1893 Bartlett Map of Massachusetts Public Schools

This is an 1893 George H. Bartlett map of Massachusetts Common Schools representing the pioneering of American public education in Massachusetts. The common schools mapped here were community-organized public schools with a religious underpinning. They predated the state-funded public school system we know today. This map focuses on the final years of the common school system and pioneering efforts in Massachusetts to centralize and 'normalize' public education under the state banner. Massachusetts was the first state to do so, thus this map documents the developmental stages of public education as we know it today.

A Closer Look

City and town boundaries throughout are illustrated. Black dots within each represent common schools. Some towns boast over a dozen, while others lack any. Statistics in the lower left detail the number of public schools, normal schools (which train teachers), teachers, superintendents, attendance information, annual expenditure, and the population and number of schools in some thirty cities.

Common Schools

Common schools were a religion-focused community-funded public school that rose to prominence in the 19th century, particularly in New England. They were an outgrowth of the First and Second Great Awakenings, periods of mass Protestant revival in Britain and America that called for everyone to be educated so that they could read the Bible. In the mid-19th century, common schools were promoted by Horace Mann (1796 - 1859), an outspoken advocate for public education. Typically, common schools institutionalized religion into the curriculum, particularly Puritan teachings, with catechisms as grammar books and local clergy as educators.

Horace Mann became the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education in 1837 and served until 1848. During these years, Mann sought to create a universal standard for public education, which then varied from region to region, if not community to community. In 1839, Mann also opened the first 'normal school' for training teachers in the belief that a uniform educator baseline would help standardize education across the state. The close relationship with Protestantism did not go unchallenged, particularly by immigrants, some of whom, including Catholics in Philadelphia, founded their parochial schools. Common schools spread across the United States throughout the latter half of the 19th century, but education scholars see the common school era as ending around 1900, when schools were reorganized into school districts with state and federal funding, under state supervision.

Publication History and Census

This map was 'designed and drawn by George H. Bartlett' and published in 1893. We note three examples cataloged in OCLC: Brown University, the State Library of Massachusetts, and the Newberry Library. We note an additional example at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library.