E. Jennifer Monaghan
Encyclopedia
E. Jennifer Monaghan is both an experienced educator of reading and writing and an award-winning historian. She is generally regarded as the leading expert on literacy education in early America. She has published widely on the history of reading. with three books and dozens of book chapters and journal articles. In an interview with Richard Robinson (1990), Dr. Monaghan explained why she believed it is important to study the history of reading. “Looking at the history of a subject gives us a perspective that no other approach can offer," she said. "It prevents us from falsifying the past, whether by romanticizing it or downgrading it unfairly.”
of The City University of New York, where she specialized in developmental reading, English as a Second Language, and the teaching of composition. Her early work included articles on reading research and a historical examination of the problem of dyslexia.
She is also the author of numerous publications in the history of literacy, has taught courses on the history of literacy, and has spoken on numerous occasions on the topic at national and international conferences. She has been elected a Member of the American Antiquarian Society and an Associate Member of Darwin College, Cambridge, England. In 1983 her dissertation, Noah Webster
’s Speller, 1783-1843: Causes of Its Success as Reading Text, was a co-winner of the biennial Outstanding Dissertation Award offered by the Society for the Study of Curriculum. In 1975 Monaghan founded the History of Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association
, and was for many years an active member of its executive board. She served as editor or coeditor of its newsletter, "History of Reading News," from its inception in Fall 1976 to Spring 2002. Both her teaching and her research focus on the relationships between reading and writing, particularly written language acquisition.
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". Scholars investigate the impact that books have had upon our culture, looking at books and the connections among author and publisher, publisher and printer, printer and reader, as well as author and reader. The "history of the book" considers crucial topics such as the commercial aspects of reading, the cultural and social aspects, and so forth.
in San Diego. Charles Monaghan stated, "We are donating our collection to the University of Kansas
because of the presence there of an outstanding young scholar named Arlene Barry. We hope she will be able to make use of these textbooks as part of the reading education courses that she teaches."
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. A Common Heritage: Noah Webster's Blue-Back Speller.
Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1983.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Family Literacy in Early 18th-Century Boston: Cotton Mather
and His Children," Reading Research Quarterly 26 (1991): 342-70.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Gender and Textbooks: Women Writers of Elementary Readers,
1850-1950." Publishing Research Quarterly 10 (1994): 28-46.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. Learning to read and write in Colonial America. Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2007.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Literacy Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England." In
Reading in America: Literature and Social History, ed. Cathy N. Davidson, 53-80.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Phonics and Whole Word/Whole Language Controversies,
1948-1998: An Introductory History." In Finding Our Literacy Roots: Eighteenth
Yearbook of the American Reading Forum, ed. Richard J. Telfer, 1-23.Whitewater,
Wisc.: American Reading Forum, 1998.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Reading for the Enslaved, Writing for the Free: Reflections on Liberty and Literacy." Annals of the American Antiquarian Society.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer, and Arlene L. Barry. Writing the Past: Teaching Reading in Colonial America and the United States, 1640-1940: The Catalog. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1999.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer and Douglas K. Hartman, "Undertaking historical research in literacy." In Handbook of Reading Research, Volume III, ed. Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal, P. David Pearson and Rebecca Barr (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000), 109-121.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer and E. Wendy Saul. "The Reader, the Scribe, the Thinker: A Critical Look at the History of American Reading and Writing Instruction." In The Formation of School Subjects: The Struggle for Creating an American Institution, ed. Thomas S. Popkewitz, 85-122. Philadelphia: Falmer, 1987.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer, and Hartman, Douglas K. (2002). Undertaking historical research in literacy. In Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal, P. David Pearson, and Rebecca Barr (Eds.), Methods of literacy research: the methodology chapters from the Handbook of reading research, volume III (pp. 33–45). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer, Hartman, Douglas K., & Monaghan, Charles. (2002). "History of reading instruction." In Barbara J. Guzzetti (Ed.), Literacy in America: An encyclopedia of history, theory, and practice (pp. 224–231). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Education
Dr. Monaghan received her B.A. and M.A. from Oxford University, Oxford, England, where she attended Lady Margaret Hall and studied Greats (classics), receiving first-class honors in Honour Moderations. She received a Fulbright travel award and was sponsored by the English Speaking Union to teach as a graduate assisant at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where she studied with Alexander Turyn, taught classics, and received an M.A. in classical Greek. After marrying journalist Charles Monaghan in 1958, she moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., and had three children. In her late 30s, she entered the reading education department of the Ferkauf Graduate School of Education at Yeshiva University in New York City, where she studied with Lawrence Kasdon, Susan Sardy, and Moishe Anisfeld. She received an Ed.D. in 1980, with a dissertation on Noah Webster and his blueback speller. Richard L. Venezky was a member of her dissertation committee and remained a mentor.Career
Dr. Monaghan is professor emerita of English at Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
of The City University of New York, where she specialized in developmental reading, English as a Second Language, and the teaching of composition. Her early work included articles on reading research and a historical examination of the problem of dyslexia.
She is also the author of numerous publications in the history of literacy, has taught courses on the history of literacy, and has spoken on numerous occasions on the topic at national and international conferences. She has been elected a Member of the American Antiquarian Society and an Associate Member of Darwin College, Cambridge, England. In 1983 her dissertation, Noah Webster
Noah Webster
Noah Webster was an American educator, lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author...
