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Show UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Salt Lake Kindergarten Association and the Free Kindergarten Association, the Utah Kindergarten Association endeavored to establish appropriate training for mothers. The Association worked with Anna K. Craig of the Brigham Young Academy kindergarten department to launch the appropriate courses. The kindergarten movement in Utah expanded to include other churches, congregations, and organizations. For example, Anna Elizabeth Jones’ Salt Lake Kindergarten and Grade School taught the children in Salt Lake City’s Jewish Synagogue from 1884 until 1887. 30 The first free kindergarten, called Neighborhood House, began operations in the Odd Fellows Hall in 1895, but later moved to St. Mark's Episcopal Church, then to the LDS Thirteenth Ward schoolhouse, and, by the early 1900s, the kindergarten continued its operations in the basement of the Unitarian Church. The Salt Lake Tribune reported in 1893: “At last we have the prospect of free kindergartens in Salt Lake. The churches have joined in the broad and concerted movement for turning over the buildings used for their primary schools for this purpose and also to aid in establishing and keeping up this beautiful charity.”31 Cooperation was also evident in the training of kindergarten teachers who were required, like all teachers, to have a suitable certificate to be eligible for employment as a teacher and training was sought regardless of religion. For example, Emmeline Y. Wells, who later became the Mormon Utah Kindergarten Association’s teacher trainer, received her certificate from the Presbyterian Salt Lake Kindergarten Association.32 Ella Nebeker Stewart, a Mormon who later taught in the University of Utah’s model kindergarten, attended a Presbyter ian training school. 33 Dr. Jesse Millspaugh, a Presbyterian and leader of the Salt Lake School District, volunteered that in selecting girls to take the kindergarten training and act as teachers in that capacity, he preferred the Mormons.34 30 “Anna Elizabeth Richardson Jones As a Teacher,” Anne Marie Fox Felt Papers, Box 2, folder 7, p. 3. “Free Kindergartens,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 1893. 32 Emmeline Young Wells was the daughter of the early Salt Lake City mayor, Daniel H. Wells. She was in charge of directing kindergartens for the Utah Kindergarten Association. After receiving a certificate in kindergarten teaching, she studied psychology at LDS College in Salt Lake City. Beside the kindergarten movement she also participated in other activities. She was a charter member of the Cleofan Literary Club as well as the Wasatch Club. She was also the curator of the Daughters of Utah Pioneer’s Museum for many years. She served at the Primary Board of the Salt Lake Stake of the LDS church. Anne Marie Fox Felt Papers, box 6, fd. 10. 33 “Reminiscences of Mrs. William Stewart,” Anne Marie Fox Felt Papers, Box 1, folder 4. 34 Dr. Jesse Millspaugh had a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He came to Utah in 1883 and became the second principal of the Collegiate Institute. He continued his work there until 1890 when he was appointed to be the first superintendent in Salt Lake City. In 1889 he moved to Minnesota to become president of the Minnesota State Normal School. In 1904 he accepted the appointment as President of the California State Normal School at Los Angeles. He lived there until his death in 1937. He made this statement while he was a superintendent in Salt Lake City, but unfortunately it is unclear why he preferred Mormon teachers. For summaries about the Mormon-Presbyterian relations, see: Jana Kathryn Riess, “Heathen in Our Fair Land: Presbyterian Women Missionaries in Utah, 1870-90,” Journal of Mormon History 26 (Winter, 2000): 165-95; R. Douglas Brackenridge, “Hostile Mormons and Persecuted Presbyterians in Utah, 1870-1900: A Reappraisal,” Journal of Mormon History 37 (Summer, 2011): 162-228; Minutes of the Utah Kindergarten Association June 14, 1895, Anne Marie Fox Felt Papers, Box 1, folder 5. 31 140 |
