The concept of Kindergarten was developed in Germany by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), a student of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Froebel’s German kindergartens encouraged children to enjoy natural studies, music, stories, play with manipulative learning toys. He recommended teachers use geometric shapes and crafts for teaching and advocated the use of ‘gifts’ or playthings in the form of geometric shapes to promote learning and occupations or activities. Froebel also incorporated learning through expression, systematized play and social imitation. The first kindergarten opened in Germany in 1837; the first in the US was opened by Margarethe Schurz to a German speaking community in Wisconsin in 1856. In 1860, Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English speaking kindergarten in Boston. Over time, kindergarten was introduced into public schools with the changed purpose of providing an early academic foundation for 5 and 6-year old children preparing for 1st grade.
This set of blocks is the third “gift” in the series manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company. Originally blocks were contained in this small, square cherry wood box with a removable sliding top and a faded tan label on one side. This box however is missing all its wood blocks.
Milton Bradley Company was established in 1860 by Milton Bradley (1836-1911). A mechanical draughtsman and patent agent interested in lithography, board games and puzzles, Milton Bradley became interested in the kindergarten movement after he attended a lecture by Elizabeth Peabody in 1869. Elizabeth and her sister Mary, who was by then the widow of educator Horace Mann, were devoted to promoting Froebel’s philosophy of creative play for pre-school children and helped spread of the Kindergarten Movement to America’s cities. These “gift boxes” are examples of school equipment made by Milton Bradley sometime between 1880 to 1900 for use in kindergartens. Milton Bradley produced educational materials free of charge for the kindergartens in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and was committed to developing kindergarten educational materials such as these gifts, colored papers and paints.
The concept of Kindergarten was developed in Germany by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), a student of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Froebel’s German kindergartens encouraged children to enjoy natural studies, music, stories, play with manipulative learning toys. He recommended teachers use geometric shapes and crafts for teaching and advocated the use of ‘gifts’ or playthings in the form of geometric shapes to promote learning and occupations or activities. Froebel also incorporated learning through expression, systematized play and social imitation. The first kindergarten opened in Germany in 1837; the first in the US was opened by Margarethe Schurz to a German speaking community in Wisconsin in 1856. In 1860, Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English speaking kindergarten in Boston. Over time, kindergarten was introduced into public schools with the changed purpose of providing an early academic foundation for 5 and 6-year old children preparing for 1st grade.
This set of blocks is the third “gift” in the series manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company. The blocks are in a small, square varnished cherry wood box with a removable sliding top and a faded red label on one side. The box contains a full set of eight cube-shaped blocks.
Milton Bradley Company was established in 1860 by Milton Bradley (1836-1911). A mechanical draughtsman and patent agent interested in lithography, board games and puzzles, Milton Bradley became interested in the kindergarten movement after he attended a lecture by Elizabeth Peabody in 1869. Elizabeth and her sister Mary, who was by then the widow of educator Horace Mann, were devoted to promoting Froebel’s philosophy of creative play for pre-school children and helped spread of the Kindergarten Movement to America’s cities. These “gift boxes” are examples of school equipment made by Milton Bradley sometime between 1880 to 1900 for use in kindergartens. Milton Bradley produced educational materials free of charge for the kindergartens in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and was committed to developing kindergarten educational materials such as these gifts, colored papers and paints.
Kindergarten as a concept was developed in Germany by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), a student of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Froebel’s German kindergartens encouraged children to enjoy natural s udies, music, stories, play with manipulative learning toys. He recommended teachers use geometric shapes and crafts for teaching and advocated the use of ‘gifts’ or playthings in the form of geometric shapes to promote learning and occupations or activities. Froebel also incorporated learning through expression, systematized play and social imitation. The first kindergarten opened in Germany in 1837; the first in the US was opened by Margarethe Schurz to a German speaking community in Wisconsin in 1856. In 1860, Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English speaking kindergarten in Boston. Over time, kindergarten was introduced into public schools with the changed purpose of providing an early academic foundation for 5 and 6-year old children preparing for 1st grade.
This set of blocks is the fourth “gift” in the series manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company. The blocks are in a small, square brown wooden box with a removable sliding top and a slightly faded dark blue label on one side. The box contains three rectangular wooden blocks.
