DEAR EDITOR:
With regards to recent published information by Mr. Richard Scarsella, president of the William Holmes McGuffey Society, I would have added some information. We would be quite remiss not to mention the hard work for years by the members of the society, many professors at YSU or the Youngstown school system, under Dorothy I. Morse and Clarence Morse. Also, all the citizens of Coitsville Township and Youngstown to procure the clear mortgage from Mr. and Mrs. Laurie who owned the property of the McGuffey Homesite in Coitsville Township.
I am one of the generations remaining who remembers how hard all these people worked so Mr. Richard Scarsella and the society could turn over the property to Mill Creek MetroParks.
It’s been said that William Holmes McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers have been used by more Americans than any book besides The Bible and Webster’s Dictionary.
Those educational books taught American schoolchildren for more than a century from 1836 until the mid- 20th century. McGuffey (1800-1873) got his education in the Mahoning Valley, growing up in Coitsville and teaching briefly in Poland before becoming a professor at Miami University and president at Cincinnati College (now the University of Cincinnati) and Ohio University.
The William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society continues to work to make sure his legacy is remembered in the Mahoning Valley. The local chapter celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2021, and it is the last remaining chapter of an organization that once had 100,000 members belonging to chapters nationwide.