Evening star., 1937-11-07
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

liC WllOlC NOllo llllS year lS Celc-
brating the Tooth anniversary of the
kindergarten, conceived in 1887 by
Friedrich Froebel in Blankenburg,
Germany.
Washington's observance of the
birth of this constructive force in edu-
cation is being effected by a group Of
local kindergarten teachers, under the
direction of Miss Catharine r. Wat
klns, president of the District ASsocia-
ton for Childhood Education and q
nationally recognized expert in kinder
garten work.
From the time the first local public
school Kindergarten was authorized by
Congress, in 1898. until her retirement
year ago, Miss Watkins was the first
and only kindergarten director.
She will give the foreword at the
special meeting planned at Roosevelt
High School Thursday at pm. Lead
ing Capital educators have been in
vited. School groups will entertain
and speak at Baltimore celebration
November 19. The public is welcome
wv sA'N AeOOSSNClO llCcIllik.
AS their theme Miss Watkins and
her committee have chosen the in
scriptionS at the bases of the two fig
ures thanking the entrance to the Ar
chlves Building, What Is Past Is
Prologue" and Study the Past" Froe-
bells ideas, they believe, are best ap-
preached, because "by not ignoring
seeds or roots is meaning best given
10 all that the next 100 years of work
Tor the early childhood years is to
evolve"
First One in 1855,
With Miss Watkins speaking the
prologue for the Nations Capital. one
sees Washington's rs kindergartens of
today and Americas over 1000 900
kmdergarten pupils contrasted with
the first kindergarten in the United
States, established in the year 1855 in
her own home town of Watertown
Wis, by Mrs. Carl Schurz, pupil of
Froebel in her native Germany
This pioneer American kindergarten.
established by the wife of a German
emlgrant destined to serve his adopted
country as a Civil War officer and
Secretary of the Interior, was made I'm
OF the German-speaking Schurz chill
oren and their little exile friends.
The best known Of the early Eng
hSh-speaking kindergartens in our
country" Miss Watkins said. "was
probably the one opened in Boston in
1850 by Miss Elizabeth Peabody sis
ter-in-law of DR.. Horace Mann. famous
American educator. Miss Peabody met
MRS. Schurz at the home of a friend
ana was enthused with an account of
her Kindergarten. Her further interest
was aroused by DR.. Henry Barnard
hrSt United States commissioner of
education and organizer of the Bureau
OF Eoucation. Following q visit to an
EXHIBIT of educational systems and
materials held in London in 1854. he
returned to the United States to write
the flrst reports published in this coun-
Try concerning the new educational
IDEAL promulgated by E,roebel.
First in West Was in 1870.
Inc Froebel Centennial Celebration
committee is using as its seal an ill,Im-
mated lunette of the famous stone
carving over the door of the Wheelock
hlnoergarten Training School in Bos-
ton, showing bas-relief of Froebel
surrounded by boys and girls as might
nave been in his first kindergarten in
Blankenburg, 100 years ago.
MISS Susan Blow and William r
Harris, superintendent of the ST
Louis schools, were responsible for the
of the first kindergarten
INTO public school system in 1879
Later as United States commissioner
OF education, DR.. Harris aided the Kim
oergarten cause greatly by his writings
ana lectures on FroebeTs philosophv
That each individual has the right to
happy childhood.
In 1875 Miss Emma Marwedel a
German educator who had in 1870
estaollshed a kindergarten training
school in Washington, D. c., was per-
Suaded by Mrs. Caroline B. Severence
known as the mother of the women,s
CLUBS In America" to open at Los An
geles, Calf, the first kinderparten
and teacher training institution on the
Pacific Coast.
Kate Douglas Wiggin, first student
IN Miss Marwedel's kindergarten
training class, was destined to become
a famous American author. Her story
OF Patsy" written about her experi-
ences, probably more than any other
book popularized the kindergarten.
The Birds Christmas Carol" with a
similar background, has become q
children's favorite.
A demonstration kindergarten at the
Centennial Exposition in PHILADELPHIA
IN 1876 not only proved one of the
very popular exhibits, stimulus in the
spreading of kindergartens in public
schools throughout the United States.
Miss Watkins is also our authority
for the statement that in their early
days kindergartens were inaugurated
originally as private enterprises for
the we'll to do or the very poor.
Often philanthropic organizations or
churches financed them to provide
assistance to children living In con-
gested areas Of large cities. In such
centers during the high tide Of for
eign immigration they proved inval-
liable as Americlnization assets, for
both the children and their parents.