Publisher's Synopsis
Beecher (1800-78) was an American educator known for her forthright opinions on female education, and the sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin.". In 1823 she opened the Hartford Female Seminary, a private girls' school, where she herself taught until 1832, the year she moved with her father to Cincinatti where she began her campaign for more schools and teachers in the frontier. She opened another school but was forced to discontinue this venture due to ill health, and went on to devote herself to the development of a plan for the physical, social, intellectual and moral education of women to be promoted through a national board. After returning East she set up the Ladies Society for Promoting Education in the West, and later founded the American Women's Education Association whose goal was to recruit and train teachers for frontier schools. Despite advocating the education of women, Beecher was an anti-suffragist, believing women could best influence society as mothers and teachers, and not wishing them to be corrupted by the evils of politics. Beecher was the author of many works, primarily dealing with matters relating to the education of women, and this collection of instructive letters was first published in 1842.
