The Ridge Historical Society
National Poetry Month – Part 6 on the Hofer Sisters
By Carol Flynn
Continuing our series on the Hofer sisters of Beverly, this post presents Andrea Hofer Proudfoot (1866 – 1949), the fourth of the five sisters. Like her sisters, she was a pioneer in the kindergarten movement. She was also the poet in the family, a timely story for National Poetry Month in April.
In the mid-1880s, Andrea joined her sisters in moving to Chicago from Iowa for education and career opportunities.
Documentation of her education has not been found yet, but was likely similar to her sisters’. Theirs included attending the Chicago Kindergarten College and doing graduate work at the University of Chicago and other universities, and at least one of them, Bertha, studied in Germany at a kindergarten college run by the niece of Friedrich Froebel, the pioneer educator in the kindergarten movement. The kindergartens in the U.S. were based on Froebel’s system, and the Hofers were strong advocates of his teachings.
Andrea was a writer, and was interested in the publishing field, which she and her brothers and sisters learned about at the newspaper their father ran in Iowa.
In 1889, Kindergarten Magazine was started, offering professional articles and practical tips for kindergarten teachers. The magazine was also designed to appeal to mothers of young children. It quickly became important in the field, with well-regarded educators like Elizabeth Peabody and Francis W. Parker involved.
Andrea volunteered as assistant editor for Kindergarten Magazine in 1890-91, and several of her articles and poems appeared in the magazine. Examples were “Lessons in Zoology,” “Francois Delsarte – His Life Work,” “A Morning’s Talk for Froebel’s Birthday,” “Don’t Say Don’t,” and “The Labor Problem and the Child.” Her poem, “A Flower Carol,” is presented here.
Andrea also wrote articles on kindergarten that appeared in other journals, like the Northwest Journal of Education. One example in 1893 was “Kindergarten – A Little Talk on Literature for Children,” which discussed gift-book giving for children. The article started with the statement, “’There is nothing too good for the children,’ is the rule of the Kindergarten.”
In 1892, Andrea and her older sister Amalie bought Kindergarten Magazine, and on January 1, 1893, their new corporation, the Kindergarten Literature Company, was started. They were listed as co-editors of the magazine. Their parents and other supporters contributed financially to the magazine. Andrea, Amalie, and older sister Mari Hofer, the musician in the family, all contributed significantly to the content of the magazine, and it became the premier publication in the kindergarten field.
Andrea wrote a small book, Child’s Christ Tales, with stories, poems, and illustrations about the birth and childhood of Jesus, that was published in 1892. Much of her writing had a religious theme to it.
On November 9, 1893, Andrea married Frederick William Proudfoot, a lawyer from Englewood whose practice included legal work with the Chicago Board of Trade. His younger sister, Mary Proudfoot, was a kindergarten director and art teacher who rose to some prominence in the field. Mary wrote articles for Kindergarten Magazine; one example was “Day by Day with Nature – For the Kindergarten and Primary Grades.”
One of Proudfoot’s wedding gifts to Andrea was an estate in North Beverly known as “Oakhurst.” This became the site of a kindergarten training school she founded with her younger sister, Elsa, called The Froebellian School for Young Women. In the summers, they ran the school as the Longwood Summer School.
Andrea also started an organization in Beverly called the League of American Mothers.
The next post will look at Andrea’s and Elsa’s Beverly-based operations.