Books, Schools, and Opportunity in Early America

Education in Colonial America was often a privilege of the wealthy, with most children attending fee-based private schools only if their families could afford it. These early schools reflected a community’s investment in its future, but access was limited. By the 1800s, educational reformers began to champion the idea of public or "common" schools— that were free, tax-supported, and open to all children. In the South, education remained less formal, with wealthy families relying on private tutors and local public schools operating sporadically, often around the agricultural calendar. Higher education in early America was reserved for the elite, with most colleges and universities located in the North. The South, though slower to establish such institutions, boasted some of the nation’s earliest public universities. In Tennessee, Davidson Academy opened in 1785 and in 1806 became Cumberland College, which was a predecessor of George Peabody College. In 1824, Philip Lindsley, a Princeton University graduate and Presbyterian minister and scholar, arrived in Nashville to helm Cumberland College. Lindsley soon had the institution renamed the University of Nashville and hired a core of scholars who raised the school's profile. He was also an early advocate for standardizing the curriculum to specifically train teachers in pedagogical and classical studies. Education in early America emphasized memorization and recitation. Textbooks were scarce and prized, often imported from Europe or drawn from religious texts. Books from Cumberland College’s library offer a rare look at what students studied in the early 19th century.