The Spelling Bee Craze

In Dakota Territory, the outbreak of spelling bees in the late 1880s was commonly referred to as a “craze.” Since publication of The Hoosier Schoolmaster in 1871 the craze, epidemic, or infatuation with spelling bees, as it was variously called by cultural commentators, had constituted a conscious revival of old custom. When announcing a spelling bee on the prairies, organizers almost always referred to the event as “an old-fashioned” or “old-time spelling bee.”

You can listen to The Spelling Bee Craze online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Spelling Bee Craze is an episode from Plains Folk by Prairie Public Broadcasting.

This episode is 4:30 long.

This episode was published on Mar 21, 2026.

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