Giving 'Reality to the Dim Vision of a Life of Freedom:' A Reassessment of the Impact of the Oswego State Normal School

Drawing from the Sheldon and Manktelow collections at SUNY Oswego's Penfield Library, along with sociological criteria for a profession -- graduate-level training, autonomy, peer evaluation and responsibility to the public -- this article reassesses Oswego State Normal School's impact on nineteenth-century teacher education. Descriptions of Oswego identify the school as an active site of object teaching and Pestalozzianism in the US. Yet, as this analysis reveals, Edward Austin Sheldon and Oswego's faculty oversaw the development of practices and innovations that were designed to enhance teacher autonomy and to involve teachers in their own learning and evaluation. With Oswego's reputation for innovation spreading, Sheldon took responsibility to describe and defend the teacher preparation work conducted at Oswego. This article argues that Oswego should be remembered not just for the promotion of object teaching and Pestalozzian principles, but also for its efforts to leverage such practices and principles to cultivate a stronger teaching profession.