Milton Bradley Company was established in 1860 by Milton Bradley (1836-1911). A mechanical draughtsman and patent agent interested in lithography, board games and puzzles, Milton Bradley became interested in the kindergarten movement after he attended a lecture by Elizabeth Peabody in 1869. Elizabeth and her sister Mary, who was by then the widow of educator Horace Mann, were devoted to promoting Froebel’s philosophy of creative play for pre-school children and helped spread of the Kindergarten Movement to America’s cities. These “gift boxes” are examples of school equipment made by Milton Bradley sometime between 1880 to 1900 for use in kindergartens. Milton Bradley produced educational materials free of charge for the kindergartens in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and was committed to developing kindergarten educational materials such as these gifts, colored papers and paints.
Kindergarten as a concept was developed in Germany by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), a student of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Froebel’s German kindergartens encouraged children to enjoy natural studies, music, stories, play with manipulative learning toys. He recommended teachers use geometric shapes and crafts for teaching and advocated the use of ‘gifts’ or playthings in the form of geometric shapes to promote learning and occupations or activities. Froebel also incorporated learning through expression, systematized play and social imitation. The first kindergarten opened in Germany in 1837; the first in the US was opened by Margarethe Schurz to a German speaking community in Wisconsin in 1856. In 1860, Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English speaking kindergarten in Boston. Over time, kindergarten was introduced into public schools with the changed purpose of providing an early academic foundation for 5 and 6-year old children preparing for 1st grade.
This set of blocks is the third “gift” in the series manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company. The blocks are in a small, square brown wooden box with a removable sliding top and a faded red label on one side. The box contains a full set of eight cube-shaped blocks.
Milton Bradley Company was established by Milton Bradley (1836-1911) in 1860. A mechanical draughtsman and patent agent interested in lithography, board games and puzzles, Milton Bradley became interested in the kindergarten movement after he attended a lecture by Elizabeth Peabody in 1869. Elizabeth and her sister Mary, who was by then the widow of educator Horace Mann, were devoted to promoting Froebel’s philosophy of creative play for pre-school children and helped spread of the Kindergarten Movement to America’s cities. These “gift boxes” are examples of school equipment made by Milton Bradley sometime between 1880 to 1900 for use in kindergartens. Milton Bradley produced educational materials free of charge for the kindergartens in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and was committed to developing kindergarten educational materials such as these gifts, colored papers and paints.
The concept of Kindergarten was developed in Germany by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), a student of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Froebel’s German kindergartens encouraged children to enjoy natural studies, music, stories, play with manipulative learning toys. He recommended teachers use geometric shapes and crafts for teaching and advocated the use of ‘gifts’ or playthings in the form of geometric shapes to promote learning and occupations or activities. Froebel also incorporated learning through expression, systematized play and social imitation. The first kindergarten opened in Germany in 1837; the first in the US was opened by Margarethe Schurz to a German speaking community in Wisconsin in 1856. In 1860, Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English speaking kindergarten in Boston. Over time, kindergarten was introduced into public schools with the changed purpose of providing an early academic foundation for 5 and 6-year old children preparing for 1st grade.
This cherry wood box at one time contained the fourth “gift” in the series manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company. The container is a small, square varnished cherry wood box with a removable sliding top and a slightly faded dark blue label on one side. This box however is missing all its wood blocks. They may have been put away after play in the enlarged Gift 6 box which appears to have more than it should of this size blocks.
Milton Bradley Company was established in 1860 by Milton Bradley (1836-1911). A mechanical draughtsman and patent agent interested in lithography, board games and puzzles, Milton Bradley became interested in the kindergarten movement after he attended a lecture by Elizabeth Peabody in 1869. Elizabeth and her sister Mary, who was by then the widow of educator Horace Mann, were devoted to promoting Froebel’s philosophy of creative play for pre-school children and helped spread of the Kindergarten Movement to America’s cities. These “gift boxes” are examples of school equipment made by Milton Bradley sometime between 1880 to 1900 for use in kindergartens. Milton Bradley produced educational materials free of charge for the kindergartens in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and was committed to developing kindergarten educational materials such as these gifts, colored papers and paints.
