Alcott, Bronson (ôl`kət, ăl–, –kŏt), 1799–1888, American educational and social reformer, b. near Wolcott, Conn., as Amos Bronson Alcox. His meager formal education was supplemented by omnivorous reading while he gained a living from farming, working in a clock factory, and as a peddler in the South. He was master of several schools before opening (1834) his Temple School in Boston. Strongly influenced by the ideas of Johann Pestalozzi Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich (yō`hän hīn`rĭkh pĕs'tälôt`sē)
..... Click the link for more information. , he advocated the development of each child's unique intellectual abilities and eschewed the corporal punishment generally favored at the time. Alcott's own records, as well as those made by his illustrious assistants, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer (pē`bädē, –bədē), 1804–94, American educator, lecturer, and reformer, b.
..... Click the link for more information. and Margaret Fuller Fuller, Margaret, 1810–50, American writer and lecturer, b. Cambridgeport (now part of Cambridge), Mass. She was one of the most influential personalities of her day in American literary circles.
..... Click the link for more information. , show his concern with the full and integrated mental, physical, and spiritual development of the child. Unfavorable reactions to his advanced and liberal theories forced him to close (1839) his school. However, his disappointment was lessened when he learned of the success of Alcott House, a school founded by his disciples in England.

A leading exponent of transcendentalism transcendentalism (trăn'sĕndĕn`təlĭzəm) [Lat.
..... Click the link for more information. , as were his friends Emerson Emerson, Ralph Waldo (ĕm`ərsən), 1803–82, American poet and essayist, b. Boston.
..... Click the link for more information. and Thoreau Thoreau, Henry David (thôr`ō, thərō`), 1817–62, American author and naturalist, b. Concord, Mass., grad.
..... Click the link for more information. , Alcott wrote for the periodical Dial (the "Orphic Sayings" was his most famous contribution) and was a nonresident member of Brook Farm Brook Farm, 1841–47, an experimental farm at West Roxbury, Mass., based on cooperative living. Founded by George Ripley , a Unitarian minister, the farm was initially financed by a joint-stock company with 24 shares of stock at $500 per share.
..... Click the link for more information. . He was one of the founders (1843) of a cooperative vegetarian community, "Fruitlands," near Harvard, Mass., but it proved unsuccessful and was abandoned in 1844. Poverty continually plagued the life of the Alcotts until the writings of his daughter, Louisa May Alcott Alcott, Louisa May, 1832–88, American author, b. Germantown, Pa.; daughter of Bronson Alcott . Mostly educated by her father, she was a friend of Emerson and Thoreau , and her first book, Flower Fables
..... Click the link for more information. , relieved the family of financial worry. He became (1859) superintendent of the Concord public schools, whose reformation he described in his Reports. From 1879 he was dean of the Concord School of Philosophy, which annually gathered disciples to hear him and many other speakers. Among his writings are Observations on the Principles and Methods of Infant Instruction (1830), Conversations with Children on the Gospel (1836, repr. 1989), Record of a School (1835, repr. 1969), and Ralph Waldo Emerson (1882, repr. 1968).

Bibliography

See his Journals, ed. by O. Shepard (1938, repr. 1966) and Letters, ed. by R. L. Herrinstadt (1969); K. W. Cameron, Transcendental Curriculum, or Bronson Alcott's Library (1984); biographies by F. B. Sanborn (1893, repr. 1965, 1974), O. Shepard (1937, repr. 1967), D. McCuskey (1940, repr. 1969), and F. C. Dahlstrand (1982); biograpy of his wife, Abigail May Alcott, by C. H. Barton (1996); studies by G. E. Haefner (1937, repr. 1970), and L. James (1994).

Alcott, (Amos) Bronson

(born Nov. 29, 1799, Wolcott, Conn., U.S.—died March 4, 1888, Concord, Mass.) U.S. teacher and philosopher. The self-educated son of a poor farmer, Alcott worked as a peddler before establishing a series of innovative but ultimately unsuccessful schools for children. He traveled to Britain with money borrowed from Ralph Waldo Emerson and came back with the mystic Charles Lane, with whom he founded the short-lived utopian community Fruitlands outside Boston. Alcott is credited with establishing the first parent-teacher association in Concord, Mass., while he was superintendent of schools there. A prominent member of the Transcendentalists, he wrote a number of books but did not become financially secure until his daughter Louisa May Alcott achieved success.

Alcott, (Amos) Bronson (1799–1888) educator, mystic, author; born near Wolcott, Conn. (father of Louisa May Alcott). Largely self-educated, he became an itinerant teacher (1823–33) before settling in Boston to found his own school (1834). By this time he was a mystic and transcendentalist and his radical ideas of educating children—plus his acceptance of a black girl as a pupil—led to the failure of his school (1839). He settled in Concord, Mass., but after an 1842 trip to England, where a school (Alcott House) based on his theories had been set up, he returned to establish a utopian community, Fruitlands, outside Boston (1844). Devoted to vegetarianism as well as to high thinking, the community failed within 8 months. He took his family back to Concord, and although he had to move about to teach and lecture, he spent most of the rest of his life there, the center of the transcendentalists. He was appointed superintendent of schools in Concord (1857) and he is credited with several innovations including the first parent-teacher association. The success of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868) gave the family financial security and allowed him to set up his Concord Summer School of Philosophy and Literature (1879). He wrote poetry, several books on his theories of education, a biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and an autobiography, but his greatest impact seems to have come through his personal presence and conversation.