‘Venturing in Education’: teaching at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory School, 1896–1904

Abstract

In 1896, John Dewey opened the Laboratory School at the University of Chicago. While much is known about this legendary school and its founder, the teachers whose daily work brought the school to life remain mostly anonymous. This essay attempts to remedy this historical invisibility by investigating four of the Laboratory School teachers – Anna Camp, Katherine Camp, Althea Harmer and Mary Hill – in order to more fully understand this experimental school. The teachers’ personal correspondence and published writings evoke a vital collection of educators whose interests and passions connected them to other centers of innovation in Chicago and elsewhere in the nation. This investigation of the teachers thus fills out our understanding of the history of this innovative institution and of the developing pragmatist ideas of its time, and establishes their centrality to the ideas and practices of the Laboratory School.