This patent model is comprised of two hinged folding blackboards on pole with metal hinges and attachments on top to hold them in place. There is a handle on the bottom and has white knobs on the wooden side of each blackboard which all folds in and stacks together. Patent no. 135019 was issued 1/21/1873 to retired Brevet Brigadier General Thomas Jones Thorp. Martin Taylor of Buffalo, NY. is mentioned in the patent application as having worked with Thorp on the innovations, but he did not sign the form nor the drawing, and Thorp is also the only one listed on the original patent tag. The patent drawing depicts four adjustable, compact blackboards on a pole that intersects like an X. Thorp claimed that the compact blackboard was designed to be used to record lessons that could be retained for weeks or months while the wall affixed blackboard could be used for daily lessons.
Thomas Jones Thorp was born May 26, 1837, in Granger, New York and died July 26, 1915, in Corvallis, Oregon. He was the son of Bethiah Jones Thorp and Montgomery Thorp and enrolled in the progressive co-ed Alfred Academy 1851-1854 according to an article from the Alfred New York Sun. His name is listed as matriculated in the Alfred University General Catalogue for 1853-1854, the name being changed in 1857 from academy to university. Thorp’s name is also mentioned in the 1861 Harvard University catalogue (which is an early form of yearbook)- perhaps he was taking classes there for a semester, but he was at Union College when the Civil War broke out and received his degree on the field from Union College. In September 1862, he married Mandana Coleman Major, who entertained and nursed the troops during the Civil War. During the Civil War he enlisted in the 85th New York Regiment and served with distinction. He was shot twice, once at Fair Oaks and again at Malvern Hill. As a colonel, he spent some time at Camp Oglethorpe, a Confederate prison for officers near Macon, Georgia but after some provocative speeches he was transferred to Columbia, South Carolina he escaped. After four years, he was honorably discharged. His military exploits leading to his final promotion as Brevet Brigadier General seem to have been well documented. After the military, Thomas Jones Thorp moved his family to a homestead in Selma/Wexford in Northern Michigan to try his hand at farming and to assist his father according to the 1870 census. He returned there for the 1880 census after living in Buffalo, NY. He is listed in numerous city directories. Thorp was a schoolteacher in 1872, promoted in 1873 to principal for Public School #36 Cottage Park in Buffalo, New York under the noted superintendent Dr Thomas Lothrop, and mentioned in professional education journals as well as local Buffalo newspapers of the period. During this period he developed the bulletin board. After working for 5 years for Buffalo city schools he was hired by A. S. Barnes Publishing Company of New York to sell schoolbooks in the Midwest and far west.
He returned his family for Wexford in 1879 and tried his hand in politics as clerk, registrar, speaker, and a member of the Republican Party. After being defeated for a third term as a county clerk and registrar he tried sheep ranching in Flagstaff, Arizona in the late 1880’s and moved to Chicago in the early 1990s before settling in Oregon in 1893. His other patents include a fence tightener from 1891 (patent 464,207) and a metal spoked wheel in 1909 (patent 912758). He was very involved with the education community while his 2 surviving children, Bessie Maybelle (1877-1941) and Stephen Montgomery (1883-1932) were attending school and Pacific University, Oregon. Apparently he enjoyed being in school administration so much that when he moved to Oregon he served as a principal at the schools of Forest Grove, Woodlawn, Portland, and supposedly a few others.
Little is known of Taylor who could have been the bookseller.
Schools often used dictionaries and spellers like this one in their efforts to assimilate immigrant students. These textbooks also standardized American-style spelling and pronunciation for all students, teaching children English, regardless of their parents’ language.
In 1783, Noah Webster published A Grammatical Institute of the English Language. It was a concise dictionary for adults and a precursor to the 1828/1829 compendium, An American Dictionary of the English Language. Webster modeled his spellers and dictionaries after English imports, but included American words, definitions, and pronunciations. He believed that Americanizing spelling, grammar, and pronunciation would unify the new nation.
Webster revised the first speller in 1787 under the title of The American Spelling Book and included tables of pronunciations, common abbreviations, and reading lessons for schools at the back of the book. Webster’s son, William, adapted this sequel for school children in 1844, shortly after his father's death. This edition was used by the majority of literate Americans well into the mid-20th century.
William Webster officially changed the name of the speller to Webster's Elementary Spelling Book, but the edition became known as the Blue-back speller, named for the color of the original cover. This speller became the authority in classrooms across the nation and was used with primers and readers as the core for language arts programs to teach children to read, as the authority for spelling bees, and until recently was the primary tool for immigrants learning the English language. Because it was so popular in schools and homes, old copies were easy to obtain. With the Bible, it was the preferred book of enslaved people and former enslaved people for teaching themselves to read. Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. DuBois all made note of using and favoring their Webster “Blue-backs.”
