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Educating a City's Children: British Immigrants and PrimaryEducation in Buenos Aires (1820-1880)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2015

Alina Silveira*
Affiliation:
Consejo National de Investigaciones Cientificasy TécnicasUniversidad de Buenos Aires/Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Extract

Argentina, and Buenos Aires in particular, was a preferred South Americandestination for great numbers of European immigrants who crossed theAtlantic beginning in the late nineteenth century in search of newopportunities. Most Latin American governments, from the early days of theirnations' independence, sought to attract European workers. These newlyfounded countries considered immigration an essential element for creating asociety that would become economically, politically, and socially modern.They hoped to attract mainly foreigners from Northern Europe, among them theBritish, whom they considered to have superior labor skills and to beaccustomed to the habits of order and work the new nation required.

Type
2013 Clah Luncheon Address
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2013

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References

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of The Americas, the translators William Pickett and Cooper Pickett, and Paula Seiguer and Silvia Escanilla Huerta for their comments on the preliminary version of this article.

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9. The treaty guaranteed a preferential situation for commerce and for British merchants, recognized the sovereignty of the political authorities in Buenos Aires, and assured British subjects commercial and civil rights including the right to freedom of religion. It also exempted them from military service. H. S. Ferns, Gran Bretaña y la Argentina.

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16. Argentine National Census, 1869.

17. Weinberg, Gregorio, “Modelos educativos en el desarrollo histórico de América Latina,Educación Hoy 11:62-63 (January-June 1981), pp. 7129.Google Scholar

18. Convent schools disappeared in 1820 after the closure of the convents and were reestablished in the 1850s.

19. Ibid.

20. Carlos Newland, Buenos Aires no es pampa; Salvadores, Antonio, “La enseñanza primaria y la universidad en la época de Rosas, in Historia de la nación Argentina (desde los orígenes hasta la organización definitiva en 1862), Ricardo Levene, dir. (Buenos Aires: El Ateneo, 1962), Vol. 8, pp. 253269.Google Scholar

21. Ibid.; Salvadores, Antonio, La instrucción primaria desde 1810 hasta la sanción de la ley ¡420 (Buenos Aires: Talleres Gráficos/Consejo Nacional de Educación, 1941);Google Scholar Ramos, Juan P., Historia de la instrucción primaria en la República Argentina, 1810-–910 (Buenos Aires: Peuser, 1910);Google Scholar and Registro Estadístico de Buenos Aires [hereafter REBA], 1872.

22. Carlos Newland, Buenos Aires no es pampa; Newland, “Enseñanza elemental”; Salvadores, Antonio, La instrucción primaria; Antonio Portnoy, La instrucción primaria desde 1810 hasta la sanción de la ley 1420 (Buenos Aires: Talleres Gráficos/Consejo Nacional de Educación, 1937);Google Scholar and Ramos, Historia de la instrucción.

23. For a more detailed analysis of the Rosas decrees, see Salvadores, Antonio, Instrucción primaria; Salvadores, “El decreto del 26 de mayo de 1844, sobre las escuelas de la provincia de Buenos Aires,Boletín del Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas 7:39 (January-March 1929), pp. 4163;Google Scholar and Carlos Newland, Buenos Aires no es pampa.

24. Calvo, Nancy, “Los unos y los otros. Católicos, herejes, protestantes, extranjeros. Alcances de la tolerancia religiosa en las primeras décadas del siglo XIX,Anuario del Instituto de Estudios Histórico-Sociales 21 (2006), pp. 1335.Google Scholar

25. Bastían, Jean-Pierre, Historia del Protestantismo en América Latina (Mexico: Cupsa Editorial, 1990).Google Scholar

26. Monti, Daniel P., Presencia del protestantismo en el Río de la Plata durante el siglo XIX (Buenos Aires: La Aurora, 1969);Google Scholar Caudini, Arnaldo, La libertad de cultos. Historia, contenido y situación constitucional argentina (Buenos Aires: Asociación Bautista Argentina de Publicaciones, 1987).Google Scholar

27. Arnaldo Canclini, La libertad de cultos; Monti, Presencia del protestantismo.

28. The list of subjects offered by the private schools can be seen in Newland’s Buenos Aires no es pampa. For the English schools, the variety of schools offered was reconstructed from advertisements published by some schools in the British Packet.

29. Silvia B. Venezian, Misioneros y maestros.

30. The chances of returning to the motherland during the first half of the nineteenth century were slight. Until well into the nineteenth century, the voyage across the Atlantic was long and traumatic, comforts on the ship were minimal, and costs were high.

31. British Packet, September 26, 1835, pp. 2–3.

32. REBA, 1856.

33. Salvadores, Antonio, Instrucción primaria; José Antonio Wilde, Buenos Aires desde setenta años atrás (Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 1960 [1881])Google Scholar; Hanon, Maxine, Diccionario de británicos en Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires: Guttcn Press, 2005);Google Scholar and British Packet, August 9, 1834, p. 1.

34. Maxine Hanon, Diccionario; Carlos Newland, Buenos Aires no es pampa.

35. José Antonio Wilde, Buenos Aires desde setenta años atrás.

36. Un inglés, , Cinco años en Buenos Aires, 1820-–825 (Buenos Aires: Solar/Hachctte, 1962 [1825]), p. 117.Google Scholar According to members of the British community in Buenos Aires and investigators José Antonio Wilde, Michael Mulhall, Paul Groussac, and Maxine Hanon (among others), the author was Thomas George Love. It is thought that due to his prominent presence in local society, he chose to remain anonymous so as to be able to express his opinions freely, without fear of offending anyone.

