Cultivating Regionalism: Higher Education and the Making of the American Midwest by Kenneth H. Wheeler (review)

SPRING 2012 89 Cultivating Regionalism: Higher Education and the Making of the American Midwest Kenneth H. Wheeler Scholars no longer consider colleges of the antebellum period artifacts of tangential or limited antiquarian interest. Instead, they see their historical significance resting on causative associations within, among, and between these institutions and their environs. Antebellum colleges acted as socio-cultural mirrors, entities unique in their ability to reflect the aspirations , habits, and beliefs of Americans in the early nineteenth century. Kenneth Wheeler’s Cultivating Regionalism explores these connections but also extends their reach. Colleges of the antebellum Midwest, he contends, provided the intellectual spark for progressive-era achievements . Wheeler’s argument follows a logical progression. Midwestern colleges, he argues, were rooted in traditions emphasizing equality, creativity, physical labor, and the free exchange of ideas. These values passed on through a generation of students who as adults became leaders in progressive-era reforms. Antebellum institutions “chartered a new path in American higher education,” unique in their ability to inspire large-scale social change and scientific advancement (3). In sum, the circumstances, people, and institutional ideals Wheeler examines represent a distinctive Midwestern mentality, a regional ethos inherently different from other parts of the country. At the heart of the antebellum Midwestern identity was a respect for physical exertion. Programs of student labor, Wheeler argues, reflected the ethics of the community and fit naturally into the college curriculum. Parents of would-be matriculates asked for and received structured educational environments that mixed labor with intellectual pursuits. Work, they believed, promoted morality, healthful living, and a vigorous intellect. More to the point, these programs represented broader egalitarian and experimental impulses. By tampering with classical language-based curriculums, Midwestern colleges showed their support for Kenneth H. Wheeler. Cultivating Regionalism: Higher Education and the Making of the American Midwest. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2011. 156 pp. ISBN: 9780875804446 (cloth), $38.00. Book Reviews BOOK REVIEWS 90 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY a more inclusive, economically diverse intellectual landscape. By connecting farming with the collegiate experience, these schools also laid the foundations for future advancements in the agricultural sciences. Other regions were ill suited for similar gains. Colleges in the Northeast reserved physical activity for gymnastics , while southerners considered manual labor an affront to gentlemanly honor. Coeducation, an institutional feature found exclusively in Midwestern colleges of this period, reflected a similar tendency for experimentation but also testified to the region’s denominational diversity. Swedenborgians in Urbana, Ohio; Scots-Irish Presbyterians in east Ohio; United Brethren in Ohio and Iowa; and other marginalized, anti-elite, Christian denominations found homes and established colleges in the small towns and villages of the rural Midwest. Independent Christian congregations placed egalitarianism ahead of gendered educational spheres and contributed to a small, but significant trend. By 1860, the U.S. had twenty-four coeducational colleges, all located in the Midwest (50). Wheeler argues that a unique student character also set Midwestern colleges apart. College leaders stressed codes of moral behavior, while religious revivals, morning prayers, and religious instruction reinforced a pious, abstemious student atmosphere. The emphasis on piety and moral order had specific consequences: Midwestern colleges, according to Wheeler, had no student rebellions. In contrast to other areas of the country where student anger led to acts of violence, students of the Midwest had a greater sense of moral purpose and expressed disagreement without insurrection or bloodshed. Wheeler concludes his study with biographical sketches of Midwestern-educated Progressive-era scientific leaders. Midwestern schools, Wheeler argues, produced a greater number of late-nineteenth century American scientists than any other region, including Harvey W. Wiley, a noted chemist and director of the Food and Drug Administration, and John Wesley Powell, a geologist and director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Both men benefited from intellectual and social habits promoted by Midwestern colleges and their achievements reflected these learned qualities . Manual labor, egalitarianism, experimentation , and other virtues undergirded their development and prepared them for lives of scientific inquiry. Wheeler’s arguments are largely persuasive , but readers should also approach this study with a measure of trepidation. His broad generalizations often lead to easily refutable conclusions. In order to highlight the pious, egalitarian nature of Midwestern colleges, for example, Wheeler...