This copy was used prior to the Civil War and has pencil inscriptions on the inside front cover "Essex Central School" and on flyleaf, "Albion Burnham Dec 1855" and "Emily Allen has got the Mitton." The inside back cover reads: "Olive Rowe broke her toe" and on the outside front cover in ink: "Albion Burnham / Dec 31st/1855." The first and last 2 cover pages contained testimonials concerning using this dictionary in schools. The publisher's and editor's prefaces are evidence of how grammar and language arts were taught during the 19th Century in American schools. The rear cover contains advertisements of other educational text available from the publisher.
Original patent specifications for patent no. 117467, a combination style school desk and seat, designed by James Russell of Plymouth, Indiana. The printed page of the specifications leaves off the 2nd "l" in the patentee's last name, which is clearly evident on the first page and with his signature.
James Russell of Plymouth, IN, received U.S. Patent No. 117467 on July 25, 1871, for his "improved school desk". This model has two separate seats that fold up, with a backrest connected like a bench. There are two attached desks behind the back rest that both have lids that can lift up. The wooden bench seat and desk are made of a dark wood with metal hinges. The desktop is divided to make a pair. The bench on the desk front is split in the same manner as the desktop. There is storage underneath both desks for books. The seats fold up individually. The model and original original patent tags are part of a separate museum acquistion- 1983.0508.07.
Charles H. Loomis of New Philadelphia, Ohio received a U.S. patent for improvements in adjusting the desk height. Patent no.104,472 was issued on June 21, 1870.
This desk model made of wood and metal and painted red with a place for an inkwell and has a drawer with two handles and a lock. The base is a flat metal piece with four holes presumably to bolt the desk to the floor or to a classroom row rail.
We are not aware of any additional information about the inventor/patentee.
To broaden their political community, Americans worked to make formal education, once the province of elite families, available to a wider population. In Virginia, Thomas Jefferson proposed a statewide system of public schooling to make sure that talented children of poor parents might contribute as citizens of the Commonwealth. In other states, proponents of a participating citizenry also promoted public schooling as essential to the nation. This plan for a school to serve the families of Braintree, Massachusetts, was drawn up in 1810. The plan shows a drawing, including dimensions, and materials required for the front and interior of the school. Also included is a proposal written and signed by Obadiah Thayer, Gideon Thayer, and Asa or Ezra Penniman to employ a building company. The building was estimated to cost $228.00.
The men mentioned were probably:
1. Obadiah Allen Thayer, born Feb 23,1772 in Braintree, the son of Eunice Allen and Noah Thayer. He married an Abigail the daughter of Rachel (Lawrence) and Thaddeus Adams in November 1794. By the time of this drawing in 1810, they had eight children. Abigail Thayer died in 1816 and Obediah Allen Thayer died in 1857.
2. Gideon Thayer (3), son of Susanna and Gideon Thayer (2), born August 21, 1763 in Braintree, and died April 23, 1841. He was a Revolutionary War soldier and father of four.
3 & 4.There were three Ezra Pennimans in Braintree during this period, but the most likely person associated with this school plan was Ezra Penniman, born 1765 in Braintree, the son of Eunice Thayer and Ezra Penniman (1739-1832) and the brother of Asa Penniman, born August 26, 1774, who died April 25, 1836 in Braintree.
Diorama depicting the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, based on a painting by Edmund Havel, 1873. Made of wood and paper applied to plexiglass box with electrical low-voltage lights affixed to the side panels. Seven female figures and four male figures made of porcelain with cotton or synthetic lower torso. The diorama includes a grand piano and bench, two chairs, and a settee, all in miniature, made from painted wood and fabric. The women's clothing is made from silk taffeta and the men's clothing from wool. Made by Diedra Bell, Washington, D.C., assisted by Stephney Keyser, Falls Church, Virginia, 1994-1998.
From the nation’s beginning, Americans have grappled with who gets educated and who pays for education. Both public and private schools have relied on a combination of public and private funding. Disparities in wealth and political influence have affected Americans’ ability to support schools. As a result, educational philanthropy has reflected inequalities in the American economy and society. Giving through contributions of time and money have both created opportunities for students and increased inequalities among them.
