"A time to reap and a time to sow?": rethinking rural school calendars in the Nineteenth Century -- "No more rules, no more books": the elimination of summer terms from the Nineteenth-Century urban school calendar -- "School's out for summer": ideology and the creation of summer vacation, 1840-90 -- "Mitigating mental and moral stagnation": reassessment of summer education and social transformations, 1865-1915 -- "Keeping up with Superintendent Jones": the origins, diffusion, and bureaucratic transformation of vacation schools, 1866-1929 -- "Easy credit": the limits of reputation and the structure of summer schools in Detroit, 1901-39 -- Epilogue: Summer school in the service of national education aims, 1930-2000 -- Appendix: The origins of vacation schools in the United States.