author
Clara Wood Mingins
b. 1860
A pioneering educator who helped introduce kindergarten to Connecticut, she also wrote stories that carried a warm, thoughtful moral tone. Her life joined public service, teaching, and literary work in a way that feels both practical and deeply humane.
1 Audiobook
A new note in the Christmas Carol
by Clara Wood Mingins
About the author
Born on September 29, 1859, Clara Wood Mingins was an American educator and writer. She is best remembered for opening the first kindergarten in Connecticut in 1884, and she later led kindergarten programs in Detroit, building a career around early childhood education and teacher training.
Alongside that work, she wrote for young readers and general audiences. Her best-known literary work today is A New Note in the Christmas Carol, and her writing reflects the same interest in character, care, and moral feeling that shaped her educational career.
Mingins died on November 5, 1917. Though not widely known now, she stands out as someone who helped expand kindergarten education in the United States while also leaving behind fiction that preserved her gentle, instructive voice.