Public education has changed dramatically over the years, and with it so too has the job of the principal. But until now, no serious historical study in Canada has documented who principals are, what they do, and how their roles and public perception have changed over the decades. Author Thomas Fleming plugs this hole in the historical record with his investigation into the evolution of the principal’s position in one particular jurisdiction: British Columbia. He sets his analysis within the wider context of forces that shaped public education and society as a whole. The first volume in this two-volume series covers the period from 1849-1960. Fleming examines the earliest role of the principal in BC, how the principal’s function changed when the foundations of modern public schooling were laid in the first part 20th century, how the Great Depression and Second World War enlarged the scope of the job, and how principals were at the forefront of the movement to democratize formal curricula in the postwar period.