1909-1918: The Beginnings of Lesley School
1909
The early years of the Lesley Normal School set the foundation for Lesley's curriculum in future years.
Edith Lesley, a kindergarten teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded the Lesley Normal School, a two-year school to train Kindergarten teachers. Edith taught philosophy, child study, and the theory and methods of Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the Kindergarten movement. Her sister, Olive, taught folk dancing, games, and storytellings. Anna Tikkanen, an international student from Finland, was the first student enrolled in the Lesley Normal School. Following Anna, eight other students enrolled, for a total of nine students, each paying a tuition of $100 per year. The classes met in Edith's home at 29 Everett Street in Cambridge.
1911
The first class of 11 graduated on June 10th at the First Parish Church in Harvard Square.
1912
The School of Practical Art - which eventually became the Art Institute of Boston (AIB) and the Lesley University College of Art and Design (LUCAD) - was founded by Roy Davidson.
1914
Forty of 43 Lesley Normal School graduates were teachers. The other three were married and therefore were not allowed to hold teaching positions.
1917
The school expanded its curriculum by opening a department of Domestic Science. Lesley offered a three-year course in Home Economics, and the Lesley Normal School was renamed the Lesley School.
1918
Gertrude Malloch served as both a teacher and an administrator, and was named as the Principal of the Lesley School.
Froebel Gifts and Occupations
The Lesley School’s curriculum was based on the sophisticated philosophy of the German educator, Friedrich Froebel, who founded the Kindergarten Movement in the 1830s.
Lesley students studied Froebel’s philosophy for developing children’s artistic expression through various art “occupations,” such as painting, sewing, paper folding, and constructing objects out of clay. The students were required to create curriculum books of the Froebel occupations, which they would use after graduation as a basis for their kindergarten classes in public schools and settlement houses across the United States. The books are of exquisite detail and beauty, demonstrating the skill necessary not only for kindergarten teachers during the turn of the twentieth century, but also for Lesley School students.
The Lesley School used a Froebelian-based curriculum well into the 1920s.