Barred from schools for white children due to racist practices, African Americans in the late 1800s established and supported a wide variety of educational institutions of their own. In the 1870s the Fisk University Jubilee Singers began touring the United States and Europe to raise money for the African American school. Familiarizing white audiences with black spirituals, the group also advocated for African American rights and independence.
Many resisted assimilation efforts made by public education by sending their children to private schools to maintain their religious beliefs, cultural heritage, and language. Jewish day schools and more formal yeshivas provided faith-based lessons, Judaic rituals, and Hebrew language instruction for students in the Jewish community.
Rebekah J. Kohn’s Pupils Workbook for The First Lesson, written in Hebrew, contained illustrations, important lessons about the Jewish religion, and history. Information was presented in a format that preserved language and cultural traditions for daily usage. The workbook was published in 1954 by the United Synagogue Commission on Jewish Education. It was used by students at Prozdor High School at Hebrew College, outside Boston, Massachusetts.
This hand drawn map, a cartography school assignment, was created Marianne S. Fernald who signed the work M.A.S. Fernald/1831. It depicts the eastern and western hemispheres as perceived at the time. Included are geographic labels, including continents, regions, islands, and bodies of water. The bottom reads, Charlestown, Female Publick School..
Marianne S. Fernald (1816-1871), the daughter of William and Sarah Fernald, would have been a 14 year old student at the time she created this map as a student of the Charlestown Female Seminary.
The Charlestown Female Seminary was opened in 1830 at 30 Union Street and founded by 2 Baptist pastors, Dr. William Collier and Dr. Henry Jackson. For the citizens of Charlestown, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Boston, Massachusetts, this was the second school for girls. the first was Mount Benedict Academy, which was an Ursuline convent and finishing school. Both were tragically burned to the ground by a Nativist mob in 1834.
By May 9, 1831, the Charlestown Female Seminary was being run by Martha Whiting, one of the pioneers in female education. In her memoirs she states that there were about 40 pupils and 4 teachers; that later increased to 160 students.To prepare young ladies for "republican motherhood" or as teachers, they outfited the school with a telescope, a microscope with about 400 objects, and a set of transparent maps. They taught music, drawing, painting, penmanship, projection of maps, bookkeeping, English, American and ancient history, political economy, Latin and of course the scriptures. There were also special lectures of physiology and chemistry and philosophy. While the trustees were all men, Miss Whiting was appointed the first headmistress or Governess when she came from a school in Hingham, Ma She later became Director until her death in 1853.
Private female seminaries and academies catering to girls from wealthy and upper middle class families were common in the East and in urban areas of the United States during the first half of the 19th Century.
One of the ways in which students assimilate language is through spellers and dictionaries. These textbooks helped standardize spelling and pronunciation for all students and in the case of the Websters it was essential for teaching children American-style English, regardless of their parents’ language.
Noah Webster published his first "speller" in 1783. A Grammatical Institute of the English Language was a concise dictionary for adults that was a precursor to the large compendium of 1828/1829 known as An American Dictionary of the English Language. Webster modeled his spellers after English imports, but included American words and pronunciations. He wrote that unification of spelling, grammar, and pronunciation would help unify the new nation. Noah Webster revised the first speller in 1787 under the title of The American Spelling Book and it included tables of pronunciations, common abbreviations, and reading lessons for schools at the back of the book.
Noah’s son William adapted this sequel for school children in 1844, shortly after his father's death. William had assisted his father with his later works and it is his editions that were used by the majority of literate Americans through to the mid-20th century. William Webster officially changed the name to Webster's Elementary Spelling Book but the edition became known as the "Blue-Back Speller" and was a huge success. It became the authority in classrooms across the nation and was used with primers and readers as the core for language arts programs. It was used to teach children to read, as the authority for spelling bees, and until recently was the primary tool for immigrants learning the English language. Because it was so popular in school and home, old copies were easy to obtain, so it was also used by many slaves and former slaves to teach themselves to read before and after the Civil War. Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. DuBois made note of using Webster’s.
This copy was published in 1908 by the American Book Company and has the blue cover that provided its popular nickname. While a later edition than others in the collection, it is indicative of the popularity of the speller that was used well into the 20th Century.
