Harney School in western North Dakota had just one student left during its final year. Harney School is one of the rural schools across the Great Plains that have withered away over the decades as entire communities have faltered. In the 1920s, more than 4,700 one-room schoolhouses dotted North Dakota's countryside, often no more than a few miles…

The document presents organizational details of the 18-month Country School Legacy Project (June 1980-December 1981) to begin an on-going inquiry into the history of rural education and current public policies which affect country schools and which will result in greater public use of library facilities and historical collections in public,…

Country schools were important in the growth and development of North Dakota. While most of the early schools were constructed of wood, some were constructed of stone, sod, or logs. Standardization was established by 1915, and the white framed one-room school was duplicated in every township of the state until the end of World War II. A former…

Teacher duties and curriculum developed by North Dakota, in deciding what role teachers would play in the community and what standards of conformity and propriety would be applied to teachers, mirrored certain aspects of the local culture and reflected a wider national culture. The inclusion of health studies reflected the local majority concern…

The state superintendent, the county superintendent, and the one-room school teacher each contributed to classroom instruction in North Dakota. In 1895, the "School Text Book Law" provided for free text books and school supplies for all pupils; however, the law was not mandatory. Specific courses of study and elaborate handbooks on all…

As late as 1938 there were 200,000 one-room schools scattered throughout the United States. By 1978 there were little more than 1,000 in operation. Primary-source research on rural education has now been conducted by 23 researchers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, sponsored by the Mountain…

This bulletin was prepared to indicate recent progress in rural life and education as disclosed by the educational exhibits at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915. The discussion includes (1) the general phases of progress in rural education, and (2) advancement in its more specific agricultural phases. Little attempt has been made to present…