Photo Album: a Life of Freedom & Sacrifice: The Young Teachers of Cornwall College 1920's

19 cent Women Education, teachers

Photo Album

[Women’s Education]. Photo Album: Truro Cornwall Teacher Training College. Truro, Cornwall UK: 1925-1927. Oblong octavo. Bradbound brown boards patterned for leather effect, “Album” stamped in gilt on cover. Modest rubbing to the front hinge, and slight bumping at the corners. 164 glossy-finish snapshot photographs of the female college students and their life at Cornwall in a variety of sizes, including 3.5” x 5.5”, 2.5” x 4.5”, 3.5” x 2.5” inches, both black and white and sepia. Most are captioned in white ink. Slight warp to some photographs from being pasted to the pages, and occasion residue from fingerprints. Beautiful, impressionistic portraits of the life of these hopeful young teachers in Cornwall. In addition to the many vivid photos of the teachers going for outings and picnicks (“Help yourself to the cream”) and lively portraits (“the long and short of it” under a photograph of a tall young woman smiling ruefully), there are photographs of the ancient city of Cornwall, which carry a beautiful, spectral quality.

In the 1920s, teaching was one of the only pursuits available to women who wanted economic enfranchisement outside of waged domestic service. However, there were many restrictions placed on female teachers; The women we see smiling in these photos, although choosing liberation in one sense, also faced much personal sacrifice. These women had to live morally exemplary lives by the rigorous contemporary standards, since they were entrusted to raise the youth. Additionally, until 1944 in the UK, no married women were allowed to work as teachers. If a woman teacher married, she had to resign from her job; if she was already married, she was sacked. Some women found a way around the marriage bars by marrying in secret and then living apart from their husband, or by having a very long engagement. Most female teachers, however, remained single in a time when marriage and motherhood signified adult female identity. The tensions between two identities-- that of the professional teacher and that of the feminine woman-- coupled with the influence of the suffrage movement and systematic unfair treatment in the teacher's unions, led to teachers becoming some of the most ardent feminists of the movement.

Item #16298

Price: $400.00