September Mystery at the Museum Solved…

The answers to September’s series of Museum Mysteries are (in weekly order): the ‘Burnside 1’ Cast Iron Stove, ‘The Fashion’ Wooden School Desk, and volumes of ‘McGuffey Eclectic Readers’.  All of this month’s mystery artifacts, and many others, are on display in the Locust Grove School No. 12 at Carillon Historical Park! For a sneak peek at next week’s Mystery at the Museum artifact photo, be sure to pick up a FREE copy of the Dayton City Paper next Tuesday!

Week 1 | The ‘Burnside 1’ Cast Iron Stove

The cast iron stove was once considered a necessity for every home and building. Used for both heating and cooking purposes, these stoves came in many different shapes and sizes. The first cast iron stove to be manufactured in the United States was made in 1642 in Lynn, Massachusetts. Featured in the Locust Grove School No. 12 at Carillon Historical Park is a cannon stove, also known as a pot belly stove, that was manufactured by the West Virginia Foundry and Stove Company. A stove similar to the Burnside model on display here, which is not original to the building, would have been used to keep the students and instructors of this one-room schoolhouse warm during the winter months.

Week 2 | ‘The Fashion’ Wooden School Desk

When visiting the Locust Grove School No. 12 at Carillon Historical Park, guests are encouraged to step back in time by sitting at one of the many school desks lined in rows down the center of the room. Several of the small wooden desks were manufactured by a local company in Sidney, Ohio. The Sidney School Furniture Company began making the Fashion model school desks in 1881. The company produced a variety of products for use in schools including slate blackboards, school bells, benches and other furniture through 1901. Shortly afterward, the factory closed its doors.

Week 3 | Volumes of ‘McGuffey Eclectic Readers’

=In the history of American education, one of the most well-known series of school books, used throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries, was the McGuffy Readers. These early textbooks were the creation of William Holmes McGuffey, a man with strong religious convictions and a passion for education. While teaching at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, McGuffey was approached by a Cincinnati publishing firm to write a series of readers for primary school children. Longtime friend, American author and famous abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe had recommended McGuffey for the job. Reflecting the author’s personal beliefs and philosophies, these textbooks promoted standards of morality and societal values, and were among the first textbooks designed to become more challenging with each volume. It has been estimated that nearly 120 million copies of the McGuffy Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960.

To see other historical images from our collection, search our Digital Photo Archive.