Culture

A list of textbooks used by Cathedral Grammar School in 1930. Pilot photo/courtesy Archdiocesan Archives

From the Archdiocesan Archives

Early 20th-century archdiocesan Department of Education records

Friday, August 21, 2026Culture

The Archive Department is currently processing a number of collections from the Department of Education, now known as the Catholic Schools Office in the Archdiocese. We began by looking at the oldest collection we have from the Department of Education, which turned out to be reports and correspondence from the supervisor of schools, spanning 1918 to 1934.
The reports from parochial schools took up 13 banker's boxes and consisted of one folder of reports per year per parochial school, organized by town. We rehoused the reports, collating all the years into one folder for each school. This left just 10 boxes of material after we discarded the old, acidic folders that were covered in coal dust -- a sign that they had probably been stored in a furnace room at some point in time. Alongside the reports, there was also correspondence spanning 1920 to 1921 from the first diocesan supervisor of schools, Father Augustine F. Hickey. Thankfully, the reports and correspondence themselves were in good condition, and rehousing the materials gave us an opportunity to glean information about the administration of parochial schools in the early 20th century.

The reports for each school include monthly attendance, June examination grades, lists of textbooks, and a record of which teachers had attended continuing education classes over the summer. The existence of the reports themselves shows a formalization of education in the archdiocese, which began under the leadership of Archbishop O'Connell. They also share important information about the nature of schooling at the time.
The attendance reports show how many classes were held at each school, how many boys and girls were in each teacher's class each month, and how many left to work or to attend public schools. Though the reports from the 1922-1928 school years are missing from our collection, we know that they must have existed, because statistics on parochial school attendance were still published diligently in the National Catholic Directories for those years. For example, in 1924, there were a total of 88,129 children in parochial schools, 1,683 teaching sisters, 65 teaching brothers, and 74 lay teachers.
Teachers had greater freedom in their classrooms than today to choose what subjects they taught, and how often. The eighth-grade June examination reports and lists of textbooks show what subjects were being taught at each school, though arithmetic, English, and religion were core subjects. Correspondence shows that their decision was often a response to the needs of the students from their parish community, such as where they were likely to attend high school. For example, in 1921, Cheverus Commercial School in Roxbury taught bookkeeping, office training, commercial law, and commercial geography to their second-year "commercial grade."
Archbishop O'Connell prioritized the establishment of parochial schools throughout the archdiocese for the benefit of Catholic children, but also to bring Catholics to the center of American public life, in part by teaching American values and civic consciousness. This was especially true for the many parochial schools that served immigrants. At this time, there were only a handful of Catholic high schools, so most parochial students would go on to enter public schools. In one letter to Sister M. Teresa of Holy Rosary Italian School in Lawrence, Father Hickey said, "You will understand, I am sure, that it is a matter of vital interest to me to have your children go to the public schools thoroughly equipped in the English language ... and familiar with some of the fundamentals of American history."
The correspondence also shows how Father Hickey and the teachers defined and honed the education offered in the archdiocese. In 1915, the communities running the Catholic schools created the first common curriculum for the archdiocese. In 1919, they began to issue uniform exams to all grammar students. To prepare for this, Father Hickey asked school superiors for their exams in arithmetic, spelling, English, and music, to use as model questions. Additionally, he frequently received requests to share samples of exams, course outlines, and report blanks with other diocesan supervisors of schools who were forming their education programs.
At that time, there was freedom in curriculum, and there was also no standardization of credentials for private or public school teachers. Anticipating the future, Father Hickey suggested that religious teachers should have high school diplomas and, if possible, have graduated from a normal school, as teaching schools were once called because they taught "norms" for education.
In a letter to Sister Mary Clare of St. Joseph in Fitchburg, Father Hickey said, "It is a splendid idea for you to do all in your power to increase the educational opportunities of the sisters in your community. Whatever you do in this respect will improve the character of the work done in the classroom at the present time and will prepare your sisters for whatever the future has in store for us," meaning the much-discussed possibility of legislation requiring certification to teach in Massachusetts.
The small file of correspondence shows Father Hickey's great interest in the daily work of teachers, the theory and improvement of their education, and the political movements affecting Catholic education in the United States. He cared for the details and the grand ideas. In one letter to a beleaguered sister, he advised, "Remember the great and large purpose of our work for education. Whatever our shortcomings and difficulties, we are forming great Christian characters and we are making a conspicuous contribution to the life of the Church in this country and to our national life as well. A constant appreciation of this fact will make us more patient with ourselves and with others when the daily grind becomes almost unbearable."
In the early 20th century, primary and secondary education was just taking the shape that we recognize today. The reports and files of correspondence from the Department of Education illustrate the effort of diocesan leaders, teachers and religious to professionalize and bolster parochial schools within the larger, still-evolving context of American education.

SAVANNAH MILLER IS AN ARCHIVIST OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON.