Learn About Valley’s Former One-Room Schools at Nov. 9 Talk
Long before today’s high-tech campuses educated youngsters en masse, children across the Lehigh Valley and throughout the country were educated in small, simple buildings with few frills or modern conveniences.
Long before today’s high-tech campuses educated youngsters en masse, children across the Lehigh Valley and throughout the country were educated in small, simple buildings with few frills or modern conveniences.
Ilhan Citak, Archivist for Lehigh University, and Karen Samuels, a local historian and author, will present a talk about these institutions and how they evolved into the educational system we have today on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Seidersville Hall, 3700 Old Philadelphia Pike, Bethlehem (Lower Saucon Township).
Their presentation will begin with a look back at the one-room schoolhouses that were once scattered throughout Lehigh and Northampton counties, such as the Lutz-Franklin School in Lower Saucon Township.
The school, which was built of fieldstone in 1880, has been restored as a living history museum and is periodically open for tours by local schoolchildren.
Samuels and Citak will also discuss the progression from a largely rural, primary education system to the development of secondary schools and universities that are now common throughout the area.
Their talk may surprise attendees with some fun facts, such as a list of duties that were once required of teachers.
Attendees will also receive a copy of an eighth-grade final exam from 1895 to take home and grade themselves on. (The original test took about six hours to take.)
The public is invited to attend this special talk, which is sponsored by the Lower Saucon Township Historical Society.
Light refreshments will be served and admission is free.
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