Climbing Our Family Tree: The untimely birth of Children s books about evolution, 1920-1955 Abstract: Evolution was largely removed from high school textbooks in the period between the Scopes trial and the launch of Sputnik. Yet, this period saw the first children s books about evolution. By exploring these children s books and historical documents about their authors and publishers I demonstrate that the cultural history of evolutionary theory in American history is much more complex than has previously been noted. While the Scopes trial did mark a significant change in coverage of evolution in high school textbooks, it also marked the birth of literature for elementary age students about the subject. This study articulates a framework for the relationship between textbooks and general children s literature about science in the period as a means to initiate a discussion among historians about the place of both textbooks and children s literature in educational history. While the historical trajectory of evolution in science education has received considerable attention in the literature, most of that attention has been focused on textbooks. As Edward Larson notes in his book Trial and Error after the Scopes trial Existing restrictions and fears of further controversy led commercial publishers to deemphasize evolution in their high school textbooks. 1 Larson clearly demonstrates this trend in textbooks. However, a different trend emerges when one looks to another genera of didactic literature. Instead of squelching the promotion of children s books about evolution the Scopes trial may well have encouraged the development of them. The Children s Catalog, an exhaustive reference for school librarians, makes no mention of evolution as a topic of children s books in both the inaugural 1909 and supplementary 1918 editions. 2 Instead, the first listing of books on evolution comes in 1925, after the Scopes trial. The 1925 1 Larson, Edward. Trial and Error: The American Controversy over Creation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. p. 84. 2 Potter, Marion and Bacon, Corinne. Children's Catalogue, HW Wilson Company 1909, 1918, 1925.
children s catalogue lists Adam Whyte s book The Wonder World We Live In, as suitable reading material for students from the fifth to eighth grade. While the catalogues authors caution that the radicalism of the chapters on ethics and religion will be found objectionable by some parent and teachers, they still recommend the book for young readers. Evolution had found its way into children s literature. 3 Subsequently many children s books on evolution were recommended in the following years. While textbooks remained squeamish about the topic until after Sputnik, children s books engaged the topic with fervor. This paper traces the history of these books and their authors in an attempt to better understand the place of evolution in the history of American science and education. By better understanding this relationship in this situation I hope that historians of education might consider the history of children s books alongside textbooks as a means to better triangulate the full range of views expressed views available in a given period. In this vein the paper deals with three issues. First I offer samples of the content of these texts, then a background on some of the authors. With those set in place it is possible to reconceived the historical the place of evolution in the history of American education. The Content: The Scopes trial had brought to light the key differences between evolutionary theory and a school of American Christian thinking. While one could cite a long list of philosophical disagreements the most salient themes will offer the best means of comparison. Gerald Skoog s analysis of textbooks found that The most sensitive evolutionary topics, including the origin of life and the evolution of man, rarely appeared 3 Potter, Marion and Bacon, Corinne. Children's Catalogue, HW Wilson Company, 1925. p190.
at all. Less than half of the texts even used the word evolution. 4 The origin of life, the age of the earth and the origin of man all appear prominently in the children s books. Consider the following passages from Maxwell Reed s 1929 children s book The Earth for Sam, published by the major children s book publisher Harcourt Brace. Reed s book concludes We saw life become a cell, then a group of cells. In turn there have appeared before us the fish, the amphibian, the reptile, and the mammal. He goes on to address man, Finally from among the mammals there appeared the primates and from among the primates the European white primates who founded the British Empire and the United States of America. 5 On both issues, the age of the earth and the descent of man, children s books were more outspoken than textbooks. These two topics are also highlighted in many of the accompanying illustrations. While the period is conservative in concern for evolution in textbooks it is a much less conservative face in children s books. 4 Skoog, Gerald. "Topic of Evolution in Secondary School Biology Textbooks: 1900-1977." Science Education 63(1979): pp.623-624 and 627 5 Reed, William Maxwell. The Earth for Sam: The Story of Mountains, Rivers, Dinosaurs and Men. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921. p.378. The two pictures can be found on pages 288 and 377 respectively.
If American s were worried about high school students studying evolution, why would major publishers, often the same textbook publishers shrinking back from the subject, prepare books about the topics for an even younger and more impressionable audience? I contend that the answer lies in the different nature of the texts. The textbook embodies a form of official knowledge. It is supposed to represent a form of cultural common ground. In theory, the book is for all students. In contrast a children s book for younger children might sit on the shelf unread, the only way someone reads it is if they are interested enough in the topic to pick it off the shelf. I would argue that it becomes a form of voluntary knowledge, as opposed to the official knowledge of the textbook.
