Anxious Pedagogies: Gendered Glimmers of a 19th-Century Rural Male Schoolteacher's Life

• In Event: 53.063 - Documenting Practice and Profession

Abstract

This paper, part of a broader archival project, brings a gendered analysis to bear on the diaries and preoccupations of a male schoolteacher, father, and later, administrator, who worked in a rural community outside of Lexington, Kentucky during the latter half of the 19th century. From 1857 through the turn of the century, this industrious schoolworker wrote methodically in his journal—on a daily basis—about the changeable weather, the rhythm of rural life, and his recurring, and gendered anxieties about his teaching life. The case offers a biographical vignette of a teaching life and broader insights into rural schooling landscapes over time.

Author

• Lucy E. Bailey, Oklahoma State University