Springfield until 1880, when he resigned from active ministerial duties and devoted more time to writing and lecturing. Educator In 1880 Mayo's interests became more directed toward educational pursuits. He had been interested in education since his ministerial work in Albany and had served on both the Cincinnati and Springfield school boards. He had also served as a leader of the Christian Amendment movement, which advocated a provision in the United States Constitution affirming the right to teach the Bible in public school. With his move to Boston in 1880, his interest in education, particularly education in the South, became a driving force. For the next twenty years Mayo devoted himself to advancing Southern education. Traveling an estimated 200,000 miles, he lectured, delivered sermons, and consulted numerous southern educators. Since most of his lecturing and counseling were provided gratis, Mayo was forced at first to depend on an annual grant from the American Unitarian Association and later on contributions from friends and well-wishers. Owing to his behavior and personality, he was usually well received by blacks, poor whites, and members of the middle class. From 1880 to 1885 Mayo, between travels, served as associate editor of the New England Journal of Education and as a chief editorial writer for the National Journal of Education. At the request of Dr. William T. Harris, U.S. commissioner of education, Mayo dedicated himself to writing the history of American common schools. The work was uncompleted at his death. Between 1893 and his death, Mayo was listed as lecturer of education at Berea College, Kentucky. His lectures on various aspects of southern educational problems and reforms and the educational condition of southern blacks and whites were given during frequent visits to Berea. Mayo died at his home in Washington, D.C. Overview Mayo was a man with vision. During his life, he hypothetically created two separate careers; either of these callings could have allowed him to carve a place for himself in American history. As a minister, his sermons and books, besides providing spiritual enrichment, were instructive in moral and ethical behavior. Later in life, as an educational researcher and promoter, he conducted a 26-year campaign of lecturing, interviewing, visiting, preaching, and writing on behalf of public schooling for both races within the South. Publications Selections from the Writings of Mrs. Sarah C. Edgarton Mayo: With a Memoir by Her Husband (1849) Symbols of the Capital;