Episode Details

Rebecca Smith Pollard published a book of poems to mark the U.S. centennial in 1876, and also a novel with some questionable messages. She also developed a method to teach children to read that was ahead of its time.

Research:

• Chetwynd, Sally Morong “Sam.” “Birth of Rebecca Smith Pollard, Education pioneer – Sept. 20, 1831.” Brass Castle Arts. 9/20/2014. https://brasscastlearts.blogspot.com/2014/09/birth-of-rebecca-smith-pollard.html
• The Writer’s Almanac. “Tuesday, September 20, 2011.” https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2011%252F09%252F20.html
• History of Literacy. “Pollard Nominated to Reading Hall of Fame.” History of Reading News. Vol.XXVI No.1 (2002:Fall). Via Archive.org Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20160729031119/https://historyliteracy.org/scripts/search_display.php?Article_ID=240
• Haefner, Marie. “An American Lady.” The Palimpsest. The State Historical Society of Iowa. April 1957. The Palimpsest archive 38(4), 129-176. doi: https://doi.org/10.17077/0031-0360.22585
• Pollard, Rebecca S. “The Prayers of Eleven Hundred Children.” Our Dumb Animals. Vol. 24, No. 8. January, 1892. https://archive.org/details/sim_animals_our-dumb-animals_1892-01_24_8/
• The Catholic Educational Review. “Phonetics, Their Origin and Function.” Vol. 24. May 1926. https://archive.org/details/sim_catholic-educational-review_1926-05_24/
• “Pollard’s Advanced Speller.” Education. Vol. 18, Issue 1. September 1897. https://archive.org/details/sim_education-us_1897-09_18_1/
• Pollard, R.S. “Educational Appliance.” U.S. Patent No. 375,095. December 20, 1887.
• Heilman, Arthur W. “Principles and practices of teaching reading.” Columbus, Ohio, C. E. Merrill Books. 1961.
• Huey, Edmund Burke. “The History And Pedagogy Of Reading With A Review Of The History Of Reading And Writing And Of Methods Texts And Hygiene In Reading.” The Macmillan Company. 1915.
• “A New Road to Learning.” The Des Moines Register. Page 23. 12/3/1911.
• Wheatley, Jeffrey. “The Wrong Feeling of Feeling Right: Fanaticism and Sentiment in Anti-Abolitionist Novels.” From Religion and Social Change. Edited by Sabrina Danielsen. Journal of Religion and Society. Supplement 26 (2025.)
• Harrington, Kate and Miss M.E. Wilson. “The Moonlight Tryst.” Louisville Journal. 1/7/1854.
• Pollard, Rebecca S. “Emma Bartlett: or, Prejudice and fanaticism.” Cincinnati, Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Overend. 1856.
• “Emma Bartlett: or, Prejudice and Fanaticism.” Ottumwa Semi-Weekly Courier. 4/16/1857.
• Pollard, Rebecca S. “Centennial and Other Poems.” Philadelphia : Lippincott. 1876.
• Kirkham, Samuel. “English Grammar in Familiar Lectures.” New York. Robert B. Collins.
• “Portrait and Biographical Album of Lee County, Iowa.” Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~iabiog/lee/pbh1887/pbh1887-s.htm

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