Anna Tolman Smith

Anna Tolman Smith (January 4, 1840 – August 28, 1917) was an American educator, editor, and writer. She worked for the US Office of Education from 1879 until 1917, usually writing reports on comparative education topics. She was decorated by the French government for her work.

Anna Tolman Smith
An older white woman wearing small oval glasses
Anna Tolman Smith, from a 1935 publication of the US Department of the Interior
BornJanuary 4, 1840
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedAugust 28, 1917
Washington, D.C.
Occupation(s)Educator, editor, writer

Early life

Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from the Boston Normal School in 1860.[1][2]

Career

In 1865, Smith and her sister, Abbie M. Condron, started Park Seminary, a girls' school in Washington, D.C. In 1879, she joined the Bureau of Education, a federal office. From 1886 to her death in 1917, Smith wrote a monthly column, "Foreign Notes", for the journal Education. She worked on the editorial staff on Paul Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education,[3] for which she also wrote over 30 articles.[4] She spoke at meetings of the National Education Association.[5] and served on the NEA's executive board.[6]

Smith attended the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, as part of her work for the US Office of Education in Washington, D.C.[4] While there, she was named an "Officier de l'Instruction Publique" by the French government.[2][7]

Publications

Smith wrote many published reports for the Bureau of Education. She also wrote articles for scholarly and professional journals, including The Journal of American Folklore,[8] The Elementary School Teacher,[9] and Journal of Education.[10]

  • Rural schools : progress in the past : means of improvement in the future (1884)[11]
  • The Coeducation of the Sexes in the United States (1894)[12]
  • "Some Nursery Rhymes of Korea" (1897)[8]
  • Education in Canada (1899)[13]
  • "From Rousseau to Froebel" (1902)[9]
  • "The Enrichment of the Teacher's Ideal" (1903)[14]
  • The education bill of 1906 for England and Wales as it past the House of Commons (1906)[15]
  • The Montessori system of education : an examination of characteristic features set forth in Il metodo della pedagogica scientifica (1912)[16]
  • Survey of education in foreign countries in 1911-12 (1913, with W. Carson Ryan)[17]
  • Compulsory school attendance (1914, with W. S. Deffenbaugh, W. Carson Ryan, and William H. Hand)[18]
  • Education in Foreign Countries, 1915 (1915)[19]
  • Secondary schools in the states of Central America, South America, and the West Indies : scholastic scope and standards (1915, with Arthur MacDonald)[20]
  • Education in Turkey (1916)[21]
  • Demand for vocational education in the countries at war (1917)[22]
  • Higher technical education in foreign countries : standards and scope (1917, with W. S. Jesien)[23]
  • "The Bureau of Education in Wartime" (1917)[10]

Personal life

Smith died in 1917, aged 77 years, in Washington, D.C.[4] In reporting her death, the New England Journal of Education noted that "Anna Tolman Smith was a great asset to the bureau of education, a notable figure in American education, a noble inspiration to educational leaders for half a century."[1]

References
  1. "Anna Tolman Smith". New England Journal of Education. 86: 239. 1917.
  2. "Anna Tolman Smith". Education. 38: 121–122. October 1917.
  3. Monroe, Paul (1911). A Cyclopedia of Education. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-598-94539-6.
  4. Abel, James F. (October 1935). "Anna Tolman Smith". School Life: 30–31 – via Internet Archive.
  5. Coming, More are (1902-07-07). "First Day of N. E. A. Brings Thousands". The Minneapolis Journal. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "The National Educators". The Washington Times. July 24, 1897. p. 8. Retrieved March 1, 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  7. "Death at Washington of Miss Anna Tolman Smith". The Boston Globe. 1917-08-29. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-03-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Smith, Anna Tolman (1897). "Some Nursery Rhymes of Korea". The Journal of American Folklore. 10 (38): 181–186. doi:10.2307/533861. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 533861.
  9. Smith, Anna Tolman (1902). "From Rousseau to Froebel". The Elementary School Teacher. 3 (3): 156–159. doi:10.1086/453167.
  10. Smith, Anna Tolman (June 1917). "The Bureau of Education in War Time". Journal of Education. 85 (26): 719. doi:10.1177/002205741708502608. ISSN 0022-0574. S2CID 186585930.
  11. Smith, Anna Tolman; United States; Bureau of Education (1884). Rural schools: progress in the past : means of improvement in the future. Washington: Government Printing Office. OCLC 9188470.
  12. Smith, Anna Tolman (1894). The Coeducation of the Sexes in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  13. Smith, Anna Tolman (1899). Education in Canada. CIHM/ICMH Microfiche series. Vol. 13678. Washington: G.P.O. ISBN 9780665136788. OCLC 890716911.
  14. Smith, Anna Tolman (1903). "The Enrichment of the Teacher's Ideal". The Elementary School Teacher. 3 (8): 513–516. doi:10.1086/453241. S2CID 144759678.
  15. Smith, Anna Tolman (1906). The education bill of 1906 for England and Wales as it past the House of Commons. Washington: G.P.O. OCLC 18115444.
  16. Smith, Anna Tolman (1912). The Montessori system of education: an examination of characteristic features set forth in Il metodo della pedagogica [sic] scientifica. Washington: Government Printing Office. OCLC 5869886.
  17. Smith, Anna Tolman; Ryan, W. Carson (1913). Survey of education in foreign countries in 1911-12. Washington [D.C.: G.P.O. OCLC 1028103227.
  18. Deffenbaugh, W. S; Smith, Anna Tolman; Ryan, W. Carson, Hand, William H; Ohio; Massachusetts (1914). Compulsory school attendance. Washington: G.P.O. OCLC 10332039.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. Smith, Anna Tolman (1915). Education in Foreign Countries, 1915. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  20. Smith, Anna Tolman; MacDonald, Arthur; United States; Bureau of Education (1915). Secondary schools in the states of Central America, South America, and the West Indies: scholastic scope and standards. Washington: G.P.O. OCLC 11150583.
  21. Smith, Anna Tolman (1916). Education in Turkey. publisher not identified.
  22. Smith, Anna Tolman (1917). Demand for vocational education in the countries at war. Washington: Govt. Print. Off. OCLC 5869877.
  23. Smith, Anna Tolman; Jesien, W. S (1917). Higher technical education in foreign countries: standards and scope. Washington: G.P.O. OCLC 14762227.
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