author
Elizabeth Harrison
1849–1927
A pioneer of early childhood education, she helped turn kindergarten teaching into a serious profession and founded the Chicago school that later became National Louis University. Her books and lectures brought child-centered learning to a much wider American audience.
3 Audiobooks
The Vision of Dante: A story for little children and a talk to their mothers (Second Edition)
by Elizabeth Harrison, Dante Alighieri
Christmas-Tide
by Elizabeth Harrison, Charles Dickens
In Story-land
by Elizabeth Harrison
About the author
Born in Kentucky in 1849, she became one of the leading voices in the American kindergarten movement. After studying kindergarten methods and educational theory, she threw herself into training teachers and promoting the idea that young children learn best through guided activity, observation, and care rather than drill.
In Chicago, she founded the Chicago Kindergarten Training School, which grew into the institution now known as National Louis University. She was widely recognized for raising standards for kindergarten teachers, and she also wrote and lectured extensively on child development and education.
Her work connected classroom practice with a larger reform movement around children, families, and schooling. Remembered as an educator, author, and organizer, she helped shape how early childhood education was understood in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.