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“destined To Make An Era”: Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s Transcendentalist Collaborations
Imported from ProQuest DelMastro_ilstu_0092N_11242.pdf
Abstract
This thesis examines the trajectory of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s development as an educator and transcendentalist. I begin by observing her correspondence with William Wordsworth from 1825 to 1845 and elucidating how this interaction between an American educator and British Romantic poet illustrates the shifting transatlantic views of childhood during the nineteenth century. Following this analysis, I explore the collaboration between Peabody and Bronson Alcott at his Temple School, demonstrating how their work together reveals Peabody’s own innovations as an educator and explicating her material and pedagogical contributions to Alcott’s experiment. Finally, I observe the manner in which Peabody’s bookshop at 13 West Street in Boston served to build a community of transcendentalists in the area, particularly emphasizing the impact the bookshop had in promoting the Conversations of Margaret Fuller.