by Dawn Roberts (1982)

Eliza Ann Cooper Blaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1854. She received her normal school training there. She became interested in Friedrich Froebel's educational philosophies and was trained in his kindergarten methods. Shortly thereafter, the Hadley Roberts Academy invited the twenty-eight-year-old teacher to organize a kindergarten in Indianapolis. Thus began Mrs. Blaker's forty-four continuous years of service to children's education.

The kindergarten flourished and grew from three groups in 1884 to twenty-three classes in 1900. Not only were children from poor neighborhoods educated, but also their older sisters and mothers were instructed in cleanliness, personal hygiene, and housekeeping. As kindergarten attendance grew, the need for more competent teachers caused Mrs. Blaker to open a teacher training school in her home. She taught her students that, next to motherhood, teaching is the greatest profession.

Mrs. Blaker was one of the first persons in the state to teach a naturalistic, behavioristic psychology. Her belief was that the "kindergarten is a miniature world, in which the little one is happy, is harmoniously developed, and learns to think and act as a reasonable being endowed with a high destiny" ... and in which their recreation was used as a learning tool. Mrs. Blaker pioneered in the development of directed playground activities in Indianapolis. Through her influence as Superintendent of Kindergartens and President of the Training School, she was able to start kindergartens in at least 12 cities around Indiana. She believed in an equal education for all; therefore, race, color, or creed could not bar anyone from admittance to her school. No one was ever turned away. A special effort was made after World War I to provide immigrant children with a kindergarten education.

Among Mrs. Blaker's other services to education were memberships on the Education Committee of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and Secretary-Treasurer of the Kindergarten Department of the National Education Association. Her accomplishments in these positions include establishing mother's meetings, parent-teacher meetings, and helping organize the first community social centers with the boys' and girls' clubs. She was one of the founders and President of the city's Council of Women, chairing the Women's Committee for the Relief of Flood Sufferers in 1913. Hanover College bestowed an honorary degree of Doctor of Law "on behalf of the childhood of Indiana" upon Mrs. Blaker.

Mrs. Blaker exercised great influence in Indiana and was an effective lobbyist for her causes. It has been said that "she probably exercised a greater influence and molded more lives in Indianapolis than any other person who has lived in the community. She has been even more to Indianapolis than Jane Addams has been to Chicago." She died on December 6, 1926, but there were many of her students to carry on her work. "Mrs. Blaker was a wise woman of vision, courage, and industry, and although in her life and work she was given much honor, she preferred to be known as a kindergartener, for her heart was in the work for and with little children." (Emma Colbert) The institution Mrs. Blaker started in her home was the pioneer Normal School in Indiana for the teaching of Domestic Science and Manual Arts. It was also one of the first to introduce the study of tests, measurements, and visual instruction. It was fully accredited by the Indiana State Board of Education in 1907. During the first forty-eight years, the Normal School was housed in twenty-two different places. The first Red Cross War kitchen in the United States was opened in the Domestic Science kitchen of the Teachers College. In 1929, the Teachers College merged with the Department of Education of Butler University where it became the College of Education which still thrives today.

The Eliza Blaker Room opened at Butler University’s Jordan Hall in 1943 by members of the Eliza Blaker Club (the organization was organized in 1930). In 1978, the Eliza Blaker Room moved to Atherton Union, and in 1991, the room reopened in Irwin Library. Today, the remnants of the room and the Eliza Blaker Teachers College of Indianapolis Collection are located with the Department of Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives at Butler University Libraries.

For more information on the Eliza Blaker Memorial Room and the Eliza Blaker Club, please see the Processing Information Note under the Additional Information section.