Jennifer Cain Bohrnstedt

Jennifer Cain Bohrnstedt earned her Master's and Bachelor's degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington. A Hoosier-expatriate living in the west, Bohrnstedt researches the lives of characters and communities caught in pivotal eras of war, economic stress, and cultural change.

She serves as an adviser to the Cumberland Valley Civil War Heritage Association in Tennessee, is a member of the National Coalition of Independent Scholars, the Peninsula Civil War Round Table and is an occasional lecturer to schools, libraries, writing festivals and workshops and historical societies.

Photo Caption

Jennifer Cain Bohrnsted, Editor, presents first copy of her latest book to Dr. G. Baley Price, Mathematics Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas at Lawrence, on behalf of his late wife, Dr. Cora Lee Beers Price, formerly Classics Professor Emeritus also of KU. Presentation was held February 22, 2006 at Lawrence Pres. Manor Library with University Leaders, the first named recipient of the Teaching Professorship in International Cultural Understanding, and family members attending. Dr. Cora Lee Beers Price was the granddaughter of Mary Laurentine Martin, the subject of the new book, Views From My Schoolroom Window.

While long a desire of hers was to see this book completed, sadly Dr. Cora Lee Beers Price passed away in November 2004. Dr. G. Baley Price, upon receiving the new book which is dedicated to Cora Lee Beers Price, announced, "She would be so pleased."

The editor and Dr. Price enjoy a humorous exchange over tea after the presentation and a brief question and answer session.

A return to Lawrence at a later date is anticipated to conduct talks about the scope of the project, the book itself and the editor's views of its role in sparking dialogue on the history of public education in the U.S.

From the Foreword by Margaret Thomas:

"Laurentine possessed her own thoughts and was willing to speak them in a strong voice. As a teacher and principal she changed the lives of those she taught. As an author and poet, her writings influenced the lives of many others. While Laurentine's diary is based in Janesville, Wisconsin, my own hometown, her insights and lessons in daily life could just as well have taken place in another growing western community of the mid-nineteenth century. . .

As a past teacher and current principal, also in the Janesville area, I reflect upon the extra studying required for all teachers, the long days of worrying about student achievement, and the concern about student discipline. It doesn't appear that times have changed after all! And even with a plethora of teaching strategies, we find that the time-tested methods of parent and community involvement, one-to-one instruction, and hard work held firmly by our ancestors still hold true. Laurentine's diary reminds us of all of this."

Margaret Thomas, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, School of Education/Psychology, taught schools in Wisconsin for 25 years before becoming an Elementary Principal at McLenegan Elementary, an Administrator of Scholastic Systems at Kolac Education Center and founder and principal of Synectics Charter School. Dr. Thomas is the co-author of Effective Schools and Effective Teachers.