Mary Tyler Mann

Mary Tyler Mann ( Peabody; November 16, 1806 – February 11, 1887) was an American teacher, author, and reformer. Mary was one of three Peabody sisters who were influential women of their day in education, literature, and art. Like her sister Elizabeth, she was a leader in education reform and establishment of kindergartens. Sophia was an artist and the wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Mary was a participant in the Transcendentalism Movement. She was an abolitionist. She supported the work of her husband Horace Mann, an American education reformer and politician, as well as Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Sarah Winnemucca.

Mary Peabody began teaching at eighteen, first in Maine, then as a governess in Cuba, and she was a tutor and teacher in Massachusetts. She established a school for young children in Salem, Massachusetts about 1836. After her husband died in 1859, Mary Mann and her sister Elizabeth opened the first kindergarten school in the country, where they taught gymnastics, music, French, and social skills in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic. They published the book Moral Culture of Infancy and Kindergarten Guide to provide information about how to set up and operate a kindergarten.

Among her many publications, she contributed to Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's Facundo, which was first published in 1868.

Personal life Early life Mary Tyler Peabody was born on November 16, 1806, in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, the daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Peabody, the granddaughter of Joseph Palmer, a general during the American Revolutionary War. Newlyweds Samuel Gridley Howe and Julia Ward joined the Manns on their extended honeymoon. Horace had taken an extended leave of absence to study schools and other institutions—like prisons, asylums, and orphanages—while in Halifax and Europe. His notes of the visits were the source material for his "Seventh Annual Report", and the recognition of what would be useful ideas to implement and what should be avoided. The couples returned on the Britannia on November 6, 1853.

The Manns had three children: Horace Mann Jr., George Mann, and Benjamin Mann. After her children were born, Mary homeschooled the boys. At the time of her death, George was a principal of Jamaica Plain High School, and Benjamin was a professor of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In her book Christianity in the Kitchen: A Physiological Cookbook, Mary expresses that certain foods, like alcohol and oysters, are not healthy and other foods are good for one's health. She asserts that a person who is careful about choosing healthy foods is an example of true Christianity.

Author Mary wrote about women's rights, child care, kindergarten, and free education for underprivileged children. Her work was published as essays, in magazines, and books. In addition, Mary helped Hopkins with her book, Life among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883). Mary used her portion of the book’s earnings to open schools.

Publications Works Mary Tyler Peabody Man wrote or contributed to, in order by the original published date:

Extended edition in five volumes.