Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804-1894) was born in Billerica, Massachusetts, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. She was an activist, educator, and education reformer, credited with introducing the kindergarten system in the United States. In 1825, she opened a school in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her sister, Mary Tyler Peabody Mann. The school closed in 1834, and shortly afterwards she assisted Bronson Alcott with the founding of his Temple School in Boston. After leaving the Temple School, she opened a bookstore in Boston where she began to write and advocate for social causes such as abolition, women's suffrage, and the struggle for Polish liberty. In 1860, she opened in Boston what is recognized as the United States' first formal kindergarten. She operated the school until 1867, after which she continued to write and advocate for the Froebel kindergarten curriculum to be adopted nationwide. Her works include Moral Culture of Infancy, and Kindergarten Guide (1863), Kindergarten Culture (1870), The Kindergarten in Italy (1872), and Letters to Kindergartners (1886). There is no record of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody studying with Mary Baker Eddy or uniting with the Church of Christ (Scientist).

See more letters.