1. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States.
33 Facts About Elizabeth Peabody
1. 2.
Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic developmental and educational value.
3.
Elizabeth Peabody was an advocate of antislavery and of Transcendentalism.
4.
Elizabeth Peabody led efforts for the rights of the Paiute Indians.
5.
Elizabeth Peabody was the first translator into English of the Buddhist scripture the Lotus Sutra, translating a chapter from its French translation in 1844.
6.
Elizabeth Peabody was born in Billerica, Massachusetts, on May 16,1804.
7.
Elizabeth Peabody was the eldest daughter of Nathaniel Peabody, a physician, and Elizabeth Peabody, the granddaughter of Joseph Palmer, a general during the American Revolutionary War.
8.
Elizabeth Peabody's sisters were Mary, reformer, educator, and pioneer in establishing kindergarten schools and Sophia, painter and the wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
9.
Elizabeth Peabody had three brothers, Nathaniel, George Francis, and Wellington Elizabeth Peabody.
10.
The Elizabeth Peabody family lived in Salem, Massachusetts, and worshiped at the Second Church there.
11.
Elizabeth Peabody operated a school from the family home, providing a classical education for boys and girls.
12.
Elizabeth Peabody developed an interest in philosophy, theology, literature, and history over the years and she spoke ten languages.
13.
Elizabeth Peabody taught from an enlightened perspective, helping her students build character, grow spiritually, and engage in discussions about school work.
14.
Elizabeth Peabody developed a network of intellectual friends and transcendentalists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Ellery Channing, Bronson Alcott, and Jones Very, who in 1837 founded the Transcendentalist Club.
15.
Elizabeth Peabody moved in with her sister Mary in Concord in 1859.
16.
Elizabeth Peabody is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.
17.
Elizabeth Peabody operated a private school for girls in Boston from 1822 to 1823.
18.
Elizabeth Peabody was a governess to the children of Benjamin Vaughn in Hallowell, Maine, and taught other children in Maine.
19.
In 1825, Elizabeth Peabody set up a school in Boston, and Mary helped run it.
20.
Elizabeth Peabody became a writer and a prominent figure in the Transcendental movement.
21.
Elizabeth Peabody and her sister Mary operated a school in Brookline, Massachusetts, from 1825 to 1832, when there was a scandal about finances.
22.
Elizabeth Peabody held reading parties, gave lectures, and conducted discussions on a variety of subjects.
23.
In 1859 or 1860, Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English language kindergarten in the country on Beacon Hill in Boston with her sister Mary.
24.
When Elizabeth Peabody opened her kindergarten in 1860, the practice of providing formal schooling for children younger than six was largely confined to Germany.
25.
Elizabeth Peabody had a particular interest in the educational methods of Friedrich Frobel, particularly after meeting one of his students, Margarethe Schurz, in 1859.
26.
In 1867, Elizabeth Peabody visited Germany to study Frobel's teachings more closely.
27.
Elizabeth Peabody wrote numerous books in support of the cause.
28.
In 1840, Elizabeth Peabody established the West Street Bookshop near Beacon Hill and Boston Common in Boston and had a home above the bookstore where her sisters and parents lived with her.
29.
Elizabeth Peabody purchased foreign journals and books for her business, which was part bookstore, a lending library, and a place for scholars, liberal thinkers, and transcendentalists to meet.
30.
Elizabeth Peabody lived above the bookstore until 1852, when the bookstore and library closed down.
31.
Elizabeth Peabody published antislavery literature and books, like Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau and children's stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
32.
Elizabeth Peabody was one of the country's first female publisher.
33.
Elizabeth Peabody published and authored a number of works, including this selection:.