and equipment; by a particularly creditable display by the art department; by original models and charts from the department of zoology and medicine; by large relief maps, geological maps and sections, crystal models, and published reports; by an elaborate set of photographs and drawings showing the laboratories and equipment of the electrical department, which also exhibited original apparatus, theses of students, and published reports; by photographs of the psychological laboratories; photographs and statistics of the University School of Music, with published reports and printed and manuscript music; by statistics from the English department, particularly the branch of debating, showing photographs of all contestants, statistics, and victories in the intercollegiate debates; awards from the funds established by the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, etc.; by books and published reports from the departments of botany, geology, zoology, pedagogy, electrical engineering, and psychology; by trophies and statistics of victories in athletics.

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Union College, at Collegeview, represented a remarkable industrial and applied system of education, not only showing college work of standard grade, but every phase of practical work in the trades and agriculture, the care of the sick, and the economics and management of the household. This was ably illustrated by photographs, catalogues, and papers printed on the college press and bound in the college bindery. The work in relief maps was of special merit, ranging from crude free-hand work in paper by the first grade to that of the State geological survey and of the University of Nebraska.

The study of geography by the scrapbook method, a very successful method devised and used in the Omaha public schools, was presented for inspection in large bound portfolios, and attracted the notice and elicited the favorable comments of teachers. A new method of teaching crystallography developed in the State University was shown, by which blocks of plaster of Paris with axes of silk are used. By cutting and modifying these with reference to the axes the various forms are produced.

NEW JERSEY.

BY S. R. MORSE, DIRECTOR.

THE EXHIBIT.

The decision to make an educational exhibit from New Jersey at the world's greatest exposition was delayed until late in October, 1903. As the exposition was to be opened on May 1, 1904, this gave a scant allowance of time for the formulation of plans and the preparation, collection, selection, arrangement, ship

ment, and installation of work. Notwithstanding this unfortunate delay, of the 35 States which made an educational exhibit New Jersey's was the first to be in place and ready for inspection.

As soon as the decision to make a display was reached all local school authorities were at once notified, but our circular (No. 3) outlining the plan of work was not printed and ready for distribution until November 20. The response to the circular was prompt, cordial, and very nearly general. The principal suggestions contained in it were as follows:

Each county and city superintendent was made chairman of a committee of his own selection to take charge of the preparation of the work forwarded from the schools under his supervision.

Special committees, comprised of experts in each of the several lines of school work, were appointed to assist in the final selection of material to be forwarded to St. Louis.

In order to stimulate healthful rivalry, awaken a general interest in the State exhibit, and give the parents and friends of pupils an opportunity to see their work, a public exhibit of the work of each school was recommended before sending it to the county or city superintendent.

County and city exhibits were also suggested to be made before superintendents forwarded the work received by them to State headquarters. This afforded an excellent opportunity for comparing the work of different schools and gave each teacher an opportunity to see what was best. This local exhibit is the most interesting and valuable factor that can be associated with the preparation of the work for a world's exposition. Nothing is more effective in strengthening educational sentiment or proves more helpful in establishing the closer bond of sympathy so much needed between the home and the school than the local display, in which each parent has an opportunity to see the work of his own and his neighbor's children.

In addition to the preceding, circular No. 3 gave extended specific and general instructions for the preparation, classification, and mounting of school work. All kinds of paper needed for the final work of pupils and the cardboard required. to mount it were furnished by the State.

The following special exhibits were solicited: Specimens of minerals correctly labeled and boxed ready to be set up, each label to state the name of the specimen, when and where found, and the name, age, and grade of the contributing pupil; mounted specimens of plants and leaves; homemade apparatus For physical and chemical experiments; text-books, monographs on special topics, and other literary productions prepared by teachers, principals, and superintendents engaged in public school work; photographs showing the architecture of school buildings, their class rooms, furniture, apparatus, and the personnel of teachers and pupils; also any special literary, scientific, mechanical, or artistic work of pupils.

In common with all other States, New Jersey exhibited copies of school law, annual reports, courses of study, catalogues, rules and regulations, and the various blank forms found necessary in modern school administration.

The New Jersey educational exhibit differed in some features from that of other States. It had the same wing cabinets that were designed and used exclusively by the New Jersey department of public instruction at Chicago in 1893, but for the display of books and various lines of work not readily shown upon the walls or in the cabinets, drawers instead of shelves were placed under the cabinets. These enabled the work to be put in convenient form for inspection and had the additional merit of keeping it clean.

Another feature entirely new and used for the first time at this exposition was the index key, of which the following is an explanation:

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The exhibit was divided into sections lettered from A to M, inclusive, and these were subdivided into units numbered from 1 to 68, inclusive. Each unit consisted of a leaf cabinet with six drawers directly underneath. The units from 15 to 21, inclusive, were arranged to serve as an index to the entire public school exhibit. Unit No. 15, for instance, directed to first year's work, and unit No. 16 directed to second and fourth years' work, etc. In order to find the work from a particular school it was simply necessary, first, to find in one of the index cabinets the card containing work from the county or city in which said school is located. This card directed you to the section, to the unit, and to the volumes in which all the work of the school, except that placed upon the walls, could be found. Different lines of school work were bound in different colored volumes, as shown by index cards.

Other unique features of the New Jersey exhibit were as follows:

The manual-training work of each school was shown in connection with its academic. An exhibit, consisting of sketches prepared by pupils of the public schools, of historical events that have occurred in the State was accompanied by photographs of historical places and served to stimulate unusual interest in a most important line of investigation. The educational value of an exhibit of this character was duly appreciated, even by unprofessional sight-seers. A combined exhibit of music and art was exceptionally fine and attracted much attention. By means of systematic arrangement, a large amount of work was displayed within small compass. The work in the leaf cabinets was not shown in single sheets, but in the majority of cases from five to twenty sheets were fastened in a single space, so that the entire work of a class could be conveniently inspected.

The general arrangement of the work in the New Jersey educational booth was as follows:

Beginning at the left entrance, there came first that of the New Jersey normal and model schools, next that of the State Industrial School for Colored Youth, and then followed in regular order the general exhibit of primary, grammar, and high school work.

The State normal and model schools of Trenton furnished a complete exhibit of their work, filling six cases, the wall space above these cases, and a number of bound volumes. In preparation for the exhibit, the teachers of the various grades and departments of the schools were requested to select typical exercises from the regular work of the pupils and have these exercises copied by the pupils on uniform exhibition paper without criticism by the teachers, so that so far as the pupils were represented the work should be distinctly their

Own.

In the normal school the types chosen represented not only the efficiency of the pupil, but the plan of the work, or, rather, the method. For instance, a number of typical exercises in English would show the method of taking up the study of English with different grades of pupils, the subjects of English study, and their application to the various grades of pupil development.

In the model school the exercises exhibited typical academic work from each one of the subjects taught in the school and were so arranged as not only to show what was regarded by the authorities of the school as good work, but also to constitute an expression in practice of the theory of the normal. For instance, in the department of drawing there were specimens of constructive, representative, and decorative drawing and color work, and applications of designs in mechanical drawing, posters, pen and ink sketching, etc., all so applied as to meet the standards of practical use in the arts and crafts.

The work as a whole was so systematically arranged that a comprehensive

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