James Monteith

James Monteith (1831–1890) was an American author of widely published geography textbooks in the nineteenth century.[1][2] Monteith was born in Strabane, Ireland, immigrated to the United States as a child, and lived his whole life in New York City. Monteith taught for many years in New York's public school system, eventually becoming the headmaster of a Ward School 17 (later P.S. 18) at 211 West 47th St. Monteith began publishing textbooks on geography and history in the 1850s, initially collaborating with Francis McNally, who was a fellow New York public school teacher and mentor to Monteith until his death in 1855.[3][4][5] Monteith's influences included Alexander K. Johnston, Arnold Guyot, Matthew Fontaine Maury, and Emma Hart Willard.

From the early 1850s to the 1880s, A.S. Barnes and Co. published many different versions of Monteith geography textbooks, which grew larger, more detailed, and more sophisticated over time.[6][7][8] Over the course of his career, Monteith's style grew more unique and innovative, combining many different approaches to comparative geography and symbology.[9][10]

Geography textbook cover
Cover of 1876 edition of Comprehensive Geography by James Monteith
Title page from 1885 Edition of Barnes's Complete Geography by James Monteith

Monteith's textbooks remained in print for decades after his death, published by the American Book Company as Barnes's Complete Geography.[11][12] Monteith probably produced more than one hundred different editions and versions of his geography textbooks in his lifetime: the Library of Congress alone holds 44 different listings for Monteith. Monteith was recommended for membership and elected as a Fellow of the American Geographical Society on November 18, 1879.[13] In the 1880s, Monteith was involved in the development of the Washington Heights neighborhood in Manhattan, where he first purchased land in the 1860s, and the northward extension of the subway.[14]

Monteith's obituary in the New York Times noted that "nearly every school boy and girl in the country is familiar with [his name] because of its being on the cover of the geographies."[15] Monteith is buried in Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery alongside his first wife Emma Palmer Monteith and his second wife Ella Florence Brown.[16]

James Monteith gravesite
Grave of James Monteith at sunset in Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery

References
  1. "[Obituary] James Monteith". Delaware Gazette and State Journal. 18 September 1890.
  2. Patton, Jeffrey C. (1999). "The American School Atlas: 1784 - 1900". Cartographic Perspectives (33): 4–32. doi:10.14714/CP33.1018. ISSN 1048-9053.
  3. "Vol. 4, No. 10, DECEMBER, 1858 of The R. I. Schoolmaster on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  4. Documents of the Board of Education of the City of New York for the Year Ending December 31st 1862. New York: Westcott. 1862.
  5. "NEW-YORK CITY.; The Late Francis McNally". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  6. James Monteith (1854). Youth's Manual of Geography. Harvard University. A.S. Barnes & Co., etc ., etc.
  7. Monteith, James (1870). Monteith's physical and intermediate geography: in two parts. Part I. Geography taught as a science. Part II. Local and civil geography. New York: A.S. Barnes. OCLC 39927091.
  8. Scott, Valerie (2003). Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers, K-P (Revised ed.). Riverside, CT: Early World Press. p. 273.
  9. Rhodes, Andrew (2021-02-08). "James Monteith: Cartographer, Educator, and Master of the Margins". Cartographic Perspectives (97): 9–25–9–25. doi:10.14714/CP97.1671. ISSN 1048-9053.
  10. "James Monteith's First Attempt at Comparative Area – Mapspam". Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  11. Monteith, James (1914). Barnes's complete geography. American Book. OCLC 17852918.
  12. Patton, Jeffrey C. (2014-11-10). "The American School Atlas: 1784 - 1900". Cartographic Perspectives (33): 4–32. doi:10.14714/CP33.1018. ISSN 1048-9053.
  13. "Transactions of the Society for 1879". Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York. 11: xlix–liv. 1879. ISSN 1536-0407. JSTOR 196502.
  14. "Favoring Gould's Scheme: Harlem Men Have Uphill Struggle Making Public Sentiment". The New York Times. 10 April 1889.
  15. "James Monteith (Obituary)". The New York Times. 12 September 1890.
  16. "Cemetery Records". Laurel Hill Cemetery. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
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