Anna Pestalozzi-Schulthess

Anna Schulthess was born on 9 August 1738, to Hans Jakob Schulthess and Anna Holzhalb.[1] She had five siblings, all younger brothers, with four siblings dying in childhood. She met Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in 1767 after the sudden death of Johann Kaspar Bluntschli (nicknamed "Menalk"), a mutual friend, of a lung ailment. Menalk had a great impact on Pestalozzi, inspiring him to work hard for social and political progress, but was also a friend of Schulthess.[1][3] The mutual sorrow after the death of Menalk started secret correspondence between Schulthess and Pestalozzi, which Schulthess maintained despite strong opposition from her parents by having her brother Kaspar transport the letters.[1][3] Schulthess married Pestalozzi on 30 September 1769 in Gebenstorf.[1] Between 1767 and 1769, the two exchanged 468 letters, equivalent to over 650 pages.[3]

In 1770, Pestalozzi borrowed money to purchase 36 hectares of land near Birr to build Neuhof, an agricultural establishment designed as a model of the economic philosophy he had learned from Johann Rudolf Tschiffeli. The site was purposely chosen to be near the meeting place of the Helvetic Society, but the land was unproductive and the farm failed financially in its second year.[4]

In 1774 Neuhof was converted to an industrial school for about 37 impoverished children and some 13 impoverished adults. Pestalozzi-Schulthess was responsible for managing the housekeeping and the finances of the facility, the latter of which she greatly supported with her own family wealth. Her experience as a merchant in the family baking and confectionary business aided the financial work. In addition, she taught the girls at Neuhof household skills and spinning. Although it was clear to her that the institution would never see financial success (through the farm or the work of the children), Pestalozzi-Schulthess continued to use her own wealth to support Neuhof until its eventual bankruptcy.[1]

Pestalozzi-Schulthess participated in her husband's later educational endeavours, including the orphanage in Stans and the school at Burgdorf. In 1807, she joined Pestalozzi's longest-lasting project, the institute at Yverdon, where she died in 1815. In 1813, two years before her death, she used her inheritance to rescue the institute financially, allowing it to continue teaching for another twelve years until its 1825 closure.[1]