So thinking back on the central questions, the central tropes, the birth of these children s evolution books adds a different tension to the history of evolutionary theory as a cultural object in American culture. Instead of the science community retreating after Scopes they aimed their sights at even younger individuals. As I will detail in the next section, scientists were heavily involved in the production of these books. The Authors: Just who were the authors and publishers that wrote and distributed these books and what were their motives? The first question is much easier to answer but also offers insight into the second. For the most part, scientists, in particular, biologists and paleontologists wrote the books. For example, Edwin H. Colbert, an eminent vertebrate paleontologist, and in his time as curator of the American museum of Natural History, published many works about his research on dinosaurs. An early proponent of continental drift he made major contributions to science in the twentieth century. For this paper one of his less wellknown books is of primary interest. In 1945 Colbert wrote a children s book on dinosaurs. In it he both accepted evolution as foundational and noted. Dinosaurs are extremely old when compared with the earliest human remains. But they are relatively late in the 2-billion year history of the earth. 6 In his autobiography Colbert reflects on his life s work and returns to The Dinosaur Book as a hallmark of the popularity of dinosaurs. As he remembers, he was asked to write a book to supplement the museum s dinosaur exhibits. The book was originally published by the museum to accompany a 6 Colbert, Edwin. The Dinosaur Book. New York: McGraw Hill, 1945. p. 5
dinosaur exhibit but was later published by McGraw Hill. 7 As he explains, he wrote the book to fill a yearning of young children to learn about dinosaurs. Along with those dinosaurs came a scientific perspective on an old and evolving earth. Many of the books that deal explicitly with evolution in the period are these dinosaur books, the popularity of the dinosaurs gave paleontologists a powerful platform to offer evolutionary thinking to children. Colbert is in many ways typical of a series of paleontologists and biologists who worked extensively on these books. Of the other books written by journalists and children s book writers almost all acknowledge the assistance of scientists in editing. This involvement from the scientific community, demonstrates that on some level, scientists understood the value of these books. 8 Instead of disengaging from these discussions, members of the biological science community collaborated on books for young people on the topic of evolution. Rethinking the Context: In the period after the Scopes trial evolution was largely ignored by high school textbooks. However, textbook companies like McGraw Hill and Harcourt and Brace, which had removed references to evolution in their textbooks published for a high school audience had begun to publish books for a younger audience about the subject. Historians have interpreted the lack of coverage of evolution in textbooks as a withdrawal from the controversy in education. However, the publication of these children s books would seem 7 Colbert, Edwin. Digging Into the Past: An Autobiography. New York: Dember Books, 1989. p. 429. 8 For examples of children s evolution books written by scientists in the period also see Alex Novikoff s, Climbing our Family Tree. For example s of children s books written by children s authors see Adam Whyte s The Wonder World We Live In, Ray Baker s So That s Man, and William Reed s Animals on the March.
to counter this claim. Instead, in light of these children s books it would be reasonable to conclude that because of the different natures of these two literary genres the Scopes trial had very different effects. It is well worth considering the historiographic frame around children s books and textbooks as views into America s pedagogical past. I would suggest that textbooks are inherently tilted toward political correctness, which makes them a much more conservative medium, while because children s books can be marketed to smaller niche groups, like parents and librarians, they can encompass a broader range of perspectives. Because Historians considering the place of evolution in the history of American education have focused on textbooks they have missed the complexes of this history. Instead of Scopes forcing education to become much more conservative, the trial had a polarizing effect. Simultaneously forcing the conservative medium of textbooks to cut out evolution and in parallel creating enough public interest in the topic to substantiate a new genera of children s books focused around the topic of evolution. Works Cited Baker, Ray. So That s Man. Chicago: Reilly and Lee, 1949. Colbert, Edwin. Digging Into the Past: An Autobiography. New York: Dember Books, 1989. Colbert, Edwin. The Dinosaur Book. New York: McGraw Hill, 1945. Larson, Edward. Trial and Error: The American Controversy over Creation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Reed, William Maxwell. Animals on the March. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company March 1937
Reed, William Maxwell. The Earth for Sam: The Story of Mountains, Rivers, Dinosaurs and Men. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921. Novikoff, Alex. Climbing our Family Tree. New York: International Publishers, 1945 Potter, Marion and Bacon, Corinne. Children's Catalogue, HW Wilson Company 1909, 1918, 1925. Schrecker, Ellen. Stalking the Academic Communist: Intellectual Freedom and the Firing of Alex Novikoff, Burlington, VT: University Press of Vermont, 1989 Skoog, Gerald. "Topic of Evolution in Secondary School Biology Textbooks: 1900-1977." Science Education 63(1979): 621-40. Whyte, Adam. The Wonder World We Live In. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1921.