Calvin Woodward

Calvin Milton Woodward (August 25, 1837 – January 12, 1914) was a United States educator and professor. As dean of the school of engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, he developed a manual training programme (a system of general, non-vocational tools training). He opened the St. Louis Manual Training School.

Woodward was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts to Isaac Burnap Woodward and Eliza W. (Wetherbee) Woodward. He graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in 1860.

His first job was to serve as principal of Brown High School in Newburyport, Massachusetts. During the Civil War he enlisted and was promoted to captain of the 48th Massachusetts Volunteers. He was stationed during his year of duty (1862–1863) in Louisiana. He took part in the siege and capture of Port Hudson under General Nathaniel P. Banks. Following his year of service he returned to being principal of Brown High School. He married Fanny Stone Balch on September 30, 1863.

At the close of the Civil War, Woodward accepted a position as vice principal of Smith Academy in St. Louis, Missouri (part of Washington University). In 1868, he was appointed assistant professor of mathematics in Washington University. In 1870, he became a professor of mathematics and applied mechanics. That year he also became dean of the polytechnic school.

As dean, Woodward began experimenting with manual skills education. Following an influential demonstration of the Della Vos, or Russian, method of tools instruction at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Woodward began making plans and gathering support for a similar initiative in the U.S. This culminated in the opening, in 1879, of the St. Louis Manual Training School as a subordinate department of Washington University. Without resigning his other duties, he filled the directorship of the school. The school was a pioneer of its kind in the United States, and served as the model in organizing other similar schools, in consequence of which Woodward's expositions of the aims and value of manual training have had much influence in shaping the new education both inside and outside the United States. During the 1880s, the Manual Training School was the largest and most well-attended public high school in St. Louis.

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