1831 Report of the Boston Female Monitorial School -- Scarlet Fever Outbreak and Challenges of Running a School for Girls

Boston, Massachusetts: Munroe and Francis, 1831. Good to very good. Sometime washed, with subsequent discoloration. Some chipping/tears from being sometime disbound.. A printed version of the report given at the annual meeting of the proprietors of the Boston Female Monitorial School, held in August, 1831. Provides invaluable information about the opportunities afforded to women at the time, as well as the challenges and tragedies they faced: "The number of pupils belonging to the school has, I think, been greater ... but the number of absentees has also been greater, in consequence chiefly of the scarlet fever, which attacked many of our pupils in its worst forms, but to which only one fell a victim. This lively and interesting girl was the second pupil that has died since the commencement of the school, nearly eight years ago. Since her death, another amiable child has died of a decline ... Thus we have lost three pupils in all, a great loss if we consider their worth and their promise" (p.[3]). The report includes the following information: number of students by age, ranging from 4 to 17; the subjects offered; the cost of running the school, and state of the facilities; the health of the students (including a lengthy discussion of whether the desks cause an unnatural curvature of the spine); extra subjects offered (such as drawing, needlework, painting); and finally, the cost of attendance by age. An interesting look into the challenges of running a school for girls in 1830s Boston. Single vol. (8.5" by 5"), pp. 14, [2], sometime disbound.