Independence and a passion for education
Bernice Wood (1887-1963), known as an innovator of immigrant education in Hughson and Modesto in the years 1920-1940, was a teacher, banker, real estate agent, Turlock Irrigation District (TID) employee, as well as an owner of a small farm. The collection includes letters received from immigrants she taught or assisted, scrapbooks, photographs, songbooks, and related documents. A biography and transcriptions of the Bernice Wood correspondence and scrapbooks can be found in three published volumes available from the Library's special collections.
A teacher in the Hughson area during the early to mid 20th century, Bernice Wood taught English to mothers who were raising children and maintaining households, students who otherwise could not attend courses even if held in the evenings. Wood frequently travelled to her students' homes to ensure that motherhood was not a barrier to learning English. The letter shown here is from one such student, Ballina Sebylano.
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"I came here from Spain in 1920. After I had been here three months I became an American citizen through marriage. I like to study English but I cannot go to the night school because I have two children and therefore, I like to have a class in my home." - Ballina Sebylano
Before Bernice Wood became a full-time teacher in Hughson, she worked as a banker. Shown here are three bank tellers wearing masks during the 1918 flu epidemic, an epidemic that is often compared to COVID-19. Excepting the material, these masks are not unlike the masks that many have been wearing since 2020.
Bank Tellers (from left to right): Bernice Boardman, Anthony Enco, and Edith McGaroly.
This original photograph and the scrapbook in which it resides are primary sources. Learn more about the difference between primary and secondary sources in the video below.
"Reverend and Mrs. Hugh Hamilton accompany me on a visit to the Manuel Soares watermelon farm. Tasted good, too." - Bernice Wood, 1920"
Bernice Wood modified English teaching methods of the period in order to serve the needs of farmers and recent immigrants like Mr. Soares and their families.
Mr. Soares, watermelon farmer
"Material used in the City night schools was of little benefit to the needs of my pupils, such as: I step on the street car, or please step forward in the street car..."
"My pupils needed: I milk the cow, I milk the cow in a bucket..." - Bernice Wood
