Learning by Mail: The Impact of Correspondence Schools in Early 20th Century America

This paper examines correspondence education as an alternative pathway to human capital acquisition in early 20th-century America. Using digitized records from the International Correspondence Schools (ICS), the largest such institution, linked to census data, I show that correspondence education expanded educational opportunity by reaching individuals conventional schools could not serve, while providing occupation-specific technical training those schools lacked. Enrollment increased men’s probability of working in a professional or technical occupation by 6–10pp within 2–10 years, with gains concentrated in occupations for which students trained. By 1910, ICS accounted for 1.3–2.1% of the male professional and technical workforce.