Today in History: Remembering Harold Rugg

Harold Ordway Rugg (January 17, 1886 - May 17, 1960) was a well-known educator during the Progressive era who taught for three decades at Teachers College, Columbia University and its experimental Lincoln School beginning in 1920. He completed his Ph.D. (entitled "The Experimental Determination of Mental Discipline in School Studies") at the University of Illinois in 1915 and then taught and researched at the University of Chicago, working in the field of evaluation and measurement, with a focus on standardized testing among American soldiers. In his years at Teachers College, he developed a widely-used series, first of pamphlets, and then of textbooks in geography, history, and civics, to encourage the investigation of social problems and solutions, with social justice being a central theme. Initially fascinated by the Soviet Union and believed to be unpatriotic, Rugg was attacked by the Advertising Federation of American, the American Legion, and other organizations for his unconventional approach to the teaching of social studies. Despite the extensive review and eventual retraction of serious charges, Rugg's textbooks, including Man and His Changing Society (Ginn, 1937) grew unfavorable in the U.S. curriculum, with many still questioning his intent and others wishing to adopt a more conservative, less creative or reconstructionist approach in the classroom.

Harold Ordway Rugg died in his home in Woodstock, New York on May 17th, 1960, and his final book, Imagination was published posthumously by Harper and Row in 1963.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Conscious History. (1929, Feb 10). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Rugg Traces Needs in Creative Teaching: Revolution in School Methods Seen by Columbia Professor in Address to Educators.   (1929, Nov 30). New York Times (1923-) 
• Says Leisure Is Problem That Looms: Dr. Harold Rugg of Columbia Declares Educational Change Needed to Meet Future. (1931, Mar 27). The Hartford Courant (1923-) 
• Education is Held Democracy Bias: Intelligent Understanding of Government Vital to Success, Says Professor Harold Rugg. (1936, Nov 22). New York Times (1923-) 
• Hearing Today on Claim Texts Espouse 'Isms': Author Will Be at Board Session to Defend His Schoolbooks. (1940, Sep 18). The Atlanta Constitution (1881-1945) 
• New Yorkers Join in Textbook Row: Group Wires Georgia Governor Concerning Dr. Rugg's Productions: Declares "There Must Be No Book Burnings in America". (1940, Sep 22). The Sun (1837-) 
• Board Defers Action on Use of Rugg Texts: 'Accepts' Report of Committee But Doesn't Adopt It. (1940, Oct 23). The Atlanta Constitution (1881-1945) 
• Macdonald, W.  (1941, Feb 23). Dr. Rugg Defends Modern Histories: And Is Criticized in Turn Over His Own Books at Meeting in Philadelphia. New York Times (1923-) 
• Hicks, H. (1942, May 10). Prof. Rugg's Books: Dean Dearborn's Reply to Criticism of Them. New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Harold Rugg Dies; Author of Textbooks: Professor Emeritus at Teachers College. (1960, May 18).New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 

Tips:

• Evans, Ronald W. This Happened in America : Harold Rugg and the Censure of Social Studies. Information Age Pub., 2008. Stacks ; LB885.R732 E93 2007.
• Kliebard, Herbert M. Changing Course : American Curriculum Reform in the 20th Century. Teachers College Press, 2002. Stacks, TC ANA : LB2806.15 .K59 2002; e-book.
• Moreau, Joseph. Schoolbook Nation : Conflicts over American History Textbooks from the Civil War to the Present. First edition. University of Michigan Press, 2005. e-book.
• Rugg, Harold Ordway. That Men May Understand ; An American in the Long Armistice. First edition. Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., 1941. Closed Stacks Research, TC ANA : LB875 .R86 1941.
• Rugg, Harold Ordway, and William Withers. Social Foundations of Education. Prentice-Hall, 1955.  Stacks, TC ANA : Stacks ; LC191 .R8 1955.
• Sabine, George Holland, and Wesley C. Mitchell. The Text Books of Harold Rugg : An Analysis. [American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom], 1942.  Closed Stacks Research ; H62 .A52.
• Totten, Samuel, and Jon E. Pedersen, editors. Educating about Social Issues in the 20th and 21st Centuries : Critical Pedagogues and Their Pedagogical Theories. Information Age Publishing, 2015. e-book.

See:

• Books authored by Harold Ordway Rugg.
• Harold O. Rugg Collection.
• Harold O. Rugg, Faculty File.

Images:

• Title Page, Key for Pupil’s Workbook of Directed Study : To Accompany Changing Governments and Changing Cultures : Democracy Versus Dictatorship :The World Struggle : An Introductory Problem (Pp.Xiii-Xv). 2008. Harold O. Rugg Collection, Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Book Cover, An Introduction to the Problems of American Culture.
• Portrait of Harold Rugg, Professor of Teachers College, Columbia University. 1940.  Henry Harap Collection.

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