Educational heritage in the Paris Universal Exposition of 1878

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The diverse ways to present educational heritage favoured the birth of education museums as a non-spontaneous event. Their presence in the contests organised in the 19th century justify a part of their origin, among which universal expositions stand out. In particular, the Exposition Universelle (Paris, 1878) provided an important boost to the international projection of Spain. METHOD. The historical method was used to study the educational heritage that Spain contributed to the sample, analysing it as part of the educational and cultural image in its international dimension. RESULTS. The results were obtained from the analysis of the type of materials presented, the awards, their geographical origin and their educational field, as well as the participation of teachers in scientific conferences. The original primary sources were mostly from French documentation centres, complemented with other sources from Spanish archives. This information was contextualised from the review of Spanish and French periodical press and the literature about this topic. The results led us to value the effort that was made to show the situation of Spanish education at that time, and how Universal Expositions have been considered as a relevant source of information to further delve into the material educational heritage, its types and manifestations, while they also show the role played by teachers in their classrooms. DISCUSSION. The study provides new data to the previous publications about this topic, opening an interest for the active role of teachers in this kind of contest, and initiating a necessary overview of the contribution that Spanish education made to universal expositions.