Regulations to Govern the Teachers’ Homes, 1921-1922

Regulations for Teachers' Homes, by Charles L. Coon
Regulations for Teachers, by Charles L. Coon

This document, “Regulations to Govern the Teachers’ Homes,” 1921-1922, was prepared by Charles L. Coon, an early 20th-century education reformer and superintendent of Wilson County schools, in order to protect the the “property of the public” (apparently referring to the home itself) and the “health and good name of the teachers.” Some highlights include:

8.(d) The principal will not grant any teacher permission to leave the home on Saturday or Sunday nights to take rides or to make visits with a person of the opposite sex unless the couple is accompanied by a suitable chaperone.

8.(e) Dancing and card playing will not be permitted in the home, and the principal must not give any teacher permission to attend a dance or card party outside the teachers’ home.

8.(f) The great majority of all the pictures showing in the moving picture theaters are morally degrading or wholly unprofitable and far from uplifting and wholesome. A teacher who has only a small sense of her moral obligations and the influence of her example will hardly need a rule to guide her attendance on such places of public amusement.

Item comes from the Charles L. Coon Papers (#177 finding aid), Folder 135.

11 thoughts on “Regulations to Govern the Teachers’ Homes, 1921-1922”

  1. Fantastic… so were Wilson County teachers living in county-owned homes, as mill workers lived in company-owned houses?

  2. David,
    Thanks for your question! Yes, the document suggests that the teachers who were subject to these rules were living in a residence provided by the school system. One of the rules even states that an inventory of the furnishings in the house was to be taken at the beginning and end of every year to show that everything was still in place.
    I cannot tell, however, whether this was a school house in which classes were taught, or a separate residence for teachers. If anyone else out there can shed some light on this, please chime in!

  3. I believe that there were a number of “teacherages” scattered around the state. My own great aunt lived in a teacherage in Sherrill’s Ford, NC at one time, and the teacherage for the school in my hometown was beside of my grandparents house for a short while.

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