McGuffey Readers

The McGuffey Readers, first published in 1836/37, were a set of highly influential school textbooks for use in the elementary grades in the United States. Indeed, owing to their widespread usage over many years, they played an important role in shaping the American character itself. From the year in which they were first published, and for nearly a century thereafter, successive generations of American school children used these Readers to acquire basic literacy and to imbibe the moral and character lessons they taught.

Through the 1850s, William Holmes McGuffey (1800-73) was the author of the first 4 volumes of what would eventually become a six volume set, one for each grade level. In subsequent years, a series of editors took over the responsibility for the Readers which nevertheless were faithful in retaining their original character as moral shapers of the youth who used them.

A major revision in 1879 altered the slant of the Readers away from the stark Calvinism which had marked the earlier versions, but did so without sacrificing the religious and moral objectives.

Over the course of its history, the Readers sold over 125 million copies. That history is yet unfinished, though, as the Readers remain in demand among many who are dissatisfied with modern trends in education and seek a return to a more traditional, "values oriented" education of an earlier era.