Kent County, Delaware, School District 83 attendance records

This volume and its associated materials contain attendance records from School District 83 in Kent County, Delaware. The records were kept from 1878-1879 and 1881-1883.

These school attendance records contain demographic data about students and information regarding the school’s curricula. Both male and female students attended the school, although their relative numbers fluctuated throughout the year. Female students tended to outnumber male students in the Spring, Summer, and early Autumn, while male students greatly outnumbered female students in the Winter months. Several rosters include students’ ages, which ranged from 5 to 20 years of age. However, most students were between 6 and 15 years old while attending school. Monthly school attendance also varied greatly. Some students attended school regularly, Mondays through Fridays, while others came only a few days a month. There were several breaks in the school calendar, including a vacation during the strawberry-picking season in June.

The records also show that students learned a variety of subjects, including reading, writing, spelling, written arithmetic, mental arithmetic, grammar, geography and U.S. history. A few students also received special instruction in algebra, rhetoric, bookkeeping, general history, and astronomy.

The volume is bound with black cloth over paper covers with the inscription “DELAWARE SCHOOL REGISTER” gilt-stamped on front cover. Information on the inside cover identifies the volume as the Delaware School Register for District 83 in Kent County. The volume contains 40 pages of printed attendance rosters. The names of students, attendance information, and other data are handwritten in black ink. Printed on the inside of the back cover is “An Act in Relation to Free Schools in this State,” passed by the Delaware Legislature in 1875 and amended in 1879. This act describes the use of text books and the duties of the state superintendent, school commissioners and teachers. Nine leaves of paper with typed attendance lists accompany the volume.