Mary Sheldon Barnes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mary Sheldon Barnes
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Mary Sheldon Barnes, date unknown
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Mary Downing Sheldon
September 15, 1850 Oswego, New York, United States
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| Died | August 27, 1898 (aged 47) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan Oswego Normal School |
| Occupation | Educator Historian |
| Employer | Stanford University 1892-1897 Wellesley College 1877-1879 Oswego Normal School 1869-1871, 1874-1876, 1882-188 |
Mary Downing Sheldon Barnes (September 15, 1850 – August 27, 1898) was an American teacher and historian. Her way of teaching and her books were thought to be very modern for her time. She helped students learn how to do their own research. She taught them to use original documents and solve problems themselves. Mary Sheldon Barnes also greatly influenced the writer and socialist Anna Strunsky.
Contents
About Mary Sheldon Barnes
Her Early Life and Schooling
Mary Downing Sheldon was born in Oswego, New York. She was the oldest of five children. Her parents were Frances Stiles and Edward Austin Sheldon. Her father started the Oswego State Normal and Training School. This school was known for its teaching ideas from Pestalozzi. These ideas focused on learning by doing and exploring.
Mary's childhood was different from most in the 1800s. Both her parents wanted her to get a good education. They also encouraged her to be curious and ask questions. Mary went to public schools in Oswego. She also took a special program at Oswego Normal. She finished in 1869 as a certified teacher. She had special training in studying ancient Greek and Roman cultures.
After graduating, she taught at Oswego for two years. In 1871, she joined the first class at the University of Michigan that allowed both boys and girls. Mary helped start the Quadrantic Circle, which was like an early sorority. At Michigan, she studied a lot with Moses Coit Tyler. He was a professor who taught about English language and literature in history. She also learned from Charles Kendall Adams. He believed in a German way of teaching history where students discuss topics in small groups. Mary was also very interested in science. She earned her degree in classical studies in 1874.
Her Teaching Career
After college, Mary went back to Oswego State Normal. She taught history, Latin, Greek, and botany. In 1877, she started teaching at Wellesley College. She worked in the English and history departments for two and a half years. Her teaching style was seen as unusual back then. She used a "case method" approach. This was a way of teaching where students learned by studying real-life examples or situations. Her father had introduced this method in Oswego.
Mary Sheldon Barnes used ideas from Pestalozzi and Leopold von Ranke. She wanted to help students build problem-solving skills. She also taught them how to investigate history. She encouraged her students to do more than just memorize facts. Instead of a textbook, she used copies of original documents. By reading these important historical papers, students could talk about big questions from the past.
However, the teachers at Wellesley did not like her methods. In 1879, she left her job because of health problems and disagreements at the college. She stopped teaching to travel and rest. In 1882, she returned to Oswego Normal. There, she wrote her book Studies in General History. This book was published in 1885 for high school students.
On August 6, 1885, she married Earl Barnes. He was a former student and eleven years younger than her. While Earl taught at different universities, Mary focused on writing. She also worked with the historian Andrew Dickson White. In 1891, Earl Barnes became the head of the education department at Stanford University. He used Mary's methods for studying education history and how children develop.
In March 1892, Mary joined the history department at Stanford. She was the first female teacher there. As an assistant professor, she taught 19th-century European history and Pacific Slope history (history of the western coast of North America). The couple worked together on Studies in American History. This book was published in 1891 for eighth-grade students. Mary owned the copyright for this book. She also did research in California schools. She studied how her "source method" and teaching ideas worked. From this, she designed a history plan that considered how students learn as they grow. Mary also published Studies in Historical Method. This book was for teachers and anyone interested in learning about how historians study the past. In 1897, Mary and Earl left Stanford to travel and write in Europe.
Her Last Years and Impact
Mary's health had always been a concern. Her ongoing illness got worse while she was in Europe. She had a new medical procedure for a heart disease, but it did not work. On August 27, 1898, she passed away in London. As she wished, Earl buried her in a Protestant cemetery in Rome.
Mary Sheldon Barnes's teaching method encouraged students to "study original documents on their own." She gave them questions to guide their problem-solving. This helped students learn to observe, weigh evidence, make general ideas, and use their imagination about history. This approach was considered very modern for her time. It used a "case method" that helped improve regular history textbooks.
Her book Studies in General History caused a lot of discussion among leading historians and educators. The American Historical Association's Committee of Seven wrote a report in 1899. They did not agree with Mary's teaching approach. The committee suggested that students should only have "limited contact with a limited body of materials." They believed this would show children "the nature of the historical process." Even though her ideas were not widely written about, her teaching philosophy had a big impact. Especially her focus on critical thinking for students. This influenced how general education courses were set up in the mid-1900s.
In 1985 and 1986, Mary Sheldon Barnes's papers and Earl Barnes's papers were given to the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. This was done by Betty Barnes, who was Earl Barnes's daughter-in-law.
List of Works
Books
- Barnes, Mary Sheldon (1885). Studies in General History. Boston, Health & Co., 1885.
- Studies in American History. Boston, Heath & Co., 1891.
- Studies in Greek and Roman History, 1894.
- Studies in Historical Method, 1896.
Essays
- Barnes, Mary Sheldon (1879).
- — (May 1882). "Poor White Trash". Cornhill Magazine 45: 579–584.
- — (July 1895). "History: A Definition and a Forecast". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 6 (5): 285–290.
- — (July 1889). "General History in the High School". The Academy: Journal of Secondary Education 4 (5): 285–290.
- Barnes, Earl and Mary Sheldon (April 1898). "Collections of Sources in English for History Teachers". Educational Review 15: 331–338.
