Maria Kraus-Boelté (1836–1918) was a pioneer of Fröbel education in the

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, and helped promote

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

training as suitable for study at university level.

Biography

Born to a prosperous family in

Hagenow Hagenow () is a German town in the southwest of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim, 30 kilometers south of Schwerin. Its population is approximately 11,300 inhabitants (2013). Hagenow is part of the Hamburg Met ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin () was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a sovereign member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German C ...

, on November 8, 1836, Maria Boelté was privately educated. She became interested in Fröbel education and trained with Luise Fröbel (Fröbel's widow) in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, before teaching for four years in an

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kindergarten run by one of Fröbel's own pupils,

Bertha Ronge Bertha Ronge (born Meyer; 25 April 1818 – 18 April 1863) was a German education activist. She was involved in the causes of childhood education, women's education and religious freedom. She established the kindergarten movement in England, where ...

. Some of her pupils' work was exhibited at the 1862 London

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. She returned to Hamburg in 1867, then opened her own kindergarten in

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. In 1868,

Elizabeth Peabody Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic d ...

invited her to come to Boston, but she refused. In 1872, she was invited again to come to work in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

where she established a kindergarten class and training program for mothers. She got to know her future husband, Professor John Kraus, an assistant at the National Bureau of Education with whom she had previously corresponded. In 1873, they opened a ''Seminary for Kindergartners'' alongside a model kindergarten class, the ''Normal Training Kindergarten'', and published ''The Kindergarten Guide'' (two volumes, 1877; new edition, 1905) for "the Self-instruction of Kindergartners, mothers, and nurses." The Seminary was an early center for Fröbel's ideas in the US, and had considerable influence, especially because of Kraus-Boelté's personal connection with Luise Fröbel. Hundreds of teachers completed the training of one year's course work followed by one year's practice teaching; thousands of children passed through the kindergarten. Kraus died in 1896, and Maria Kraus-Boelté continued the work alone. She was president of the Kindergarten Department of the

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in 1899–1890 and three years later persuaded the

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School of Education to include the first ever college level course in kindergarten education in their summer program. Kraus-Boelté herself taught this course three times. She retired in 1913 and died on November 1, 1918, in

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. Her grave is in

Woodlawn Cemetery Woodlawn Cemetery is the name of several cemeteries, including: Canada * Woodlawn Cemetery (Saskatoon) * Woodlawn Cemetery (Nova Scotia) United States ''(by state then city or town)'' * Woodlawn Cemetery (Ocala, Florida), where Isaac Rice and fa ...

, New York.

Works

*Maria Kraus-Boelté and John Kraus, ''The Kindergarten Guide'' (1882), republished by Kindergarten Messenger (January, 2001
Full text online
*Article in ''The kindergarten and its relation to elementary education'' (Chicago 1907) *''Characteristics of Froebel's Method, Kindergarten Training'' in Foster Wygant, ''Art in American Schools in the Nineteenth Century'' (Cincinnati 1983) - facsimile of NEA Proceedings (1879) Some of her work is in the archives of th
Association of Childhood Education International
*''The Kindergarten and the Mission of Woman: My experience as trainer of kindergarten-teachers in this country. An address.'', Maria Kraus-Boelté, 1877 (Published as booklet by E.Steiger.) *''An Interpretation of Some of the Froebelian Kindergarten Principles'', Maria Kraus-Boelté, 1907 The Cincinnati Kindergarten Association has some of her .

References

Sources

*
Kindergarten''
in ''The Galaxy'' (October 1876) * Edward Wiebe, ''Paradise of Childhood: a Practical Guide to Kindergartners'' (1906)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kraus-Boelte, Maria 1836 births 1918 deaths People from Hagenow People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin American educators National Education Association people Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States

Biography

Works

See also

References

Sources