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Primary sourceDocument1866

The School Book Question: Letters in Reply to the Brown-Campbell Crusade

Egerton Ryerson · 1866

A set of 1866 letters by Egerton Ryerson defending his Educational Department against attacks led by George Brown.

Brown led the newspaper crusade against Ryerson's school textbooks that this pamphlet directly answers.

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The School Book Question: Letters in Reply to the Brown-Campbell Crusade
Egerton Ryerson, The School Book Question: Letters in Reply to the Brown-Campbell Crusade, 1866. Scanned microform copy, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed pamphlet of letters written by Egerton Ryerson in 1866, replying to what he called the 'Brown-Campbell crusade' against the Educational Department for Upper Canada. It includes letters from Ryerson and others, printed in Montreal, and survives as a scanned copy from a library microform.

Why it matters

The pamphlet shows a public clash between George Brown, through his newspaper the Globe, and Egerton Ryerson, head of Upper Canada's education system, over school textbooks. It reveals how Brown used his press to challenge government departments and how officials like Ryerson fought back in print.

Look closer

  • Why would Ryerson feel the need to publish a detailed written reply rather than ignore the criticism?
  • What does the pamphlet's title tell you about how Ryerson viewed Brown's campaign?
  • How might the Globe's version of this dispute have differed from Ryerson's?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of George Brown on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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