fbpx

One-Room Schoolhouse Supplies Were Dependent Upon Wealth

By Capper's Staff
Published on May 14, 2012

The early rural one-room schoolhouses sometimes had double desks wide enough for two pupils to share. There was always one long recitation bench by the teacher’s desk. The blackboard would be on the wall back of her desk with the Palmer method cards of the alphabet in small and capital letters. There would be a box hanging on one wall with big rolls of maps of countries in the world, and a lucky school would also have a globe of the world. There was always two large framed pictures of Washington and Lincoln on the walls to inspire young folks to high goals.

Pupils had to bring pencils, ruler, and a tablet to go to classes in those depression days, and no special school shoes were required for physical education on the playground.

Library books were seldom found in the depression days. The teacher would read a chapter a day for opening exercises from a good book. Books for classes had to be ordered thru the county superintendent’s office to assure a sameness in the fourteen subjects offered in the eighth grade.

Supplies often depended on the wealth of the district to obtain them. It was a struggle to juggle classes in all eight grades those early years.

Dorothy Carmann
Riverdale, Nebraska


Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.