This work, though it describes Amos Bronson Alcott’s Temple School in Boston, was written by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody.  Peabody, Alcott’s assistant and secretary from 1834 to 1836, not only recorded a journal of the activities of the school but also taught Latin at the school.

The Temple School, unfortunately, was controversial in its time.  Through writing the book, Peabody hoped to persuade skeptics of the benefits offered by the school and of the soundness of the school’s educational philosophy.  Her commentary was based on the assumption that her readers, like her, would be reasonable in considering and evaluating new ideas on their merits and not on prejudice.  How admirably transcendental, and yet, unfortunately, how wrong!  (To tell the whole truth about one’s enterprise—quite the opposite of “marketing.”)

The text presented here is taken from all three published editions of 1835, 1836, and 1874.  Although the order of exposition is essentially that of the second edition (1836), the result is a combined edition in which very little material has been left out.  In deciding which text to include when more than one version of a passage existed, I have followed several guidelines.  First, I have favored the original punctuation unless a later edition brought what I considered substantial improvement.  I have retained the original technical words—“spiritualism” and “understanding,” for example—where Peabody later employed synonyms to avoid potential misunderstanding due to popular culture claiming these words for other developments.  I have also sought to include specific details, provided they were relevant, rather than general terms, where a choice existed.  I have kept Alcott’s original words when he was quoted.  Furthermore, I have restored most of Peabody’s impressions, comments, and judgments of Alcott, which she excised in later editions.

In addition, I have corrected a few errors in the dates.  January 4, 1835 was a Sunday, not a Monday—there was no school that day.  Moreover, the entry from January 17, 1835 was misplaced; I have moved it to its proper location.