Much existing historiography is either based too exclusively on the evidence of old textbooks or concerned too narrowly with theory or the epistemological assumptions underlying theory. Those who study the history of composition in this century need both to consult such new sources of information as course materials, student papers, and oral histories and to consider a broadened range of social and cultural factors that may have affected the teaching of writing. A study of a freshman writing course at Amherst College from 1938 to 1966 reveals the development of a remarkable course ("English 1 and English 2") that flourished at a time when the teaching of writing is supposed to have been all but stagnant. No textbook was used in the two semester, mandatory, boot-camp-type course. Relying solely on their own resources, Theodore Baird and his colleagues developed a sequence of questions requiring writing assignments at the rate of one each class period for a total of 33 assignments each fall and 22 each spring. Sequences were never duplicated; a new one was devised each semester. According to one informant, the point of this course was to encourage students to recognize that "control of the world and of themselves depends on mastery of language," which is not a surprising theme for a course during this nation's greatest economic and political power. (Contains a sample of 1946's writing assignments, four notes and nine references.) (TB)