ABSTRACT Charles Olson (1910–1970) joined the faculty of a small, experimental college in Asheville, North Carolina, called Black Mountain College (1933–1957). The college was founded by John Rice while the United States was suffering the Great Depression, the Second World War was underway in the Pacific, and the German Reich had risen to power. This college served as a centre for radically unconventional art and education. There were no grades, no degrees, and no hierarchy or discrimination. Olson contributed his original pedagogical poetics and aesthetics to Black Mountain College. The poet situated himself outside the Western thought tradition, instead drawing upon Mesopotamia to inform his postmodern posture. This paper regards Olson’s aesthetics, poetics and pedagogy as the background for Black Mountain College and late twentieth-century art. Additionally, the paper demonstrates how this extraordinary liberal college continues to present a vibrant historical source of inspiration in the early twenty-first century.

ABSTRACT This article considers the whittled-down Library of Professor Harold Silver (1928–2021), an important figure in both the history of education and educational policy in the latter part of the twentieth century and the early part of the twenty-first. Drawing on oral history interviews and a prepared catalogue of these books, this article considers what a working scholarly library can tell us about not only an important scholarly career, individual working practices, and the changing nature of academic publishing and careers. By using oral histories combined with the books as material, printed objects, I explore what the books can tell us individually, and reconstruct Harold’s Library and the work done within it. I also offer some reflections on the emotional experience of handling another person’s books.

ABSTRACT We evaluate Scandinavian graduate biographies – compiled by members of the educational elite – for their value as historical sources. These biographies, published in Denmark and Norway from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, offer detailed individual-level data on education, careers and social mobility. While frequently used for tracing individual life histories, their broader utility as systematic historical data has remained underexplored. Applying source criticism, we evaluate their meaningfulness, authenticity, representativeness and credibility. We find that these biographies are largely reliable, with high response rates and minimal discrepancies when cross-checked with independent sources. However, editorial bias is evident in select cases, particularly in the post-war treatment of Nazi-affiliated graduates. Despite these limitations, the biographies represent a valuable dataset for studies on education, elite formation and economic development. Their digitisation will further enhance their potential for quantitative historical research.

ABSTRACT This article examines the evolution of school violence and aggression in Swedish schools from 1947 to 1974, focusing on the shifting paradigms of responsibility and understanding among various professional fields, including education, psychology, and psychiatry. It aims to elucidate how schools have interpreted and addressed aggression through the lenses of disciplinary and pastoral power, as conceptualised by Michel Foucault. By analysing student records and expert interventions, the study reveals the changing narratives surrounding student behaviour, highlighting the move from biological determinism to environmental and psychological explanations. The findings underscore the importance of institutional responses and the interplay of care and control in shaping students’ identities. Ultimately, the article contributes to the discourse on mental health and social norms in educational settings, illustrating how the governance of behaviour has evolved within the broader context of the welfare state and its impact on school practices.

ABSTRACT The first Froebelian kindergarten in Portugal was established in Lisbon’s Estrela Garden in 1882. While directly inspired by German precedents, this initiative developed within a complex transnational network. This article explores the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Froebel School in Lisbon, its public and secular character, its functioning, the curriculum and its adaptation in the Estrela Garden, patterns of attendance, as well as its impact on women’s independence and empowerment. By examining these dynamics, the article reveals how the Lisbon kindergarten, though a localised initiative, was deeply embedded in global currents of educational reform, gender roles and the professionalisation of early childhood care.