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Animals, natural history Digital Collection

Sunday school teachers dedicated a good deal of their time discussing with students the world around them. In this section one will find three types of texts, those providing more or less straightforward information about animals and plants or natural wonders (e.g. Child's Own Book of Natural History), those offering lessons of moral conduct with respect to animals and the natural world (e.g. Kindness to Animals: or, The Sin of Cruelty Exposed and Rebuked), and those that combine the two (e.g. Talks with Amy Dudley; or, What Makes Me Grow?). The first type tended to rely on facts and illustration, the other types on scripture and precept.

Some of these texts are striking for their relevance to present-day matters. Discussions of cruelty to animals will resonate with contemporary readers though these arguments rest on scripture rather than concepts of rights, which are more frequently used today. These arguments for kindness to animals also resonate with the benevolent disciplinary philosophy associated with Sunday school. Sunday schools prohibited corporal punishment; "kindness alone," and persuasion were said to be sufficient to instruct children. This policy of sparing the rod, fostered a spiritual and social "disciplinary intimacy," as Richard Brodhead has called it, associated with Christian nurture (see Introduction). This relationship is reflected in arguments for being kind to animals. In Kindness to Animals, for example, we are informed that most human cruelty toward animals stems from a misconception that animals must be "frightened into obedience," using corporal punishment as a deterrent. The author contends that correction can be made through kindness and reward. This is precisely the mode of instruction for children and reflected the new child psychology of the antebellum era.

While one would best look elsewhere for popular debates about evolution one will find that advances in natural science are of explicit concern in these books. Most authors go out of their way to reconcile scientific understanding of the universe with knowledge of God. For example, in What is a Star? there is a dialogue discussing the astronomical discoveries of Sir John Hershel. "Dear Mamma," the boy exclaims, "if all these stars are worlds like are own earth and other planet how much God must have to take care of!"

"The discoveries made by the telescopes in these boundless regions, my dear, are well suited to exalt our notions of God's wondrous power."

Other works attempt to reconcile theories of the physical body with man's spiritual nature and provide unusual commentary on such subjects as phrenology, and nervous sympathy. In general, these works seek to ascribe a moral content to nature to man's physical conditions.

— Stephen Rachman, Department of English, Michigan State University

Items in the Animals, natural history collection:
Title	Publisher	Author	Description	Available Format(s)
Child's Book of Water Birds	New York: Leavitt & Allen, 1855	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Child's Own Book of Natural History	Worcester: Hervey & Co., 18--?	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Kindness to Animals: or, The Sin of Cruelty Exposed and Rebuked	Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1845	Elizabeth, Charlotte	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Man, in his Physical, Intellectual, Social, and Moral Relations	Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union; London: Religious Tract Society; 1847	Newnham, W.	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Nature's Wonders: or, God's Care over All His Works	Philadelphia: Presbyterian Publication Committee, 185-?	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Precious Stones	New York: Lane & Scott, for the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1848	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Rambles After Land Shells	Boston: American Tract Society, 1863	Parker, Helen Fitch	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Richard and Rover	New York: Lane & Tippett for the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1846	Elizabeth, Charlotte	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Talks with Amy Dudley; or, What Makes Me Grow?	New York: Carlton & Lanahan; Cincinnati: Hitchcock & Walden; Sunday School Department, 18--?	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
The Bee-Hive	New York: American Tract Society, 18--?	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
The Carrier-Pigeon	New York: American Tract Society, 18--?	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
The Casket for Boys and Girls	Concord, N.H.: Merriam & Merrill, 1854	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
The Elephant and Other Beasts	Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 18--?	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
The Hive and Its Wonders	Philadelphia: American Sunday School Union, 1851	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
The Mighty Deep	New York: Lane & Scott, 1852	Tocque, Philip	unknown or unavailable	jpg
The Telescope and Microscope	Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union; Religious Tract Society, 1851?	Dick, Rev. Thomas	unknown or unavailable	jpg
What is a Star	New York: American Tract Society, 18--?	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Wolves and Foxes	New York: Sunday-School Union, 1866	Ranger, Robin	unknown or unavailable	jpg
Wonders of Nature	London, Edinburgh, and New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1857	Author Unknown	unknown or unavailable	jpg