Lida B. McMurry (1853-1942)

Yearbook photo of Lida Brown McMurry at Northern Illinois State Normal Lida Brown McMurry (1853–1942) was an American educator, author, YWCA founder, and prominent figure within American Herbartianism throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In 1853, McMurry was born in the state of New York, but by her early childhood, her family had moved to Illinois.

She is the sister of Elmer Ellsworth Brown who served as the United States Commissioner of Education from 1906 to 1911.

She is the sister-in-law of American Herbartianist educators, Charles A. McMurry and Frank M. McMurry.

Career in education McMurry began her educational career at the age of sixteen, working in rural Illinois schools before enrolling in Illinois State Normal University (ISNU) in the early 1870s. She graduated from ISNU in 1874, and continued to teach in rural Illinois schools, until returning to the university in 1891, where she held the position of elementary "critic teacher" in ISNU's practice school. aiming to prepare the instructor to apply and present these educational stories with purpose. in the First Yearbook of the National Herbart Society, is revered as one of the greatest contributions to the American Herbartian movement, as it earned her national notoriety and gave definitive goals for educators to aim for.

In 1900, McMurry left Illinois State Normal University to join Charles A. McMurry and John W. Cook at Northern Illinois State Normal at Dekalb, where she would continue educating throughout the early twentieth century.

Young Women's Christian Association In 1872, while enrolled at Illinois State Normal University, McMurry invited several classmates to her room to participate in a prayer meeting, though only six had attended. The group consisted of Lida Brown McMurry, Ida E. Brown, Emma Stewart, Jennie Leonard, Ms. Hopkins, and Mrs. Hattie Lawson.

Published works Throughout her career in education, McMurry was an established prolific author of educational children's books, authoring thirty titles in over one hundred publications by the early 1930s.

Fifty Famous Fables (1910; first edition) Nature Study Lessons for Primary Grades (1905; first edition) A Method for Teaching Primary Reading (1914; first edition) Special Method in Natural Science for the First Four Grades of the Common School (1899; first edition), with C.A. McMurry Robinson Crusoe for Boys and Girls (1915; first edition), with D. Dafoe, M.H. Husted Classic Stories for Little Ones (1895; first edition) Our Language, Book I (1905; first edition), with F. T. Norvell Songs of the Tree-Top and Meadow Songs of a Mother and Child (1905; first edition), with A. Gale The Smith-McMurry Language Series (1919; volume four), with C. A. Smith Plan of Concentration for First Two School Years Hints for Primary Teachers (1911; first edition)