Group 1, Miss Anna Tolman Smith, of the Bureau of Education, Washington, D.C., juror.

Under the group heading of “Elementary Education,” the four classes into which it was divided represented kindergarten, elementary grades, training and certification of teachers, continuation schools, including evening schools, vacation schools, and schools for special training. (Legislation, organization, general statistics.  School supervision and school management.  Buildings:  Plans, models; school hygiene.  Methods of instruction; results obtained.)

In a letter Miss Smith says: 

The chairmanship which I held in the group jury was that of the committee on the report of the jury formed to prepare a survey of the material presented to the attention of the group to serve as an introduction to the secretary’s minutes.  Owing to circumstances the committee were unable to work as a whole on the report and it became consequently the sole work of the chairman.  I mention this fact because it illustrates the equality of service as between men and women in the jury of group 1.

Miss Smith’s report is as follows: 

    WOMEN’S WORK AT THE EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS, LOUISIANA PURCHASE
    EXPOSITION.

With respect to the exhibits at St. Louis upon which the Jury on Elementary Education (Group 1) were appointed to pass judgment, it would be impossible to discriminate between the work of men and women as therein illustrated.

These exhibits comprised first and chiefly the work of pupils; second, photographs and models illustrating school architecture, school appliances, and school life; third, statistical charts and reports pertaining to the administrative work of school systems.

The great bulk of the material in these exhibits belonged to the first of the three divisions specified above.  Since very nearly three-fourths of the teachers in the public elementary schools of the United States are women, it is obvious that the greater proportion of the pupils’ work exhibited was the direct outcome of the efforts of women teachers.

In the South Atlantic and South Central divisions of our country the proportion of women teachers is much smaller than in the whole country; in the divisions named they form only a little more than one-half the whole teaching force, but so far as they were represented no difference was made between the work of men and women as exhibited in the section here considered, nor was there any difference in the mode of estimating the work.

The second class of material mentioned, i.e., photographic views and models, was largely the work of experts, artists, and craftsmen employed for the purpose.  It would be impossible to determine the relative proportion of men and women contributing, although it is probable that the former were in excess.  It should be observed,