Mitchell L. Stevens papers (Ms.2008.001)

The Mitchell L. Stevens papers consist of pamphlets, flyers, audiotapes, registration forms, workbooks, catalogs, booklets, articles, news clippings, and periodicals documenting the home school movement in the United States in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Stevens compiled this research material while working on his doctorate in sociology at Northwestern University. His dissertation, entitled "Kingdom and coalition: Hierarchy and autonomy in the home education movement," was completed in 1996 and later published under the title, Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement (Princeton University Press, 2001).

The papers are divided into six series : conference materials, promotional material, catalogs, subject files, articles and periodicals. There are only a few pieces of correspondence, all of which concern requests for materials. These are filed with the materials requested.

Conference materials consist of registration forms for conferences and workshops, pamphlets announcing conferences or conventions, order forms for audio tapes of talks given at conferences, and session schedules. There are also flyers for a few small scale local meetings, which were aimed at training parents who wished to home school their children rather than providing information to academics or education professionals.

Promotional materials include pamphlets, flyers, cassettes which offer sample lessons and workbooks for programs designed to help the homeschooling parent teach subjects such as math, science, English, and Bible studies. Many of the programs are offered by an umbrella organization from which parents can receive lesson plans to use in teaching their children at home.

The catalog series supplements the promotional materials series, and includes actual lists and order forms for books, educational toys, and cassettes for use in the home classroom. One company offers Christian piano lessons; another has two separate catalogs, one offering materials for boys such as coonskin caps and astronaut suits, and the other materials for girls, including tea sets, aprons and hope chests.

Subject files include information from diverse sources, such as pamphlets from the La Leche League, materials from the campaign for lieutenant governor of Virginia, booklets on the history of the Home School Legal Defense Association, information on children who went from homeschooling to successful careers at colleges like Harvard, and biographical material on important figures in the home school movement. There are also print outs of web resources and home pages that share the experiences of families who home school, and one pamphlet simply entitled Prepare to meet thy God.

Articles are filed alphabetically by title and include photocopies of original articles, printouts of articles posted to the web and articles clipped directly from magazines and newspapers. Sources for these include the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and Congressional Quarterly.

By far the largest series in this collection is the periodical series. Most of the titles included in this series represent short runs or even single issues of magazines devoted to homeschooling; taken together, they represent a wide spectrum of opinion. In particular, the series includes long but incomplete runs of Home Education Magazine (1998-2000), Growing without Schooling (issue numbers #57-128), Teaching Home (1994-2001), and Practical Homeschooling (1993-2002).