Technology Development and the Study of Literature, Reading, and English in the United States
By zoekgreen
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Libraries Emerge
Public institutions called "Society" and "rental" libraries, such as The Library Company of Philadelphia (1732), The New York Society Library (1754), and The Redwood Library and Atheneum of Newport, Rhode Island (1750) began to emerge in cities across America. These libraries made expensive books, especially works of fiction, more accessible to the public. -
Benjamin Harris publishes the New England Primer
Before Benjamin Harris published The New England Primer in Boston, the schoolbooks used in schools in America were transported from England. As the first reading primer designed for and published in the American Colonies, the New England Primer relied on American publishing technology and became the most successful educational textbook published in 18th century America. -
The Blue Back Speller
Noah Webster first published the “The Blue Back Speller” in 1783 to be used in American schools to improve the teaching of pronunciation, spelling and reading. Like The New England Primer, the Speller relied on American publishing technology to support its massive demand. The Primer was the most-used schoolbook in America until the end of the 19th century and is considered to be the pedagogical blueprint for American textbooks. -
Typewriters
In 1873, E. Remington & Sons begins selling what came to be the first successfully marketed typewriter, complete with a QWERTY keyboard created by Christopher Latham Sholes. Many literary greats used typewriters to write their stories, and some argue that the typewriter changed literature itself. In any case, the typewriter certainly reduced the time it took to write text of all kinds, including novels and scholarly literary journals. -
School Libraries Emerge
By 1876, 19 states had passed laws that allowed for the development of school-specific libraries. Additionally, as the number of public libraries throughout the US was on the rise at this time, many public libraries also served as the local school’s library. By 1913, there were approximately 10,000 public school libraries, but most had fewer than 3,000 volumes. -
School Library Standards
"The Standard Library Organization and Equipment for Secondary Schools of Different Sizes" details the first standards for school libraries in the US. The standards offer guidelines on topics such as technical demands, storage, equipment, librarian training, the scientific selection and care of books, and proper classification and cataloging. -
Creation of the Pocket Books Label
In the US in 1939, Robert de Graaf partnered with Simon & Schuster to create the Pocket Books label. Because Graaf had such success using the distribution networks of newspapers and magazines to distrubute paperback books, the label's name, "Pocket Book," eventually became a term sysonymous with paperback books. This event is considered to be the beginning of mass-market paperbacks, and is another important step in making knowledge, books, and literature more accessible to the public. -
Project Gutenberg Established
In 1971, Michael S. Hart established what is now the world's oldest digital library to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." Most of Project Gutenburg's 50,000 documents are full texts of public domain books that anyone can read for free on almost any type of computer or device. One of Project Gutenberg's goals is to increase public literacy and spread appreciation for literary heritage. -
Google Scholar and Google Books
With the launch of Google Scholar and Google Books in 2004, Google greatly increased the global public's access to scholarly literature, books, magazines, and other text resources. These search engines allow anyone with Internet access to search and access approximately 160 million scholarly documents and over 25 million books. The development of search engines like these and similar online scholarly databases has spead literary knowledge around the entire globe through accessability. -
Amazon and National PTA Bring Kindles to Schools
Amazon's Kindle is the exclusive sponsor of the National PTA's Family Reading Experience program. Currently, Kindle and the National PTA are working together to bring free Kindles into the classrooms of low-income school districts.
