Publisher's Synopsis
Elizabeth Harrison (September 1, 1849 - October 31, 1927) was an American educator. She was the founder and first president of what is today National Louis University. Harrison was a pioneer in creating professional standards for early childhood teachers and in promoting early childhood education After encountering the early kindergarten movement in Chicago in the 1870s, Harrison sought training in St. Louis and New York. She then taught kindergarten in Iowa and Chicago. In 1886, she founded a training school for kindergarten teachers in Chicago. Intrigued by the ideas used by a German woman working at her school, Harrison decided to find out more. She tracked these ideas back to the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus in Berlin and in 1889 she traveled there to study. On her return she renamed her institution the Chicago Kindergarten Training College.Harrison's school became an innovative college of education. She was president of the college until her retirement in 1920. It is now part of National Louis University.
