Selected works of thought and scholarship that have been out of print or unavailable. "Record of a exemplifying the general principles of Spiritual Culture" was written in 1836 by Peabody.
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was a central and formidable figure in the American Romantic and Transcendental literary movements. Peabody opened and operated a bookstore, Peabody's West Street Bookstore and a printing press at her home in Boston. Peabody's bookstore specialized in foreign language books, Women's History, Transcendental tracts, and popular Sermons.
Peabody hosted feminist pioneer, Margaret Fuller at the her bookshop. Fuller held "conversations" strictly for women covering such topics as History, Literature, Nature, and Women's Rights.
Peabody worked as a teacher's assistant to Amos Bronson Alcott at his experimental Temple School. She championed the writings of and assisted in publishing her contemporaries, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Ellery Channing, and Nathaniel Hawthorne (who married Elizabeth's younger sister, Sophia.) Peabody also served as the business manager for the Transcendentalist publication, The Dial.
Peabody was also an innovative educator who championed early childhood education and argued that creative play was important to a child's well being and development. Peabody is often credited with bring the concept of kindergarten to American public education.
Interesting book that I purchased at the Prudence Crandall School museum. Elizabeth Peabody took notes while Bronson Alcott taught a group of children at the Temple School (1834-1836). It was shocking to me how much Christianity/ spirituality (Bronson's version of it) was focused on with children as young as four years old. There was a preponderance of judgment by Alcott and Peabody about the children's character. The children's were guided by Alcott and sometimes Peabody to self-analysis, and they encouraged the children to judge their peers. I did not warm up to Elizabeth Peabody who made her own comments from time to time. At one point, she disagreed with Bronson who did not approve of capital punishment. As an educator, I found some of it very interesting: They understood the demands placed on children during written expression. The children regularly recorded their experiences and thoughts in journals. During lessons, there was a tremendous amount of questioning. When asked, "What is a word?" one child responded, "something made of letters" while another replied, "a thought shaped out by letters." When asked, "what is the meaning of ?" a child responded, "to bring together." What is the meaning of ?" a child responded, "to collect again." Latin was taught. Elizabeth Peabody went on to found the first American kindergarten. Alcott was Louisa May Alcott's father, which I found so hard to imagine as she was such a free thinker. His style was authoritarian with the children at this school and yet his daughters were creative, independent women. I am interested in learning more about the Peabody sisters. I always want to know more about the Alcotts.