Chronology: Founding a National Organization

1930 - Harvey C. Minnich and William E. Smith organized a McGuffey Society in Oxford, Ohio. Minnich, who was newly retired from Miami University as Dean Emeritus of the Miami University School of Education, devoted his retirement to creating a renaissance of the memory of McGuffey and became an expert on the McGuffey Readers. In addition to his organizing activities, he wrote a "McGuffey Night" Libretto, a musical pageant representing a one-room school in which the McGuffey Readers were used, and he gave talks about the readers to McGuffey Societies, the Progress Society, the Rotary Club, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

1932 - Henry Ford republished the 1857 edition of the Readers at his own expense for use in reading classes held at his plants. Also this year McGuffey was voted the second most important person who ever lived in Ohio, behind Thomas Edison and ahead of Gen. Ulysses Grant and Wilbur Wright.

1933 - James H. Rodabaugh, a master's student at Miami University, wrote his thesis on the history of Miami University from its founding to 1845. He published an iconoclastic article the next year in the Oxford Criterion, titled "McGuffey: A Revised Portrait," in which he revised the heroic portrayal of McGuffey.

1934 - The Greater Cleveland McGuffey Society was founded. Also, Henry Ford completed his two-year move of McGuffey's log cabin birthplace to Ford's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan for restoration and preservation. He used logs from a barn on the site to construct a one-room schoolhouse next to the log cabin. Ford also sponsored a memorial to McGuffey at his birthplace in West Alexander, Pennsylvania. Among those that attended and gave speeches at the memorial's dedication were pastors, representatives from Washington and Jefferson College, Ohio University, the University of Virginia, and Miami University (Minnich), and McGuffey's descendents. The plaque was placed on a large memorial in an empty field. 15,000 people attended the ceremony, and the traffic jam was the worst in the history of Washington County.

1935 - The Indianapolis, Columbus, and Oxford societies met in Oxford, Ohio and founded the Federated McGuffey Societies of America. Harvey Minnich was one of the founders. The society's purpose was, according to the Constitution, "To bring again to the consciousness of the American people the necessity of following the moral and social principles taught in the McGuffey Readers." They discussed erecting a memorial to McGuffey in Oxford.

1936 - The Federation held their first annual convention and celebrated the centennial of the McGuffey Readers in Oxford. Crinoline, coonskin, and homespun dominated the costumes. 3,000 people attended, and McGuffeyite John Milholand gave an excellent impersonation of McGuffey. A play by Oxford schoolchildren, "McGuffey Miniatures," reenacted McGuffey's classroom. Also this year, Minnich interested the President of the American Book Company, the publisher of McGuffey's Readers, in the McGuffey movement. A committee of eminent names such as Henry Ford, Hamlin Garland, Minnich, and others chose their favorite selections, and the American Book Company published Old Favorites From the McGuffey Readers as well as Minnich's own biography of McGuffey, William Holmes McGuffey and His Readers. All proceeds were contributed to the memorial fund.

1937 - The Readers' increased publicity prompted a committee of 45 parents to ask the New York City school system to consider using a revised version of the McGuffey Readers. Also, the Society pushed for a McGuffey commemorative half-dollar.

1938 - The Federation of McGuffey Societies' third annual meeting convened in Dearborn, Michigan, as guests of Henry Ford. A short motion picture, "Born of the Frontier: a story of the early life of William Holmes McGuffey," was shown to the convention. Also, the Oklahoma City McGuffey Society organized with forty members.

1939 - Ohio University held a McGuffey celebration, marking the centennial anniversary of McGuffey's inauguration as President of the University.

1930s - Other McGuffey Societies organized in Tulsa (OK), Los Angeles (CA), and Pasadena (CA) as well as several places in Ohio, including Youngstown, Ironton, Akron, Portsmouth, Circleville, Chillicothe, and Gahanna. An unsuccessful national committee sought to have the McGuffey Readers restored to the public schools.