For more than seventy-five years, the Carson Valley School has
served the needs of orphaned girls and other dependent children
from Philadelphia and neighboring Pennsylvania counties. Its
hundred-acre campus is remarkable for its rolling terrain,
neo-medieval buildings, and design as a fantasy village.
A legacy of the progressive education movement of the early
decades of the twentieth century, the school was formally opened in
1918 as the Carson College for Orphan Girls. Its first president,
Elsa Ueland, was a former settlement house worker who was a student
of John Dewey and Maria Montessori, and her life story is closely
intertwined with that of the school she oversaw for nearly half a
century.
The institution was originally endowed by the $5 million estate
of Philadelphia trolley magnate Robert N. Carson, who had
stipulated in his will that it could receive only white, parentless
girls. Over the decades, Ueland and her successors were able to
remove these restrictions, so that by the 1970s Carson Valley was
admitting children regardless of race or gender, as well as
neglected and dependent youths whose needs were every bit as
pressing as those of orphans of earlier times.
David Contosta's history of Carson Valley shows that it has long
been a model of progressive education. Its faculty is dedicated to
serving the individual needs of each child, preparing students to
enter the workplace, and breaking down artificial barriers between
school and the outside world. Drawing on Ueland's personal papers
to communicate both her hopes for the Progressive era and her
achievements during the early years of the school, Contosta tells
how teachers and housemothers forged a unique collaboration that
joined home and school in ways that other progressive educators
could only dream of. He also notes the architectural significance
of its enchanting facilities, which have played an integral part in
the institution's treatment program.
Philadelphia's Progressive Orphanage clearly shows not only how
Carson Valley has been shaped by a multitude of social, cultural,
and political forces, but also how many of the reforms of the
Progressive era remain in place today. It establishes Carson's
place in the history of education and child welfare and makes an
important contribution to renewed debate about orphanages and
dependent child care.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
