By the time this catalogue was printed (1859), four state-funded “normal schools” had been established to train teachers for local schools. The Westfield school, founded in 1839 and originally located in Barre, Massachusetts, was the second public normal school in the country. It is now called Westfield State University. As this section of the catalogue shows, tuition was free to all those who pledged to teach in the “schools of Massachusetts.” The curriculum was quite broad, including chemistry, rhetoric, and music composition. Students were “expected to attend public worship on the Sabbath, at any church they may select.”
Westfield State Normal School. Catalogue of the State Normal School at Westfield, Mass. For the year ending July 26, 1859. 1859. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l06-076/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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