America's Country Schools

The book examines the one-room schoolhouse and the memories of this important part of the American past through sections on the country school legacy, country school architecture, and country school preservation. The architectural and historical significance of this distinctive building type is evocatively portrayed by more than 400 photographs. The country school legacy section addresses country schools in American education, the four R's (reading, writing, arithmetic, and recitation), teachers' lives on the western frontier, country schools as community centers, country schools and the assimilation process, and country schools today. The country school architecture section provides a review of little red schoolhouses--and others. The country school preservation section discusses the new three R's (restoration, rehabilitation, and reuse) and presents case studies of one school now used as a living history museum and one school now used as a bank. The book closes with a list of country schools (by state) that are currently in use as schools or as museums or as community centers, a bibliography, a list of sources of information, and an index of schools identified in the book. (BRR)