Nineteenth Century Sunday School Books and Christian Literature for Children

The American Sunday School Movement and Collection

The American Sunday School movement was one of the most influential developments in 19th‑century Protestant life. Beginning in the 1790s as efforts to teach reading, writing, and moral conduct to poor children, Sunday Schools evolved by the 1820s into centers of evangelical education for youth across all social classes. By the 1830s, the movement spread into rural and frontier communities, often introducing organized religion to areas without churches.

A major force behind the movement’s reach was its literature. Between 1820 and 1880, millions of small books—Bible stories, missionary accounts, moral tales, hymnals, and children’s biographies—were published by organizations such as the American Sunday School Union, the American Tract Society, and the Presbyterian Board of Publication. These works shaped generations of moral and religious instruction.

The William Smith Morton Library holds over 500 of these rare volumes, gathered into a single research collection by Special Collections Cataloger Theodore G. Winter beginning in 2003. Many of the books, once scattered throughout the Library, are now preserved under controlled conditions and accessible in the Rare Book Reading Room. The collection also includes Sunday School magazines, publisher catalogs, annual reports, and early constitutions documenting the movement’s educational mission.

Together, these materials provide a vivid window into 19th‑century American religion, childhood, and publishing. Researchers can learn more or schedule an appointment through the form on the Using the Special Collections page.