’s Speller, 1783-1843: Causes of Its Success as Reading Text, was a co-winner of the biennial Outstanding Dissertation Award offered by the Society for the Study of Curriculum. In 1975 Monaghan founded the History of Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association
International Reading Association
The International Reading Association is an international professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dialogue about research on reading, and encourage the habit of reading....
, and was for many years an active member of its executive board. She served as editor or coeditor of its newsletter, "History of Reading News," from its inception in Fall 1976 to Spring 2002. Both her teaching and her research focus on the relationships between reading and writing, particularly written language acquisition.
The History of Literacy
Dr. Monaghan’s interest in the study of the history of reading evolved by chance. She was volunteering as a tutor at a local public elementary school in Brooklyn and was dismayed at how reading was being taught. Dr. Monaghan began to look at the background of reading instruction, and eventually completed her dissertation on Noah Webster’s speller, which was used to teach reading as well as spelling. Her first book,A Common Heritage: Noah Webster's Blue-Back Speller (1983), was an outgrowth of her dissertation. Additionally she has published numerous book chapters, journal and encyclopedia articles, reviews, and a catalog including some with Dr. Douglas K. HartmanDouglas K. Hartman
Douglas K. Hartman currently works at Michigan State University as a Professor of Literacy and Technology in the . Hartman's research focuses on new literacies, adolescent literacy, health literacy and the .-Education and Employment:Douglas K...
.
The History of the Book
Dr. Monaghan began a general study of the history of reading instruction, eventually becoming involved in an area known as the "history of the bookHistory of the book
The history of books follows a suite of technological innovations for books. These improved the quality of text conservation, the access to information, portability, and the cost of production...
". Scholars investigate the impact that books have had upon our culture, looking at books and the connections among author and publisher, publisher and printer, printer and reader, as well as author and reader. The "history of the book" considers crucial topics such as the commercial aspects of reading, the cultural and social aspects, and so forth.
The Charles and E. Jennifer Monaghan Collection
American Readers is an exhibition drawn from donations to the Kenneth Spencer Research Library from Charles and E. Jennifer Monaghan, of Brooklyn, NY, totaling over 1,500 volumes. The books have been designated the Charles and E. Jennifer Monaghan Collection and focus on the teaching of reading and writing in Colonial America and the United States. This collection was originally the basis for Writing the Past, edited by Dr. Monaghan and Arlene Barry, and published in conjunction with a historical display of literacy textbooks at the 1999 meeting of the International Reading AssociationInternational Reading Association
The International Reading Association is an international professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dialogue about research on reading, and encourage the habit of reading....
in San Diego. Charles Monaghan stated, "We are donating our collection to the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
because of the presence there of an outstanding young scholar named Arlene Barry. We hope she will be able to make use of these textbooks as part of the reading education courses that she teaches."
Publications
Israel, Susan E., & Monaghan, E. Jennifer (Eds.). (2007). Shaping the reading field: The impact of early reading pioneers, scientific research, and progressive ideas. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.Monaghan, E. Jennifer. A Common Heritage: Noah Webster's Blue-Back Speller.
Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1983.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Family Literacy in Early 18th-Century Boston: Cotton Mather
and His Children," Reading Research Quarterly 26 (1991): 342-70.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Gender and Textbooks: Women Writers of Elementary Readers,
1850-1950." Publishing Research Quarterly 10 (1994): 28-46.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. Learning to read and write in Colonial America. Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2007.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Literacy Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England." In
Reading in America: Literature and Social History, ed. Cathy N. Davidson, 53-80.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Phonics and Whole Word/Whole Language Controversies,
1948-1998: An Introductory History." In Finding Our Literacy Roots: Eighteenth
Yearbook of the American Reading Forum, ed. Richard J. Telfer, 1-23.Whitewater,
Wisc.: American Reading Forum, 1998.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. "Reading for the Enslaved, Writing for the Free: Reflections on Liberty and Literacy." Annals of the American Antiquarian Society.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer, and Arlene L. Barry. Writing the Past: Teaching Reading in Colonial America and the United States, 1640-1940: The Catalog. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1999.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer and Douglas K. Hartman, "Undertaking historical research in literacy." In Handbook of Reading Research, Volume III, ed. Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal, P. David Pearson and Rebecca Barr (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000), 109-121.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer and E. Wendy Saul. "The Reader, the Scribe, the Thinker: A Critical Look at the History of American Reading and Writing Instruction." In The Formation of School Subjects: The Struggle for Creating an American Institution, ed. Thomas S. Popkewitz, 85-122. Philadelphia: Falmer, 1987.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer, and Hartman, Douglas K. (2002). Undertaking historical research in literacy. In Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal, P. David Pearson, and Rebecca Barr (Eds.), Methods of literacy research: the methodology chapters from the Handbook of reading research, volume III (pp. 33–45). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer, Hartman, Douglas K., & Monaghan, Charles. (2002). "History of reading instruction." In Barbara J. Guzzetti (Ed.), Literacy in America: An encyclopedia of history, theory, and practice (pp. 224–231). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Awards
- “Outstanding Dissertation Award” from the Society for the Study of Curriculum History, 1983.
- Constance Rourke Prize, American Studies Association, 1989.
- Dr. Monaghan has received awards or honors from the following:
- American Studies Association
- History of Education Society
- Darwin College of Cambridge University
- American Antiquarian SocietyAmerican Antiquarian SocietyThe American Antiquarian Society , located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and national research library of pre-twentieth century American History and culture. Its main building, known also as Antiquarian Hall, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark...