PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Elizabeth Harrison (September 1, 1849 - October 31, 1927) was a Kentucky educator. She founded and was the first president of what is now known as National Louis University in Chicago, Illinois. Harrison was a trailblazer in developing professional standards for early childhood educators and in advocating for early childhood education. Elizabeth Harrison was the fourth child of Elizabeth Thompson Bullock and Isaac Webb Harrison and was born in Athens, Kentucky. Isaac Harrison was a trader there in 1850, according to the census. The family relocated to Midway, Kentucky, and then to Davenport, Iowa, where he was listed as a land agent in the 1870 census. Mrs. W.O. Richardson, a friend of Elizabeth Harrison's, invited her to Chicago in 1879 to pursue a career in education. Harrison sought more training in St. Louis and New York after becoming acquainted with the early kindergarten movement in Chicago and studying with early kindergarten educator Alice Putnam. She went on to teach kindergarten in Iowa and Chicago. In order to involve mothers in education, Harrison and Putnam formed the Chicago Kindergarten Club in 1883, inspired by Friedrich Fröbel's book Mothers at Play. In 1886, Harrison established a kindergarten teacher training school in Chicago. Harrison was intrigued by the thoughts of a German woman who worked at her school and determined to learn more.
