Rose Haas Alschuler (December 17, 1887 – July 4, 1979) was an American educator. She worked with the

Chicago Woman's Club The Chicago Woman's Club was formed in 1876 by women in Chicago who were interested in "self and social improvement." The club was notable for creating educational opportunities in the Chicago region and helped create the first juvenile court in th ...

to create and direct the first

nursery school A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. That school, organized in the Franklin Public School system was also the second nursery school created in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Alschuler continued to support and promote early childhood education throughout her life. She later became a fund-raiser for the new

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Biography

Alschuler was born and raised in Chicago. Her grandfather, Michael Greenebaum, was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community leader. Alschuler attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

from 1904 to 1905, then went to

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

for a year before she returned again to the University of Chicago, finishing in 1907. That same year, she married architect,

Alfred Alschuler Alfred Samuel Alschuler (November 2, 1876 – June 11, 1940) was a Chicago architect. "Alfred S. Alschuler" (history), archINFORM, 2006-10-12, ''Eng.archINFORM.net'' webpage: archINFORM-ASA Biography Alschuler was born in Chicago ...

and together they had five children. In 1915, the family moved to Winnetka. Alschuler, along with her cousin, Charlotte Kuh, started the first nursery school in Chicago, the Children's Community School, in 1922. In 1926, she and Carleton W. Washburne founded the Winnetka Public School Nursery. In 1928, she helped create nursery schools for the tenants of the Garden Apartments. She helped set up 18 different

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) nurseries between 1933 and 1940. When the International Congress of Women was held in 1933 in Chicago, she was the chair for the Opportunity Through Education Round Table. On June 11, 1940, her husband died. Alschuler moved to Washington, D.C. From 1941 to 1943, Alschuler was the chair of the National Commission for Young Children. In that capacity, she provided information about early childhood education for providers around the country. She also worked as a consultant for the Federal Housing Authority. When

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was over, Alschuler traveled to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and helped raise money for Israel Bonds.

Selected publications

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References

External links

Rose Haas Alschuler Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alschuler, Rose 1887 births 1979 deaths American women activists 20th-century American educators Jews and Judaism in Chicago University of Chicago alumni Educators from Illinois 20th-century American women educators International Congress of Women people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers