This collection of essays tries to salvage and analyze the narratives of public employees who worked in one of the nation's largest and most vital social institutions. Their 20th century teaching careers are reconstructed, emphasizing the parts played by crucial social, economic, and political events and issues, the school organization, and people-students, parents, and others - in shaping the subjects' evolving definitions, or perceptions, of their role as a teacher in a particular community. It is multi-dimensional in scope, stressing qualitative research approaches, oral histories,...