SAMARA EDUCATION SERIES
Spring 2001
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Frank Lloyd Wright's Use of
Building Materials
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Frank Lloyd Wright's Original Materials
Wally Rogers
Interpreter
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Anna Wright and Froebel's Kindergarten
Spread out on 236 acres of lawns, paths and roads in western Philadelphia, America's Centennial Exposition in Fairmont Park attracted Anna Lloyd Wright, mother of Frank who was destined to become the world's greatest architect. Anna observed at the Exposition an exhibit with children and a teacher through a live demonstration of Kindergarten invented twenty-five years earlier by Froebel; the German crystallographer turned educator.
Upon her return home to Boston, the mother of the child who today is arguably the world's most renowned architect purchased a set of educational toys known at the time as Occupational Material for the Kindergarten, or simply Froebel Gifts. She also enrolled in a weekly training course where she learned to teach young Frank the use of the Gifts.
Froebel materials were available in kits for home use, such as stick laying, the 8th gift, produced and sold by E. Steiger & Company, New York City in 1877. This corresponds to the time Anna purchased sets of Froebel gifts from Milton Bradley Company upon her return from Philadelphia. Like the blocks of gifts 3 through 6, the sticks in this example are laid out by the students on grid-topped desks.
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The John Christian Family Memorial Trust, Inc. and LEARNING ASSOCIATES
This page was created on May 17, 2001
Latest revision on June 9, 2001
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