Literature Trail

Elizabeth Peabody and Mary Peabody Mann
The oldest daughter of Eliza and Nathaniel Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804-94), moved with her family to Salem when she was four years old. From the Peabodys' modest lodgings on Union Street near Salem's waterfront, Elizabeth was immediately drawn into a world of education and culture as she watched and then assisted her mother with teaching school. As Elizabeth grew older, she met young authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne who would later marry her younger sister, Sophia. By the time Elizabeth Peabody was 30, she had opened and run two of her own schools and worked at Bronson Alcott's Temple School in Boston where she became involved with the Transcendentalist movement and Unitarianism. Later, she opened the nation's first kindergarten on Boston's Beacon Hill.

Elizabeth Peabody's literary contributions include Reminiscences of Rev. William Ellery Channing, Record of a School (Bronson Alcott's school), and A Last Evening with Allston (the painter Washington Allston). She was among America's first female publishers, editing and publishing The Dial for many years, the journal of the Transcendentalists. She also published anti-slavery material and children's books by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and owned a famous bookstore in Boston on West Street where prominent literary and political figures held "Conversations" for women about important issues of the day.

Mary Peabody, the second of the three Peabody sisters, shared her sister Elizabeth's passion for education and writing. She married the man who is considered the father of American public education, Horace Mann, in 1843. After his early death in 1859, Mary Mann joined her sister Elizabeth's efforts to establish the kindergarten movement. Mann co-wrote with Elizabeth Peabody Moral Culture of Infancy and Kindergarten Guide, and was largely responsible for editing and publishing The Kindergarten Messenger, the movement's newspaper, from 1873-75. Mary Mann also published a biography of her late husband, a romance set in Cuba based on her stay there in the 1830s, and books on the plight of the Piute Indian tribe.

Homes of Elizabeth Peabody and Mary Peabody Mann
Address: Corner of Union and Essex Streets (closed to the public)
(The Peabody family moved here in 1808.)

Address: 53 Charter Street, Salem (closed to the public; the Peabody family moved here in 1835; the original doorway of this house is located at the back entrance of the Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, 134 Essex Street)

Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum
Address: 134 Essex Street, Salem
Website: www.pem.org
Hours: Call 978-745-9500 ext. 3053
Admission: Full day use: $15 (4-7 hours), Half day use: $10 (less than 4 hours), Seniors: $13/$18, Students: $11/$6, free to Museum members and Salem residents
(The Phillips Library is one of New Englan's most important and historic research libraries. It is a major resource for residents and scholars with interests in genealogy, maritime history, New England history or documents relating to the museum's vast and diverse collections. The Library holds the nation's largest collection of ship logs and journals as well as original court documents from the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. The Library is also home to three period rooms assembled by George Francis Dow, an American antiquarian for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.)

Salem Public Library
Address: 370 Essex Street, Salem
Phone: 978-744-0860
Website: www.noblenet.org/salem/
(The library contains works by Salem authors.)