Strategies for Research:
1. Think about what questions you want to keep in mind as you view these materials.
Among the questions you may want to consider are the following: What kinds of topics are typically covered by advice manuals? Who seems to be the audience the authors of these manuals are addressing? What seems to be their purpose in writing? What vision of American life is expressed in these advice books: how do they define success, and how do they suggest that people pursue success? Do conduct books always offer the same kind of advice--what do the similarities or differences tell you about the author, the audience, or the period in which the work was composed?
2. Look through a number of the resources quickly in order to sample the range of what is available.
When doing research, you will not always be able to read all the available resources through from beginning to end. It is therefore important to develop the habit of looking at the indexes and introductions, and of taking a brief taste of a large number of works before selecting the sources you will work with more thoroughly.
3. Select one or two texts to look at in greater depth.
Once you have identified the sources that seem to hold greatest promise for your work, be sure to use those materials wisely. If you are not going to have the opportunity to read the entire work (as will be the case in this exercise), choose to read a few sections that seem to have the greatest pertinence for your project. Try to make a list of the author's central arguments and his/her underlying assumptions, and collect quotations that offer powerful illustrations of those ideas.
Selected Resources
Advice Books Available Online at The Making of America Sites at The University of Michigan and at Cornell University:
Familiar letters to young men on various subjects. Designed as a companion to The young man's guide. by Wm. A. Alcott.
Publication Date: 1850How to be a lady: a book for girls, containing useful hints on the formation of character, by Harvey Newcomb.
Publication Date: 1850.The student's manual; designed, by specific directions, to aid in forming and strengthening the intellectual and moral character and habits of the student. By Rev. John Todd.
Publiation Date: 1850The young lady's counsellor, or, Outlines and illustrations of the sphere, the duties and the dangers of young women.... By Daniel Wise.
Publication Date: 185?Hopes and helps for the young of both sexes. Relating to the formation of character, choice of avocation, health, amusement, music, conversation, cultivation of intellect, moral sentiment, social affection, courtship, and marriage. By Rev. G.S. Weaver
Publication Date: 1854Lectures to Young Women
William Greenleaf Eliot
1854Lectures to Young Men
William Greenleaf Eliot
1854
Aims and aids for girls and young women, on the various duties of life ..., by G.S. Weaver (George Sumner)
Publication Date: 1856 [c1855]
The American citizen: his rights and duties, according to the spirit of the Constitution of the United States. By John Henry Hopkins.
Publication Date: 1857The student's manual; designed, by specific directions, to aid in forming and strengthening the intellectual and moral character and habits of the student. By Rev. John Todd ...
Publication Date: 1859The American Gentleman's Guide to Politeness and Fashion. By Margaret Conkling, Publication Date: 1860
Hints on the formation of religious opinions. Addressed especially to young men and women of Christian education. By Rev. Ray Palmer. Palmer, Ray, 1808-1887. 265 p. New York, Anson D. F. Randolph, c 1867.
Hidden snares; or, Admonitions addressed to the young. A discourse occasioned by painful events of recent occurance, in the city of Baltimore, and delivered in the Presbyterian church, corner Greene and German Sts., April 17th, 1859. ... Dunning, H. (Halsey) 16 p. Baltimore, Hanzsche & co., 1859.
Lesson's in life A series of familiar essays. By Timothy Titcomb [pseud.].
Publication Date: 1862Man and his motives, By George Moore
Publication Date: 1862Plain talks on familiar subjects. A series of popular lectures. By J. G. Holland.
Publication Date: 1866
Mile stones in our life-journey.
By Samuel Osgood. Publication Date: 1877.
Excerpts from "Nineteenth Century Advice Literature" Courtesy of the Worcester Women's History Project:
William Andrus Alcott. The Boy's Guide to Usefulness. Boston: 1844.
--------. The Young Wife. Boston:1842.
--------. The Young Woman's Guide. Boston: 1840.
--------. The Young Man's Guide. Boston: 1846.
Bean, James. Advice to a Married Couple. American Tract Society. Boston: 1856.
Arthur Freeling. The Young Bride's Book. New York: 1849.
Mrs. Louisa C. Tuthill. The Young Lady's Home. Boston: 1847.
The Young Man's Evening Book. Boston: 1838.
By a Gentleman. Advice to a Young Gentleman on Entering Society. Philadelphia: 1839.
The Young Ladies' Book: A Manual of Elegant Recreations, Exercises and Pursuits. Boston: 1830.
By a Lady. The Young Wife's Book: A Manual of Moral, Religious and Domestic Duties. Philadelphia: 1838.
Additional Advice Books
Lectures to Young Women, Wiliam G. Elliot, Jr, Boston: Eight Edition published 1867, copyrighted 1853.
Fiction on "Self-Culture" and the "Self-Made Man":
Horatio Alger, 1900, Bound to Rise
Stephen Crane, "A Self-Made Man"
Biographies and Memoirs of the Successful and Self-Made:
Adventures and achievements of Americans; a series of narratives illustrating their heroism, self-reliance, genius and enterprise. By Henry Howe. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darly and others. Howe, Henry, 1816-1893.
Great fortunes, and how they were made; on. The struggies and triumphs of our self-made men. By James D. McCape, jr. ... Numerous illustrations, from original designs by G. F. & E. B. Bensell. ... . McCabe, James Dabney, 1842-1883.
Outlines of men, women, and things. By Mary Clemmer Ames. Ames, Mary (Clemmer) 1839-1884. 3 p. L., 254 p. 18 cm. New York, Hurd and Houghton, 1873.
Assorted Resources:
A Sample Chapter from a 19th century American Young Man's Guide.
A cover of a 19th century self-help book for boys.
Evidence to help you understand the kind of reading done by one 19th century teenage boy.
Youth's Educator for Home and Society, 1896.
A web-project by an Assumption student on advice manuals.
YOUTH'S EDUCATOR FOR HOME AND SOCIETY, Being a Manual of Correct Deportment for Boys and Girls as well as for Older Ones Who Have Been Denied the Privileges and Benefits Arising from Social Intercourse, with Choice Chapters upon Kindred Topics. 1896
Post, Emily. Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1922. Bartleby.com www.bartleby.com/95/.
Note:
You might find it interesting to consider the ways in which early to mid nineteenth century American conduct manuals compare to works on similar subjects from other times.
For example, you could look at the "handbooks" published for men and women in earlier periods. For example, The Gentlewoman's Companion: or, A Guide to the Female Sex. You could also consult the archive of late nineteenth century etiquette manuals available here at The Lyceum.
If you want to probe more deeply into this subject, you might find the following book available at the D'Alzon Library helpful to your thinking.
Title: Rudeness & Civility : Manners in Nineteenth-Century Urban America
Author Kasson, John F., 1944-
Call Number E165 .K27 1990.