An educational dice game, Kubaot is similar to Hebrew Mini Scrabble. It consists of a cylindrical tube containing a set of six colored die, marked with a Hebrew letter, a corresponding number on each die face and an instruction page in Hebrew. Players take turns shaking the cylinder and throwing the die to spell as many words as possible with the Hebrew letters depicted on the die. The player who gains the most points wins the game. Manipulative educational games are particularly useful teaching devices for young children. This game would assist with building vocabulary words in Hebrew and reinforce simple addition. This game was manufactured in the 1950's though there were doubtless earlier versions.
This slate frame was patented by Daniel W. Niles on January 26, 1869. It was issued patent number 86,177. The slate is surrounded by educational designs the student could copy. The didactic portion of the slate frame is lithographed with days of the week and months of the year, numbers 1 through 20 and the Roman numeral equivalents, words that begin with an example in the alphabet, shapes for copying, and images in the corners such as the patriotic depictions of the Washington Elm and Mt. Vernon. It included red fabric remnants referred in the patent specifications as "a channel or groove...for wood, paper or material or wood to protect both the edge of the frame and the desk or table where the slate is placed." Fabric or yarn was commonly applied at an extra cost as a feature to strive for a quieter or "noiseless" classroom but also helped to protect the corner joints of the frames. Slates were used in classrooms from the colonial period through the early 20th Century when paper and pen became more affordable. Country school classrooms continued to use slates for repetitive math activities until the mid-20th century for the elementary grades, saving use of paper for examinations and longer language arts assignments. More recently there has been an introduction of electronic slates for math assignments or the use of tablets in classrooms.
The Sesame Street Learning Kit contains 5 hardbound books, 2 posters, a 69 page parent instruction booklet, 10 parent/teachers guides on newsprint and cards that indicate the corresponding program number in the television series, and a vinyl record called "The Sesame Street Record." This kit is stored in its original 1970 cardboard box with flip-up lid and is covered with colorful illustrations of children and adults from the Sesame Street children’s show. The hardbound books are: The Sesame Street Book of Letters, The Sesame Street Book of Numbers, The Sesame Street Book of People and Things, The Sesame Street Book of Puzzles, The Sesame Street Book of Shapes.
Sesame Street premiered in 1969 intent on teaching basic reading, math, and life skills to young of-color and low-income viewers who might not otherwise attend preschool. But its innovative approach—one focused on both “educational merit and entertainment appeal”—drew young viewers of every background. Sesame Street licensed a host of products designed to both delight kids and offer parents teaching tools—crafted in consultation with the same educators, child development specialists, and psychologists who helped create the show. The kit was marketed to middle income parents and schools to be used with three to six years old, though it was soon discovered that Sesame Street products, like the programming, appealed to children as young as one and as old as eight. It is notable that this kit was produced in English only, while earlier, less commercial materials were bilingual in English and Spanish.
The learning kit was conceived through a facilitated focus groups with parents, teachers, child psychologists, and administrators for educational programming (i.e. Head Start, U.S. Department of Education…). While the initial programing had seed money from Carnegie Corporation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Ford Foundation, and the Markel Foundation, the various parts of this kit were developed by professional writers, artists, and performers involved with creating the television series as part of the Children’s Television Workshop on National Education Television.
The manufacturer of the kit and its contents (except for the record) is the publishing conglomerate Time, Incorporated. Time, Inc. was founded by young Henry Luce and Briton Haddon in 1922, originally as a weekly news magazine for the US. As Time Magazine grew, the company branched out internationally. In 1990, it merged with Warner Communications into the media conglomerate, Time Warner. The Time assets have since been acquired by other companies.
The vinyl record was produced by Columbia Broadcasting Records and includes 19 songs introduced through the programming. Columbia Records was founded in 1889 as the Columbia Phonograph Company by Edward D. Easton as part of a break-up from Edison. They began selling disc records in 1901 and were still producing vinyl record albums under the label Columbia Records in the 1970s when this album was produced. The initial Sesame Street and book was the last album under the 4-digit record catalog system with the highest catalog number assigned as CS-1069 in August 1970. This record produced for the kit is in stereo with the original cast and has the newer 5-digit catalog number of CR 21530. Columbia Records was later purchased by Sony Corporation.
The kit is an early example of tying in educational programming through television to products marketed for extended learning at home and in school. The success of Sesame Street changed the face of children’s television and had a transformative influence on early childhood education in schools and at home.