Harriet Frances Carpenter

Harriet Frances Carpenter
B&W portrait photograph of a woman with her hair in an up-do, wearing a white blouse
Carpenter c. 1917
Born1868/75
Lyons, Iowa, U.S.
DiedAugust 16, 1956
Branchville, New Jersey, U.S.
Resting place
Long Hill Cemetery
Alma materChicago Kindergarten College
Occupations
  • educator
  • writer
  • suffragist
Writing career
Genres
  • non-fiction
  • essays
  • plays
SubjectChildren
Notable worksMother Play in Story, vols. 1 & 2

Harriet Frances Carpenter (1868/75 – August 16, 1956) was an American educator and author,[1] as well as a woman's suffrage activist throughout New Jersey.[2]

After graduating from the Chicago Kindergarten College, her career specialized in early childhood education at various institutions. In addition to her book Mother Play in Story, Carpenter published several essays and wrote and directed dramas.

Early life and education

Harriet (nickname, "Pearl")[2] Frances Carpenter was born at Lyons, Iowa, on June 6, 1875.[a] Her parents were Abraham and Mary Carpenter. She was descended from an old colonial Pennsylvania family, but her grandfather had moved west. Her father owned large wheat ranges in North Dakota.[1] As a sick child, she was sent to Montana, where she developed a love of nature.[1]

She was educated by tutors and at Chicago Kindergarten College, where she graduated the highest honors in her class.[1]

Career

Educational work

Upon graduating, Carpenter became superintendent of the Cincinnati Free Kindergarten Training School and supervisor of thirty kindergartens. She was a charter member of the Cincinnati Woman's Club and delivered lectures to its members on children's literature and dramatic music which drew on her experience visiting Bayreuth.[1]

After a few years, Carpenter moved to New York City to study interpretive art. While there, she took charge of the Newark, New Jersey public kindergarten system. Beginning in 1898, she led courses in kindergarten instruction at the city normal school (today known as Kean University).[1][2]

Social activism

Carpenter was a suffragist who supported women's suffrage on the grounds of opposition to taxation without representation. In 1912, she sued the state of New Jersey for the right to vote as a property holder, arguing that the right to vote had once been held by New Jersey women and had been revoked illegally. Her case was defeated at the Supreme Court of New Jersey.[1]

Personal life

Carpenter lived in her country home on Long Hill Road, in the Millington section of Long Hill Township, New Jersey.[1]

Harriet Frances Carpenter died in Branchville, New Jersey, August 16, 1956, and was interred at Long Hill Cemetery.[2]

Selected works

Mother Play in Story, vol. 2 (1916)

Books

  • Carpenter, Harriet Frances (1915). Mother Play in Story, vol. 1. New York: Baker & Taylor.
  • Carpenter, Harriet Frances (1916). Mother Play in Story, vol. 2. New York: Baker & Taylor.

Essays

  • "The Real Mother (1918), Christian Register and Boston Observer[3]
  • "The Nurture-Power of Mothers" (1918), Christian Register and Boston Observer[3]
  • "Little Every-day Wrong-doings" (1918), Christian Register and Boston Observer[3]
  • "Training little children (1918), The Kindergarten-primary Magazine[4]
  • "The World of the Child is One of Perpetual Imagination" (1919), The Juvenile Court Record[5]
  • "The real mother is careful to train her child's character" (1919), Training Little Children: Suggestion for Parents[6]
  • "The careful mother ponders the effects of her child's actions" (1919), Training Little Children: Suggestion for Parents[6]
  • "The influence and inspiration of spiritual motherhood" (1919), Training Little Children: Suggestion for Parents[6]

Plays

  • The White Bear (1908)[7]
  • Hansel and Gretel (1908)[7]
  • An Easter Fete (1908)[7]
  • Cupid and Psyche (1908)[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ According to her obituary in The Courier-News of Bridgewater Township, New Jersey (1956), Carpenter was born in 1868.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Harriet Frances Carpenter". Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens and State Guide. Vol. 1. 1917. pp. 55–56, 80–81. Retrieved 5 September 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Obituary for Harriet Frances Carpenter". The Courier-News. 21 August 1956. p. 10. Retrieved 5 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 "Literature". Christian Register and Boston Observer. 97 (49). Boston: 1173–74, 1245. 5 December 1918.
  4. ↑ "Mothers' Department". The Kindergarten-primary Magazine. Vol. 30, no. 9. Kindergarten Magazine Company. May 1918. p. 245.
  5. ↑ "The World of the Child is One of Perpetual Imagination". The Juvenile Court Record. 19 (3). Visitation and Aid Society: 13–14. September 1919.
  6. 1 2 3 Mann, Charles Riborg; McDowell, Floyd Marion; Francis, John Haywood; Barclay, Lorne Webster; Pearson, Peter Henry; Davis, Sheldon Emmor; Bach, Theresa; Jones, Thomas Jesse; Education, United States Office of; Montgomery, Walter Alexander (1919). Training Little Children: Suggestion for Parents. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 43–48.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Episcopal Church Diocese of New Jersey (1908). History of the Episcopal Church in Essex County, New Jersey. p. 11. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
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