Literacy Artifacts: Preserving Tools, Methods, and Teachers' Technologies of the Long Nineteenth Century

Founded in 1910 by the State of Ohio as a normal school to educate teachers, Bowling Green State University has reflected and shaped educational practices and changes throughout its history. Across the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, literacy education has both shaped and been shaped by a variety of technologies. Traces of this relationship can be found among the many artifacts that form the Educational Memorabilia Collection--and that can be found in the Little Red Schoolhouse on the BGSU campus. Exploring the Center for Archival Collections in the Jerome Library, we uncovered many artifacts that enabled us to understand this relationship better. Indeed, every tool of technology creates both affordances and constraints for literacy practices and instruction. We hope that in our exhibit you find ways to reflect on your own uses of literacies and the tools that enable it.