TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS. 



761 



The first national educational association was 

 the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Education, organized in Philadelphia in 

 December 1849, under the leadership of Horace 

 Mann, Alonzo Potter, Joseph Henry, Henry 

 Barnard, Charles Northend, John S. Hart, 

 John Griscom, Joseph Chandler, Nathan 

 Bishop, Alexander D. Bache, Samuel S. Ran- 

 dall, and others. The early presidents were 

 Horace Mann (1849), Eliphalet Nott (1850), 

 Right Rev. Alonzo Potter (1851-'52), Joseph 

 Henry (1853), Alexander D. Bache (1854), and 

 Henry Barnard (1855). The credit of sug- 

 gesting and originating the formation of the 

 present National Educational Association is 

 probably due to William Russell, who was born 

 in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1798, and was edu- 

 cated in the Latin School and University of 

 that city. He began his life work as a teacher 

 in Georgia, and was the author of an admirable 

 address setting forth the nature and objects of 

 an organization that should include all the pro- 

 fessional teachers in this country. This address 

 was read to a convention held in Philadelphia, 

 Aug. 27, 1857, and resulted in a formal organi- 

 zation of the National Teachers 1 Association, 

 with Zalmon Richards as president. The first 

 anniversary of the association was held in Cin- 

 cinnati on Aug. 11-13, 1858. Its successive 

 presidents were: Andrew J. Rickoff, J. W. 

 Bulkley, John D. Philbrick, W. II. Wells, S. S. 

 Green, J. P. Wickersham, J. M. Gregory, L. 

 Vanliokelen, and Daniel B. Ilagar. This as- 

 sociation was merged into the National Educa- 

 tional Association, at Albany, N. Y., in 1870. 

 The successive presidents have been : J. L. 

 Pickard (1871), E. E. White (1872), B. G. 

 Northrop (1873). S. H. White (1874), W. T. 

 Harris (1875), W. F. Phelps (1876), M. A. 

 Newell (1877), Johp Hancock (1879), J. Or- 

 mond Wilson (1880), John H. Smart (1881), 

 G. J. Orr (1882), E. T. Tappan (1883), Thomas 

 W. Bicknell (1884), F. Louis Soldan (1885), 

 N". A. Calkins (1886), W. E. Sheldon (1887), 

 Aaron Gove (1888), and A. P. Marble (1889). 

 These meetings have been held in most of the 

 principal cities of our country, the last being 

 in San Francisco. The meeting for 1889 is to 

 be held in Nashville, Tenn. An historical 

 sketch of the organization of the associations 

 in each of the States would fill a large volume, 

 but the fallowing outline will indicate a few 

 facts concerning their early history. In some 

 instances the records of the first meetings have 

 been lost, but the dates as given below are 

 thought to be correct : 



Arkansas Teachers' Association, 1860. 



Alabama State Educational Association, 1856. 



California Education Society, 1S.">4. 



Connecticut State Association, 18-39. 



District of Columbia Association of Teachers, 1849. 



Delaware State Convention. 1853-'56. 



Florida Education Society, Tallahassee, 1831. 



Georgia Teachers' Society, 1831. 



Iowa State Teachers' Association, 1854. 



Indiana State Teachers' Association, 1854. 



Illinois State P>ducation Society, 1841. 



Kansas State Teachers' Association, 1863. 



Kentucky State Teachers' Association, 1857. 



Louisiana Institute for the Promotion of Educa- 

 tion, 1838. 



Mississippi Teachers' Association, 1858. 



Maine State Teachers' Association, 1846. 



Maryland Institute of Education, 



Massachusetts State Association. 



Michigan State Education Society, 1 



Minnesota State Teachers' Association, 1853. 



Missouri Teachers' Association, 1848. 



New York State Teachers' Association, 1845. 



New Jersey State Teachers' Association, 1853. 



New Hampshire State Teachers' Association, 1843. 



North Carolina Institute of Education, 1830. 



Oregon State Educational Association, 1863. 



Ohio State Teachers' Association, 1853. 



Pennsylvania State Teachers' Association, 1852. 



Ehode Island Institute of Instruction, 1844. 



South Carolina State Teachers' Association, 1849. 



Texas Literary Institute, 1846. 



Tennessee Association of Professional Teachers, 

 1837. 



Vermont State Teachers' Association, 1850. 



Virginia State Teachers' Association. 1856. 



West Virginia State Teachers' Association, 1865. 



Wisconsin Teachers' Association, 1853. 



The National Educational Association, as 

 now organized, is divided into the following 

 departments: General Association; National 

 Council of Education; and Departments of 

 Kindergarten Work, Elementary Education, 

 Secondary Education, Higher Education, Nor- 

 mal Education, Superintendence, Industrial 

 Education, Art, and Music. The National 

 Council of Education holds its meetings the 

 week previous to the sessions of the General 

 Association. During its meetings, the General 

 Association occupies the forenoon and evening 

 of each day, while the departments meet at 

 assigned places in the afternoons. 



Questions bearing directly upon the work of 

 education in all parts of our country, and in all 

 its relations, are discussed by able educators, 

 whose papers and remarks are published in an 

 annual volume of u Proceedings." The vol- 

 ume for 1888 contains 944 pages ; that of 1887, 

 829 pages; and the volumes of several years 

 preceding 1887 contained from 400 to 550 

 pages. The attendance at these meetings dur- 

 ing the past few years has been very large. 

 The membership attendance at Madison, 1884, 

 was over 8,000; at Topeka, 1886, 5,000; at 

 Chicago, 1887, about 10,500; at San Francisco, 

 1888, about 4,500. 



Among the principal subjects discussed at 

 the San Francisco meeting were: "The Place 

 of Literature in Common-School Education," 

 "The Best Discipline to Prepare Law- Abid- 

 ing Citizens," " Current Criticism of Public 

 Schools," "The Relation of the State to School 

 Supplies," "The American Schools and the 

 American Library," " Waste in Elementary 

 Education," " The Business Side of City School 

 Systems," "The University and the High- 

 School," "The Normal School and the Acad- 

 emy," "The Ethics of School Management," 

 " Industrial Training and General Culture," 

 "Elementary Music in Public Schools." As 

 an example of the scope and value of these dis- 

 cussions, we refer to the papers on the relation 



