Hero Worship: Pride in McGuffey

People, organizations, and institutions connect themselves to the past to construct their identities and inspire pride if that past is heroic. Miami University has most actively cultivated the nostalgic memory of McGuffey to promote itself as an educational institution with a long tradition. Andrew D. Hepburn, who married McGuffey's daughter, was briefly the President of Miami University. As his son-in-law, Hepburn likely kept the McGuffey memory alive on Miami's campus after McGuffey's death in 1873. Hepburn returned McGuffey's unique eight-sided table to Miami, and it resided for years in the University library's wing that was the old McGuffey Museum. One writer noted in 1910, "The old desk is one of the treasures of Miami University and cannot be bought. Interesting sums have been offered for it, but the college holds it as a sort of medal of honor to its history as an educational institution." (1)

Since Oxford was the location where McGuffey wrote his Readers, and since all acts of commemoration point to the Readers as his greatest achievement, it is a significant claim to fame. Miami University laid claim to McGuffey's memory early, with Harvey Minnich's devotion and the 1935 founding of the National Federation in Oxford, Ohio. The erection of the memorial in 1941 furthered Miami's association with McGuffey. Also, Miami University Presidents often addressed the McGuffey Societies at their annual meeting.

Miami cemented its claim on McGuffey in 1958 in preparation for the University's sesquicentennial anniversary. Miami acquired McGuffey's former Oxford house, which was surrounded by the growing Miami campus, to establish a new McGuffey Museum. The house was eventually returned to its so-called "original state," that of a brick facade, in order to match Miami University's theme of brick buildings. This is ironic given that McGuffey likely painted the house to protect the bricks from weathering. McGuffey merited an entire chapter of The Miami Years, which Walter Havinghurst wrote for the 150-year anniversary. Also, McGuffey was prominently featured in the University's sesquicentennial booklet. Since the decline of the McGuffey movement and the brief flare of the culture wars in the 1980s, Miami University's William Holmes McGuffey Museum has been responsible for most recent efforts to keep the memory of McGuffey alive.

Among those that have taken pride in McGuffey's oversized accomplishments are citizens of Oxford, Presbyterians, and students of Miami University:

• In 1950, Mayor Verlin Pulley addressed the McGuffey Societies. He said, "We who live in Oxford are proud to help you honor an to revere the name of one of our most illustrious citizens. We who live in Oxford are proud of the fact that it was here that William Holmes McGuffey lived as a citizen... We want you to leave Oxford with the feeling that its citizens are good hosts to all who have come to honor the name of its most illustrious citizen - William Holmes McGuffey." (2)
  
• In a 1985 article in the Presbyterian, one churchgoer wrote, "It is with pride... that Oxford Presbyterians point to William Holmes McGuffey, author of the famous readers of which more copies were printed than of any other book except the Bible." (3)
  
• Beverly Bach, the assistant to the director of the McGuffey Museum, said the McGuffey Museum is "a piece of history that anyone who has ever attended Miami can relate to with each other." (4)
  
• Miami University President and historian Phillip Shriver has written, "Visitors to Oxford, Ohio, may think they are in the land of McGuffey, for there they will find a McGuffey Hall, two McGuffey schools, the home of the National Federation of McGuffey Societies, a McGuffey Avenue, McGuffey Courtyard, McGuffey Statue, and even a McGuffey Museum housing the world's largest collection of McGuffey Readers." Shriver also said, "Ohio lays claim to the only house built by McGuffey." (5)
  
• Miami even used McGuffey for fundraising. The Miami Loyalty Fund Council, in a pamphlet titled, "McGuffey Still Walks the Oxford Streets," pled to alumni that just as McGuffey researched at Miami, modern University professors need funds for research: "His First Reader was delayed three years. While William marked time...waiting for funds. A few dollars probably made the difference with William Holmes McGuffey. Some Miami 'prof' today, no more honored in our time than McGuffey was in his, may be the leader in a search destined to make America greater. He may be 'marking time' waiting for you - for someone to reach in with those few needed dollars. Can you - would you - reach him?" (6)