The IBE Historical Textbook International Collection Education · THE IBE HISTORICAL TEXTBOOK COLLECTION 2 names or re-established themselves include Northern and Southern Rhodesia,

T H E I B E H I S T O R I C A L T E X T B O O K C O L L E C T I O N

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This rich and vast collection includes over 18,000 textbooks from the late 1700s to the 1980s, representing more than 140 countries and all UNESCO regions. It contains textbooks in more than ninety-seven different languages, including those considered by UNESCO to be endangered and at high risk of disappearing. The collection covers a wide range of subject textbooks as well as teaching guides for K-12, vocational training and adult education and literacy.

To researchers, education specialists and enthusiasts it offers the potential of a clear reflection of countries’ education models over a span of three centuries, as well as the influence of their philosophical, social, political and economic realities on education. The decades’ worth of sociocultural significance embedded in these texts and available at the IBE makes it possible to conduct a more objective and rich historical and comparative analysis of education systems around the world and their evolution.

This collection traces the rise and fall of political agendas, as well as the formation of nations and rearrangement of national boundaries. The myriad of countries represented in this collection, especially those that may no longer exist today, have been absorbed by another political regime or have gained independence, make the books belonging to these countries authentic historical artifacts.

For example, there are books from the United Arab Republic that reflect the short-lived political alliance between Egypt and Syria. Represented countries that have disappeared, changed their

The IBE Historical Textbook

Collection

UNESCO International

Bureau of

Education

TEXTBOOK

COLLECTION

SUBJECT

AREAS


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names or re-established themselves include Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the USSR, Dahomey, French Upper Volta, Cochin, and Tanganyika, Lithuania, Estonia, etc. An important portion of the books is from 1900-1945, capturing the social, political and geographic changes during the pre- and post-war periods. The largest share of textbooks follows from the 1950s through the 1960s. The great phenomenon of adult education and literacy as well as the integration of immigrants, after many colonies had attained their independence, is revealed through these texts. Literacy books, illustrating how children were taught to read are also prominent in the collection, as well as math and science texts. Ultimately this collection provides the opportunity to comparatively and objectively revisit both the educational and socio-political history around the world (See Annex 1).

Since textbooks are used in the classrooms, they are the closest proxy to what education is like at a given point in time and therefore constitute the basis of valuable reflections of an education system’s development. In many contexts, they still act as the de facto syllabus and the only source of information about the curriculum for teachers. In some countries, they may also be the only reading materials available for children and the most important learning resource beside the teacher.

Our current database contains approximately 11,000 titles that can be searched and filtered by subject, year of publication, language, country, continent and UNESCO region. The organization and digitalization of the entire collection would allow the IBE to make the collection accessible to researchers for conducting comparative and historical analysis. Some potentially interesting research topics include: Changes in the content and pedagogical instruction in a particular education system, the evolution of the instruction of a particular subject, the significance of subjects in different regions, the indigenous languages that were preserved despite of changes in the political regime, the influence of independence on education in colonized countries, political and sociocultural influence on education, gender biases in education in various countries, etc.

Besides providing a valuable resource for research, some of the possible projects that could come from the completion of this systematization include: publishing the history of the collection, having an exhibition of all the atlases that illustrate the changing borders throughout the century, and exhibiting the alphabets that represent the various approaches to reading in practically all the countries and most of the languages in the world. The IBE has already made contact with foundations that have shown an interest in such temporary exhibits.


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THE WORK THAT REMAINS

There is still much work to be done in order to systematize all the textbooks and help realize the potential research opportunities. Classifying, inventorying and physically organizing more than 10.000 books are not only time consuming activities, but also require certain skills and subject familiarity. The team must not only have knowledge of the language of the textbook and English, but also have a good knowledge of history and socio-political geography. The most valuable and at-risk books need to be found, properly organized and preserved. Additionally, a dynamic database needs to be developed to allow for better flexibility and accuracy when performing searches and locating the books. Thus, researchers would have easy access to the books they need in order to conduct valuable studies and statistics.

THE TEXTBOOK COLLECTION SYSTEMATIZATION PROGRESS

Systematized In progress To be systematized


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THE RESOURCES REQUIRED

A critical resource for the cataloguing, systematization and digitization of the textbook collection are human resources. They must have knowledge of multiple languages, as well as a good understanding of history and socio-political geography, especially from 1950s to 1980s. In terms of language skills required for further systematization, currently there is a special emphasis on Arabic, French, Eastern European Languages, among others (See Annex 2).

Human resources are also required to create and manage the database. For them to work effectively and efficiently, proper equipment, furniture and space is needed to inventory, digitalize and preserve the collection. Other related costs may include IPC (Intellectual Property Clearance), quality checking, and creating the ideal conservation conditions for these precious resources.

Finally, the IBE plans to offer research grants to realize the potential that these textbooks hold to help us understand the evolution of education systems around the globe and share the knowledge hidden in this collection with the world.


