“Clean Nails are the Mark of a Well Brought-Up Girl”: Exploring Gender in a Post-Edwardian Girls’ School Exercise Book

Abstract

This study brings together two neglected fields of researchthe writing of ordinary people and the materiality of schoolingto explore the representation of gender in a British girls' school exercise book from the early twentieth century. The exercise book belonged to my great-grandmother, Violet Haynes, who attended Hannah More Girls' School in St Philips, Bristol from 1907 to 1919. The pupils of Hannah More Girls' School were predominantly working-class and came from the surrounding districts of Easton, Eastville, and St Jude's, impoverished areas characterised by their insalubrious and crime-infested slums (Smith 7). The school exercise book is an example of what Jennifer Sinor (5) calls "ordinary writing"that is, "writing that is typically unseen or ignored and is primarily defined by its status as discardable". Julia Gillen and Nigel Hall (170) argue that ordinary writing from England's past represents "an elusive quarry" in which only the writing of the elite or distinctive educated individuals has survived in archives, libraries, and personal collections. Thus, using a working-class exercise book to study ordinary writing is powerful, as it represents one of the few remaining tangible resources for exploring the life of working-class girls in post-Edwardian Britain. Furthermore, emphasising a working-class girl's experience offers a new perspective on schooling in the early twentieth century, given that most historical accounts tend to concentrate predominantly on the experiences of men (Johnson; Simon; Silver), use language that hides or marginalises the presence of girls (Hunt) or focus overwhelmingly on middle-class girls (Burstyn; Hobsbawm; Hunt). This research aims to redress the stereotype that girls were passive recipients of information, and demonstrate that, in fact, the board school encouraged working-class girls to play an active role in their educative experience and to negotiate their female identity in light of the New Woman movement. Exploring gender within an early twentieth-century context remains relevant today, given the unequal educational experiences that girls still suffer, as well as the gender stereotypes that persist in school textbooks and resources (Riley). By using the activities and feedback in Violet's exercise book to map particular attitudes to and constructions of gender, we can correct any potentially harmful behaviours that still remain in our society and strive to create a modern classroom environment with equality of opportunity for girls. Moreover, by giving a voice to the forgotten working-class girls of post-Edwardian Britain, we ensure that the important contribution

Introducing ethnohistorical research to multimodal studies

“…These examples concern just three types of historical multimodal artefacts with three specific aims. However, I have employed multimodal ethnohistory effectively for a range of other artefacts, such as school exercise books (O’Hagan, 2018a), writing implements (O’Hagan, 2018b), music memorabilia (O’Hagan, 2019b) and photographs (O’Hagan and Serafinelli, 2022), and aims, including to historicise “contemporary” trends, such as foodstagramming (O’Hagan, 2022), selfies (O’Hagan and Spilioti, 2021), chlorophyll (O’Hagan, 2022a) and protein-enhanced foods (O’Hagan, 2021c).…”

Teaching through objects and collections: The case of Strängnäs Secondary Grammar School and school museum 1830-1960

“…The analysis of the writing and multimodality of the postcards is combined with investigations of historical sources. O’ Hagan (2018) studied multimodal representation of gender in a post-Edwardian girls’ school exercise book, using an ethnohistorical approach. Bezemer and Kress (2009) studied changes in textbook design from 1930 to the present day.…”