37. British Packet, April 30, 1842.

38. British Packet, September 26, 1835, p. 2.

39. Un inglés, Cinco años en Buenos Aires, p. 117.

40. Silvia Β. Venezian, Misioneros y maestros.

41. The census summaries can be found in the Registro Estadístico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 1872, Archivo General de la Nación [hereafter AGN] Sala VII 1405-–414.

42. The questionnaires requested information on the name and location of the school; the days it was open and the class schedule; religion; records and notes; the name of the director and the nationality, age, and marital status of the director and teachers; the number of children registered by age and gender; student body attendance; subjects taught, with the numbers of boys and girls enrolled in the various classes; textbooks used; the level of instruction achieved by the students broken down by gender; the characteristics of the school building and furniture; and school income and expenses.

43. Educational Census, Republic of Argentina, 1872, AGN Sala VII 1405-–414.

44. Issues of The Standard were randomly chosen, mainly from the first quarters of the years 1865-–868 and 1876-–880. The first quarter marked the beginning of the school year, and it was then that the number of advertisements was highest.

45. M. G and Ε. T. Mulhall, Handbook of the River Plate, Buenos Aires, Standard Printing-Office, 1869. The Handbooks of the River Plate were a series of books published for several years by the Mulhall brothers from Ireland, editors of the newspaper The Standard. They were directed to the British in Latin America and those who intended to immigrate there. The books are a synthesis of the natural, political and historical descriptions of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. At the end of these books there was a special section designated for advertisements of goods and services, in which some educators promoted their institutions.

46. Argentine National Census, 1869.

47. REBA, 1860.

48. REBA, 1879. See Scobie, James, Buenos Aires del centro a los barrios (Buenos Aires: Solar/Hachette, 1977).Google Scholar

49. The Standard, January 29, 1880.

50. Canclini, Arnaldo, Diego Thomson. Apóstol de la enseñanza y distribución de la biblia en America Latina y España (Buenos Aires: Asociación Sociedad Bíblica Argentina, 1987).Google Scholar

51. Jean-Pierre Bastían, Historia del protestantismo; Alessandro Carvalho Bica y Elomar Tambara, “O Colegio Diocesano Santa Margarida”; Paula Seiguer, La Iglesia Anglicana; Antonio Gouvèa Mendonça, “Ideologia e educaçào religiosa”; Jether Pereira Ramalho, “As características pedagógicas”; Pablo Moreno, “La educación protestante”; Jean-Pierre Bastían, Los disidentes; and Silvia B. Venezian, Misioneros y maestros.

52. Sylvia Β. Venezian, Misioneros y Maestros.

53. In 1826 the monthly fee was one currency unit plus 4 reales per child, although scholarships were offered if the parents could not afford the tuition. However, in 1822 Mrs. Hyne’s private school charged between 4 and 6 currency units for a very similar education. In the 1830s the fee was between 5 and 7 cur-rency units at the Buenos Ayrean British School Society, while at some other private schools, such as Mr. Clarke’s, the fee was 30 currency units.

54. A list of the students who attended the schools financed by the Buenos Ayrean British School Society could not be found, but the names of those who won awards in the annual public exams were published in the newspaper. The names used were those published in the British Packet on July 30, 1831, and November 19, 1831.

55. Among those who attended were Patrick McLean, William Parish Robertson, John Zimmerman, Daniel Gowland, John Harrat, and George Dowdall.

56. Prominent individuals such as John Zimmerman and John Harrat were also members of the school committee.

57. British Packet, February and March 1838.

58. British Packet, May 26, 1838; Rules and Regulations for the Management of the British Episcopal Schools, Minute Book, British Episcopal School (1838-–845). Universidad de San Andrés Archive.

59. In 1839 it was customary to charge 5 currency units per month for reading lessons alone, 7 for reading and writing together, and 10 for reading, writing, and arithmetic, (those who could not afford to pay would be admitted free of charge). According to Carlos Newland, the minimum tuition charged by private schools in 1834 was between 10 and 15 currency units.

60. Minute Book, British Episcopal School (1838-–845), Universidad de San Andrés Archive.

61. British Packet, April 20, 1838.

62. The fee in 1838 was between 5 and 8 currency units, depending on the courses taken.

63. School regulations (1838). The regulations are transcribed in Drysdale, J. Monteith, One Hundred Tears Old, 1838-–938 (Buenos Aires: The English Printery, 1938).Google Scholar

64. School Committee records cited in Drysdale, One Hundred Tears Old, p. 77.

65. Ibid.

66. For example, in 1866 the Scottish school charged between 50 and 70 currency units per month, whether the child was a member of the Scottish congregation or not. In the same year, monthly tuition at Colegio San Jorge was between 100 and 300 currency units and in the Anglo-French Seminar between 300 and 500 currency units according to the courses taken and the type of studies (pupil, part-time pupil, or external). Drysdale, One Hundred Tears Old; The Standard.

67. Education Census of the Republic of Argentina, 1872. For information on public schools in the 1850s, see Carlos Newland, Buenos Aires no es pampa.

68. Report of the Subcommittee appointed at the School Committee meeting held May 3, 1861, as cited in Drysdale, One Hundred Years Old.

69. According to the report, the children had basic knowledge and could repeat from memory some words from the book. They were “familiarized” with the political divisions of the Earth’s surface and could recognize several continents on the map.

70. Report of the Subcommittee appointed at the School Committee meeting held May 3, 1861.

71. Buenos Aires municipal census, 1855, AGN VII, 1391–1404.