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Test with Examination Questions on Geometry and Trigonometry as well as Pamphlet on How to Proceed with Your Studies

National Museum of American History

Object Details

International Correspondence Schools
Description
These two documents, a test of geometry and trigonometry and a pamphlet describing methods of study, were published by one of the first of proprietary correspondence schools, the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The firm grew out of Pennsylvania legislation from 1885 that required miners and mine inspectors to pass examinations in mine safety. T. J. Foster, editor of a journal called Collier Engineer and Metal Miner, began publishing an educational column on methods and machinery of mining. This proved of sufficient interest for Fischer to start offering correspondence courses on coal mining. By 1899, when these material appeared, the International Correspondence Schools had enrolled over 190,000 students. They studied a wide range of topics, including mathematics.
The documents come from a collection of tests relating to mathematics assembled by L. Leland Locke. Locke was teaching math in Pennsylvania at the time they were published. He would spend most of his career in Brooklyn, New York.
For related objects, see 2011.0129.10 and 1982.3001.17.
Reference:
J. D. Watkinson, “’Education for Success’: The International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 120, #4, 1996, pp. 343-369.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Grove City College
1899
ID Number
2011.0129.10
accession number
2011.0129
catalog number
2011.0129.10
Object Name
test with pamphlet
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
Measurements
overall: .4 cm x 15.4 cm x 23.2 cm; 5/32 in x 6 1/16 in x 9 1/8 in
place made
United States: Pennsylvania, Scranton
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Trigonometry
Science & Mathematics
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Record ID
nmah_1408581
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ad-6154-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Related Content

  • Trigonometry in the Plane

    American History Museum
Examination, International Correspondence Schools
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International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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