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Show The Presbyter ian Free Kindergarten Association demonstrated its willingness to cooperate with other denominations when soon after its organization, the Association’s president, Emma J. McVicker, suggested inviting the Mor mon May Booth Talmage, the wife of the president of the University of Utah, to be a member of the executive board of the Association, which she accepted. 35 This gesture seemed to create an opportunity for the var ious denominations to unite in an effort to advance the kindergarten Children on a kindergarten playmovement in spite of the distrust and ground with teeter-totters animosity on other issues that existed among as the primary recreational different religious organizations at this time equipment. in Utah’s history. Nevertheless, conflict did surface between two leaders of the kindergarten movement in Utah—Alice Chapin and Emmeline Y. Wells. Soon after Chapin arrived in Utah, she wrote a letter to the territorial school commission complaining that Miss Wells, an ambitious teacher for the Utah Kindergarten Association, did not have a kindergarten certificate and should not be allowed to teach36 Chapin’s motive is not clear, but Wells responded to the accusation by stating that she had earned a certificate from a training held by the Salt Lake Kindergarten Association in 1892. To put the issue to rest, Wells was sent to Colorado Springs at the Utah Kindergarten Association’s expense to participate in a summer kindergarten 35 Minutes of the Utah Kindergarten Association June 14, 1895. The next year, in 1896, Emma J. McVicker was appointed as the first female member of the University of Utah Board of Regents. Utah Daily Chronicle, April 8, 1896. May Booth Talmage was a well-educated teacher who enrolled in Brigham Young Academy's normal course (teacher training). After graduation she taught in an elementary school in Kaysville until she married James G. Talmage. She was a women activist, serving on the General Board of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association of the LDS church for almost forty years. She was also a member of the Utah Territorial Women's Suffrage Association and represented the women of Utah at the World Congress of Women at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. She was charter member of a few other associations, such as the Parent-Teacher Association, Authors' Club, and the Friendship Circle. Register of the Merry May Talmage (1868-1944) Papers, L. Tom Perry Special Collection, Brigham Young University. Minutes of the Utah Kindergarten Association June 14, 1895. 36 Minutes of the Utah Kindergarten Association May 3, 1895. 141 UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY KINDERGARTEN MOVEMENT |
