Take Note

William Holmes McGuffey, known as the "schoolmaster to the nation," compiled the first edition of his famous readers in his home in Oxford, Ohio. After a two-year renovation, the 1833 Federal-style house reopened last month, offering history buffs a chance to step back in time.

The red-brick house, owned by the nearby Miami University of Ohio, where McGuffey taught ancient languages and moral philosophy, is a national historic landmark and museum. Along with various editions of his McGuffey Eclectic Readers, it contains the author's desk—an octagonal table with eight drawers built by an Oxford craftsman.

Curator Betty Bach said McGuffey is believed to have sorted his writing materials into the...