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The papers of Horace Mann (1796-1859), lawyer, congressman, and educational reformer, contain correspondence and documents spanning his early legal career to the years before his death, as well as miscellaneous quotations, notes, and photographs.

The Horace Mann papers date from his early career as a lawyer until 1857, two years before his death (plus a single outlying 1876 item). The collection contains 51 letters (1823-1876), 83 bills/receipts (1824-1833), 15 legal documents (1824-1837), 2 promissory notes (1826; 1829), 4 graphic items, 1 printed bibliography, and 6 autographs, notations, and miscellaneous items.

Beginning with a letter to Ira Barton, in which he praises Barton's oration at the previous year's Independence Day celebration (March 20, 1823), the forty-eight outgoing letters of Horace Mann cover a variety of topics. Eloquently written, these letters provide information about Mann's own thoughts and perspectives. Many of them contain responses to requests to give lectures and others pertain to his perpetually full schedule. They include remarks regarding opposition to the Massachusetts Board of Education in the years following its formation, discussions with P.M. Upson (a Eutaw, Alabama teacher) about his annual reports and the Common Journal (1845), suggestions to J.B. Vandever for the construction of a school (1851), plans and details surrounding the formation of a teachers' institute at Fitchburg, Massachusetts (in correspondence with Charles Mason, 1845), comments on his nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1848, efforts to procure funds to send Mr. Pierce to the World Peace Convention in 1849, friendly conversations with and advice to Samuel Downer, Jr. (from Antioch College, 1854-1857), and other subjects.

Horace Mann did not write two of the letters in this collection. One, by Edward Everett, nominates an unnamed person to a position on the Massachusetts Board of Education (to fill Edward A. Newton's vacant seat). The other, written in 1876 by Mary Mann to Miss Jacobson (who was inspired by Horace Mann's work), encloses a fragment from one of his manuscripts.

The 83 bills/receipts include itemized fees for Horace Mann's services as prosecuting attorney for clients in Norfolk County. Each of these financial documents include fees for writs, entry and court dues, travel expenses, trial attendance, and individual tasks, such as receiving and swearing in the complainant and summoning witnesses.

The 15 legal documents are miscellaneous, related to almost as many different court cases. Most of them regard financial claims and are signed by Horace Mann as attorney for the plaintiffs. One document stands out above the others: the appointment of the first Massachusetts Board of Education, dated May 25, 1837. Signed by Edward Everett and Secretary John P. Bigelow, this item names James G. Carter, Emerson Davis, Edmund Dwight, Horace Mann, Edward A. Newton, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Thomas Robbins, and Jared Sparks to the Board. It bears the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Four graphic items in the collection include three portraits of Horace Mann and a single negative. These images are: one reproduction of an illustration; one hand-colored and mounted albumin print (oval vignette); and one modern photographic reproduction of an earlier touched-up reproduction of a daguerreotype (with an accompanying negative).

The collection contains a printed 31-page "Bibliography of Horace Mann," prepared by Horace Mann’s son, Benjamin Pickman Mann, December 9, 1896. This bibliography was published in the US Bureau of Education, Report of the Commissioner for 1896-1897, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C., 1898).

A small selection of quotations, notations, autographs, and miscellany completes the collection. One signed quotation reads: "I would rather imitate the actions of one good man than to possess the autographs of all the great men in the world." Another small sheet contains the autographs of several Massachusetts Congressmen. Other miscellaneous items include fragments of papers on the responsibilities and jurisdiction of a town's school committees and rules for proper behavior.

Ina L. Cooper kept this notebook to record her notes on Physiological Psychology in the spring term of 1889 and on Language Method in the fall term of 1890, likely reflecting training she was receiving to become a teacher. The Physiological Psychology section includes information about different bodily processes and their impact on pedagogy and student learning. Some of the physiological concepts noted include the nervous system, digestion, the senses, apperception and reproduction, attention and interest, among others. In the Language Method section, Ina Cooper kept notes regarding methods for instruction, ethics, and particulars relating to spelling, botanical study, and grammar.

Ina L. Cooper kept this notebook to record her notes on Physiological Psychology in the spring term of 1889 and on Language Method in the fall term of 1890, likely reflecting training she was receiving to become a teacher. The Physiological Psychology section includes information about different bodily processes and their impact on pedagogy and student learning. Some of the physiological concepts noted include the nervous system, digestion, the senses, apperception and reproduction, attention and interest, among others. In the Language Method section, Ina Cooper kept notes regarding methods for instruction, ethics, and particulars relating to spelling, botanical study, and grammar.

Papers consists mainly of correspondence to/from Osborn while teaching at Hillsdale College, largely about education, Hillsdale College, and Central Michigan University.

The majority of the collection is correspondence to/from John K. Osborn. The correspondence is divided into CMU, Department of Public Instruction, and Hillsdale College folders. The CMU correspondence is between Osborn, Professor David M. Trout, and President Eugene C. Warriner. In a letter of September 13, 1938, from Trout to Osborn, Trout notes the severe housing shortage and salary cuts by the Governor of Michigan effective July 1 through September 1, 1938 and a desire to hire Osborn in 1939. The Hillsdale correspondence focuses on Osborn getting his thesis published and finding a job through various placement sources, and his correspondence with Willfred Mauck, then President of Hillsdale College, about the Teacher Training Program which Osborn directed. Also included are a few of Osborn’s student papers from the University of Michigan, a report about the teacher training program at Hillsdale, three bibliographies, and biographical material, as well as one folder of papers written by Osborn, 1930-1931..