The Cordova Daily Times in 1923 devoted a page to student learning. I selected at random the news for Feb. 10-17. 1923.
The information remains interesting more than a century later.
For starters, we learn that the faculty had only three teachers. School Superintendent George M. Goodman taught mathematics. Eleanor Frandsen taught Latin and English. The town’s Boy Scouts’ headmaster, W. Harold Evans, taught science, history and French.
The elementary grade teachers included Amelia Kellenberger (6th through 8th grade), Esther Thorne (fourth and fifth), Nita Johnstone (2nd grade), Naida Johnstone (third grade), Verna Eastman (First grade) and Marian Summers (kindergarten).
The principal’s job was open.
The school could boast that nary a student had been tardy in three weeks.
Valentine’s Day resulted in all classrooms being decorated with red hearts.
Patriotism was the topic in many classes. After all, it was the days dedicated to President George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
First graders made red, white and blue shields. They also created miniature log cabin’s on Lincoln’s birthday.
They cheered classmate Vina Waldt on her sixth birthday. They gave her a clap for each year, along with one to be good on and one to grow on.
Eighth grader Thelma Watson was hailed as the class artist. Her latest masterpiece was a portrait of President Lincoln.
The school had a reading of “The Man Without a Country” by Edward Everett Hale. Spoiler alert: It’s about a man who wishes never to hear about the United States again. His punishment for such treason is to be put to sea without news of his country.
We studied that poem when I was in second grade. The nun shocked us when she said the word “damn.” Aloud
The prisoner, Lt. Philip Nolan, had shouted, “Damn the United States!”
Coincidentally, the Cordova Daily Times reported that Russian-born Fred Korenwas admitted to being a Bolshevist and for eating in restaurants but refusing to pay. Immigration inspector C. M. LaRue picked him up and shipped him to Seattle for deportation back to his original homeland.
The fourth and fifth graders finished their reading of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. The class’s vocabulary no doubt improved because a benefactor had donated a dictionary.
Classes 6th through 8th embarked on a study of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.”
There was a spelling match. Mary Scott was the last student standing.
For socializing, the students joined the Bluebird Club. It was run with attention to Parliamentary Procedure.
One poor youngster endured good-natured jibing after shouting, “I second-hand the motion.”
And many made fun of Marybeth Smith when she announced that this was the week of Valentine’s Day, Washington’s Birthday and Link Waln’s birthday.
Link Waln was one of Cordova’s leading and most prosperous citizens, the owner of numerous apartment rentals.
Hank Nuwer is a Fairbanks writer, community theater actor, and UAF adjunct professor of journalism.