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ANNEX 1

SAMPLES FROM THE COLLECTION

The collection holds many teaching atlases that show the changing country boundaries throughout time.

For example, the collection holds the Atlas of Today and Tomorrow (dated 1938, shortly before World War II) (coined by our team as ‘the forever Atlas’, as well as The Advance Modern School Atlas (dated 1948, three years after World War II). To the right, you will also see a JUTA (Est. 1853) teaching atlas from South Africa, ND.

The collection holds a rich section of Arabic texts that have not been systematized. The textbook to the top right is on the history of Islam from Egypt, 1954. The book to the top left is from Syria (U.A.R.) on the lessons of Islam, written for fourth grade primary school, 1952. The cover and inside page shown at the bottom are from Saudi Arabia for fourth year primary school on the Natural Sciences, 1960.


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The collection holds many student textbooks reflective of different political regimes: Fascism, Dictatorships, Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, etc.

The Young Atheist’s Book (dated 1970) from the USSR is a digest-calendar written for secondary school students to provide them with materials for conducting their work in support of atheism. The book is divided into twelve sections (for each month of the year). The book is illustrated by pictures, photos, reproduction of paintings, poems and songs with musical notations.

The collection includes many aesthetically beautiful books from various countries.

Here is an example of a Beautiful Art Deco Cover from 1918 (Ireland).


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Textbooks can help us understand the social norms, expectations and perspectives that societies passed down to their younger generations.

Natação, (ND), a Portuguese textbook for learning to swim that highlights and insists on the importance of swimming since Portugal borders the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Spain on the other.

Textbooks written in Paleo-Siberian languages are found in the collection, many of which are considered endangered: Evenki, Nanai, Chuktchi and Nenetse.

The illustrated book on the left is a second grade textbook of the Russian language for a Nenetse primary school, 1961. The one on the right is a Evenki book from 1935, teaching children about wild animals in warm climates.


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Study books and dictionaries can be found on the international auxiliary language, Esperanto, from France and England.

This particular one is a children’s textbook for learning Esperanto, 1930.

This book is written in the rare Provençal dialect, spoken in the southeast of France, 1953.


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There are many eye-opening children’s books on learning the ABCs. Some are reflective of the different political regimes that were in place, the lifestyles relevant to the people at that time and the emphasis that countries placed on the aesthetics of children’s books.

The top illustrations come from Gabon, received by the IBE in 1962.

The two pages in the middle are from an ABCs book from the USSR, 1921.

The one below is from Cuba, ND.

There are many books reflecting the teachings passed on throughout the French and British colonization of Africa. You can see the differences in expectations that the colonizers held for each colony in terms of mathematics, literacy, etc. This particular book is called, Fight against ignorance! …I will free myself published in the Republic of Algeria, (National Commission of Literacy), received by the IBE in 1964.


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This book is a sixth grade Natural Science textbook from Cuba, 1966. From our observations of the textbooks, we have found that texts from Cuba were academically more challenging and advanced than most Latin American and the Caribbean counties during that time.

Books that reflect the social norms in various countries throughout the decades. Clearly portrayed are gender biases in education, the propagation of certain stereotypes, and various other societal expectations that have evolved throughout the ages.


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ANNEX 2

BOXES LEFT TO SYSTEMATIZE (as of 04.03.2014)

There are many precious books still to be discovered. We currently have the following boxes of books to uncover:

FRANCE 25

AUSTRALIA 4

REP. FED. GERMANY 12

REP. DEM. GERMANY 5

ITALY 10

POLAND 4

YUGOSLAVIA 5

SWEDEN 4

NORWAY 1

LEBANON 1

EGYPT 3

TUNISIA 2

JORDAN 1

SAUDI ARABIA 3

UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC 7

QATAR 1

KUWAIT 9

IRAQ 2

SUDAN 1

SYRIA 2

MOROCCO 1

FINLAND 2

GREECE 2

INDIA 6

THAILAND 2

JAPAN 3

ISRAEL 2

BURMA 1

INDONESIA 1

PAKISTAN 3

CZECHOSLOVAKIA 2

HUNGARY 4

AFGHANISTAN 2

IRAN 2

CAMBODIA

VIETNAM

LAOS

NEPAL

SRI LANKA 1

TURKEY 2

AZERBAIJAN 1

ARMENIA 1

UKRAINE 2

LITHUANIA 3

ESTONIA 3

TURKMENISTAN 1

BELARUS 1

GEORGIA 1

UZBEKISTAN 1

KYRGYZSTAN 1

TAJIKISTAN 3

LATVIA 2

KAZAKHSTAN 2

MOLDOVA 2


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INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION

www.ibe.unesco.org Tel +41.22.917.78.00 – Fax +41.22.917.78.01 Postal address P.O. BOX 199, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland Street address 15 Route des Morillons, 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland

Documents

The IBE Historical Textbook International Collection Education · THE IBE HISTORICAL TEXTBOOK COLLECTION 2 names or re-established themselves include Northern and Southern Rhodesia,