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Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804-January 3, 1894)
Born in 1804 in Billerica, Massachusetts, Peabody was a teacher and a writer who also served as a prominent figure
in the Transcendetal movement. She was the sister-in-law of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Horace Mann, and worked for
Bronson Alcott (father of author Louisa May Alcott) at his Temple School in
Boston. 1n 1860, Peabody opened her kindergarten. At that time, the concept of providing formal education for
such young children was not common, largely confined to German practices. Through her own kindergarten, and as editor
of the Kindergarten Messenger (1873-77), Peabody helped establish kindergarten as an accepted institution in U.S.
education. She also wrote numerous books in support of the cause.
Throughout her life, Peabody championed and supported a number of causes including antislavery, European liberal
revolutions, Spiritualism, and, in her last years, the Paiute Indians.
Peabody died at the age of 89, and was buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts (the same cemetery as
the Alcotts and Nathaniel Hawthorne).
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