Clara W. Mingins

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Clara W. Mingins
A white woman with dark hair in an updo, wearing a blouse with a high collar and frills
Clara W. Mingins on the faculty of Alma College, from a 1906 photograph
Born(1859-09-29)September 29, 1859
Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedNovember 5, 1917(1917-11-05) (aged 58)
Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
OccupationEducator

Clara Wood Mingins (September 29, 1859 – November 5, 1917) was an American educator. She opened the first kindergarten in Connecticut in 1884, and was later head of the kindergarten programs in Detroit, Michigan.

Early life and education[edit]

Mingins was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of George James Mingins and Elizabeth Gray Wood Mingins.[1] Her father was a Presbyterian minister, born in Scotland.[2] She trained as a kindergarten teacher in New York City.

Career[edit]

Mingins opened Connecticut's first kindergarten class, at the State Normal School in New Britain in 1884, with assistance from Fanniebelle Curtis.[3] She was director of kindergartens in Newton, Massachusetts in the mid-1890s. She moved to Detroit in 1896, to become the superintendent of public kindergartens and principal of the kindergarten training department at Washington Normal School. She is said to have founded over 40 kindergartens in the Detroit area.[4] She was vice-president of the kindergarten education department, and a member of the child study department, of the National Education Association.[5] She was president of the Detroit branch of the International Kindergarten Union.[6]

With her partner Eleanor O. Periam, Mingins resigned from the Detroit Public Schools in 1903.[7][8] Both women joined the faculty at Alma College, a Presbyterian college in Michigan.[9][10] Both survived the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago in 1904, along with Mingins' niece Mildred, and Periam's niece, Grace Dymond.[11]

Later in her career, Mingins taught at the normal school in Ypsilanti, Michigan.[6] She was often invited to write essays and speak to community groups and professional organizations on education and child development topics.[12][13][14] Her lecture "The Child and the Law" was published as a pamphlet in 1910.[15][16] In 1911, she gave an address to the State Federation of Women's Clubs when they met in Detroit, saying in part, "We have made too great difference in sex, and we hem the girl about with restrictions that fret and hamper her, and give too little consideration to the protection of the boy, who is just as impressionable as the girl."[17] She also wrote a novel, A New Note in the Christmas Carol (1913), which was serialized in newspapers[18] before it was published in book form.[19]

Publications[edit]

  • The Child and the Law (1910, pamphlet)[15]
  • A New Note in the Christmas Carol (1913, novel)[19]

Personal life[edit]

Mingins lived, worked, and traveled with fellow kindergarten teacher Eleanor Olive Periam. Mingins's niece Mildred and Periam's niece Grace Dymond also lived in the household. Mingins died in 1917, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from meningitis, at the age of 58.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Parents names and birthplace from Mingins's Michigan death certificate, via Ancestry.
  2. ^ "George Mingins of the Christian Commission". Military Images. 25 (3): 29–31. 2003. ISSN 1040-4961. JSTOR 44034153.
  3. ^ Wiard, Oliver. "History recalled on arts festival landmark for 1973" New Britain Herald (April 27, 1973): 2.
  4. ^ "Kindergarten Teaching: An American Pioneer". Press. May 29, 1912. p. 5 – via Papers Past.
  5. ^ National Education Association of the United States (1901). Addresses and Proceedings - National Education Association of the United States. pp. 500–501.
  6. ^ a b c "Clara W. Mingins". The Kindergarten and First Grade. 3 (1): 40. January 1918.
  7. ^ "Resignation of Clara W. Mingins" Proceedings of the Board of Education (December 10, 1903): 284.
  8. ^ "The Educational Outlook". The School Journal. 67 (23): 676. December 19, 1903.
  9. ^ "Visit Kindergarten" (PDF). The Weekly Almanian. May 26, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  10. ^ "Alma College Faculty". 1906 – via Alma Institutional Repository. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ "Clothes Burned; Detroiters' Lucky Escape from Iroquois Fire". Detroit Free Press. 1904-01-03. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Injustice Cause of Bad Children; Speaker Says Past Evils Make Reform School Necessary Today". Detroit Free Press. 1910-02-16. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Making Children Kind Hearted". The Chatham Press. 1915-07-17. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Makes a Plea for Child Life; Miss Clara Wood Mingins Delivers Address at Twentieth Century Club House". Detroit Free Press. 1911-10-26. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-07-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b "Book Review: The Child and the Law". Journal of Education. 72 (10): 273. September 1910. doi:10.1177/002205741007201028. ISSN 0022-0574.
  16. ^ "Parental Pride Ruins Children". Detroit Free Press. 1910-02-17. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-07-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "State Federation Women's Club to Meet in Saginaw in 1912, Address by Clara W. Mingins". Alma Record. 1911-10-26. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Mingins, Clara Wood (1918-12-29). "A New Note in the Christmas Carol". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 47. Retrieved 2023-07-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ a b Mingins, Clara Wood. "A new note in the Christmas Carol". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2023-07-23.

External links[edit]

  • Iroquois Theatre, a website about the 1904 fire, has a page about Mingins and Periam
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