author
Joseph Adams Puffer
1872–1958
Known for writing about boys’ social lives and early career guidance, this early 20th-century educator looked closely at how young people grow, bond, and find their way. His best-known books connect practical experience with a sympathetic view of childhood and schooling.
1 Audiobook
The boy and his gang
by Joseph Adams Puffer
About the author
Born in Harrington, Maine, on February 13, 1872, Joseph Adams Puffer was an American educator and writer whose work centered on child development, school life, and vocational guidance. He studied at Clark University and was associated with psychology and pedagogy there in the early 1900s.
Puffer is best remembered for The Boy and His Gang, a book that draws on observations and accounts from boys to explore friendship, group life, and growing up. He also wrote Vocational Guidance: The Teacher as a Counselor, reflecting his interest in how schools could help students discover suitable paths in work and life.
His writing stands out for taking young people seriously and for treating their everyday experiences as worth understanding rather than simply correcting. Joseph Adams Puffer died on July 29, 1958.