Mathematics and Mourning: Textbook Burial and Student Culture Before and After the Civil War, 1853–1880

Andrew Fiss

doi:10.1017/heq.2017.3

Mathematics and Mourning: Textbook Burial and Student Culture Before and After the Civil War, 1853–1880

History of Education Quarterly ◽

10.1017/heq.2017.3 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 221-246 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrew Fiss

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Civil War ◽

Student Culture ◽

Funeral Ritual ◽

Nineteenth Century America ◽

Attitudes Toward Death ◽

Before And After ◽

Collegiate Mathematics ◽

Civil War Era ◽

Changing Attitudes

In nineteenth-century America, students buried their mathematics books. This practice consistently celebrated the milestone of passing through collegiate mathematics, yet it changed due to national events. This article considers the case of Bowdoin College, where students buried their books differently before and after the Civil War. Antebellum, they observed a complex “Burial of Calculus” with songs, parades, and mock prayers. Postbellum, students personified their books as a woman, placing stones marked “Anna” on the textbooks’ graves. Using archival investigations of students' pamphlets and textbooks, this paper argues that these changes resulted from the war's effects on education as well as changing attitudes toward death. Both the antebellum and postbellum rituals communicated understandings of mathematics and academic achievement, as connected through a mock funeral ritual. Through investigating these connections, this paper asserts the importance of student practices for our understanding of Civil War era education.

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Ruling Passions: Political Economy in Nineteenth-Century America

Journal of Policy History ◽

10.1353/jph.2005.0028 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 1-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Richard R. John

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Civil War ◽

Early Republic ◽

Special Issue ◽

Policy History ◽

Nineteenth Century America ◽

History Of ◽

American Policy ◽

Civil War Era ◽

Governmental Institutions

In recent years, theJournal of Policy Historyhas emerged as a major venue for scholarship on American policy history in the period after 1900. Indeed, it is for this reason that it is often praised as the leading outlet for scholarship on American political history in the world. Only occasionally, however, has it featured essays on the early republic, the Civil War, or the post-Civil War era. And when it has, the essays have often focused on partisan electioneering rather than on governmental institutions. The rationale for this special issue of theJournal of Policy Historyis to expand the intellectual agenda of policy history backward in time so as to embrace more fully the history of governmental institutions in the period before 1900. The six essays that follow contain much that will be new even for specialists in nineteenth-century American policy history, yet they are written in a style that is intended to be accessible to college undergraduates and historians unfamiliar with the period.

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T. M. HAYGOOD. Henry William Ravenel, 1814–1887, South Carolina scientist in the Civil War era. (History of American Science and Technology series). The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa and London: 1987. Pp xiv, 205; illustrated. Price: not stated. ISBN 0-8173-0297-2.

Archives of Natural History ◽

10.3366/anh.1990.17.3.386 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 386-387

Author(s):

MICHAEL T. STIEBER

Keyword(s):

South Carolina ◽

Civil War ◽

Science And Technology ◽

University Of Alabama ◽

American Science ◽

History Of ◽

Civil War Era ◽

The University

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Presidents and the Dissolution of the Union

10.23943/princeton/9780691151991.001.0001 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Fred I. Greenstein ◽

Dale Anderson

Keyword(s):

Civil War ◽

Organizational Capacity ◽

The United States ◽

Abraham Lincoln ◽

George Washington ◽

Personal Strengths ◽

History Of ◽

Civil War Era ◽

American Leader ◽

Policy Vision

The United States witnessed an unprecedented failure of its political system in the mid-nineteenth century, resulting in a disastrous civil war that claimed the lives of an estimated 750,000 Americans. This book assesses the personal strengths and weaknesses of presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama. The book evaluates the leadership styles of the Civil War-era presidents. The book looks at the presidential qualities of James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. For each president, the book provides a concise history of the man's life and presidency, and evaluates him in the areas of public communication, organizational capacity, political skill, policy vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence. The book sheds light on why Buchanan is justly ranked as perhaps the worst president in the nation's history, how Pierce helped set the stage for the collapse of the Union and the bloodiest war America had ever experienced, and why Lincoln is still considered the consummate American leader to this day. The book reveals what enabled some of these presidents, like Lincoln and Polk, to meet the challenges of their times—and what caused others to fail.

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