Amos Bronson Alcott was born November 29, 1799. The son of a flax farmer in Wolcott, Connecticut, he taught himself to read by forming letters in charcoal on a wooden floor. Through sheer willpower and dedication to the ideal he educated himself and guided his genius to expression as a progressive educator and leader of the transcendentalists. Transcendentalism was a term coined for a movement of New England writers and thinkers in the 1830’s. They believed that people are born good, that they possess a power called intuition, and that they can come closer to God through nature. Amos Bronson Alcott was unique in the way he embodied and lived out his transcendentalist ideas. As an educator he believed that all knowledge and moral guidance springs from inner sources and it is the teacher’s role to help these unfold in a beneficial way. His daughter Louisa, one of his most faithful pupils, wrote " My father taught in the wise way which unfolds what lies in the child’s nature, as a flower blooms, rather than crammed it, like a Strasbourg goose, with more than it could digest." Mr. Alcott taught in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Boston. He introduced art, music, nature study, and physical education to his classes at a time when these subjects weren’t taught. Many parents did not understand Alcott’s innovative methods and withdrew their children from his schools. Because of this situation, the Alcott family moved over 20 times in 30 years. Alcott believed that the key to social reform and spiritual growth was in the home, in family life. Essential values instilled in his children from an early age were self-reliance, sense of duty, self-sacrifice, and charity. Self-expression was cultivated and this extended to a keeping of journals. These journals were shared in order to foster an openness of thought and feeling. In his later years he went on lecture tours in the Midwest where his enthusiastic talks on education and transcendentalism brought much recognition to himself and fellow friends and Concordians, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. From 1859-1864 he served as Superintendent of Schools in Concord. In 1879, mainly through the support of his Western admirers, his lifelong dream for a School of Philosophy in Concord was fulfilled. One of the first summer schools for adults, The Concord School of Philosophy continued for nine summers and closed in July 1888 with a memorial service to Alcott who had passed away on March 4 of that year. Archival photographs of the family and objects in the collection are available for a fee. Please contact the Curator of Collections at 978-369-4118, Monday -Wednesday 8:30 - 3:30. for further information on photo fees and policies. |
