Reading Room · Section II

The Founders' Library

Fifteen primary sources, three eras. Each entry is a curated reader's frame.

The Founders' Library collects the foundational primary sources of the American school-trust tradition — the texts the founders of the school-land idea wrote, the journals and reports that institutionalized common schools, and the institutional and reform-era documents that carry the tradition forward. Each entry is a curated entry-point: a one-page reader's frame, the full text or a substantial excerpt where licensing permits, citation back to the canonical source, and links to related claims and figures.

Suggest a contribution — we are recruiting Title Stewards, Reading Room Editors, and State Co-Librarians.

Founding era (1779–1787)

The texts in which the school-trust idea was written into American law before the Constitution existed.

Common-school era (1837–1879)

The reports, journals, and readers that institutionalized common schools across the antebellum republic.

High-water and reform era (1904–present)

The mature institutional and reform-era documents that carry the tradition forward — from the New York public school at its high-water mark to the modern reform statutes.

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The Founders' Library

Founding era (1779–1787)

A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge

Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Chapter V, Section II ("The Encouragement of Literature, etc.")

An Ordinance for Ascertaining the Mode of Disposing of Lands in the Western Territory (Land Ordinance of 1785) — Section 16 reservation

The Federalist No. 10 ("The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection")

An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio (Northwest Ordinance of 1787) — Article III

Common-school era (1837–1879)

First Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Michigan

Twelfth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Education

The American Journal of Education, Volume I (1855–56)

McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader (Revised Edition)

McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader (Revised Edition)

High-water and reform era (1904–present)

The Cyclopedia of Education — A Dictionary of Information for the Use of Teachers, School Officers, Parents, and Others

The Public School — History of Common School Education in New York from 1633 to 1904

A History of Public Permanent Common School Funds in the United States, 1795–1905

A History of the Irreducible School Fund in Oregon

Utah Code Title 53C — School and Institutional Trust Lands