The Sixteenth International Conference on Books, Publishing & Libraries

Abstract

The mastery of English grammar became in the United States in the nineteenth century a vector achieving social and cultural mobility, part of the pursuit of greater social equality by African Americans, a part of the repertoire of behaviors of women who were also mastering fashion and household management guided by periodicals like Godey’s “Ladies Book,” and the rising aspirations of working-class men of various backgrounds exploring the social possibilities of what Raymond Williams has termed the “third revolution,” opening cultural and economic regions that had been closed through linguistic mastery and eloquence. One of the phenomena of this development was an explosion in the publication, circulation, and use of works of English grammar. Teaching grammar, which had been limited to elite and upper level schools, became part of common education and grammar instruction was offered by traveling grammar lecturers who offered for sale their own printed grammars. Like penmanship, grammar provided a key to advance in social standing in an American society where social status could be achieved rather than being perpetually ascribed. An educational broadside on grammar, published in 1821 by Vermont cartographer Jeremiah Greenleaf, was meant for display and study in a domestic setting. The self-improvement ideals of the work are indicated by the extensive treatment of “False Grammar” and “False Grammar Corrected.” The status of grammar study is indicated visually by the Greek meander surrounding the text, symbol of Classical learning and democracy. This grammar, meant to join similar self-improving popular publications, was aimed at a diverse domestic audience including women who were concerned with improving their own and their families social status in urbanizing and industrializing society.