Anne Marie Fox Felt papers

Collection

Identifier: MS 0142

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Anne Marie Fox Felt papers (1874-1967) contain histories, research notes, correspondence, news articles, and scrapbooks documenting the development of kindergartens and kindergarten organizations in the late nineteenth century and the activities and expansion of the Utah State Association for Childhood Education (ACE) through the first half of the twentieth century. Also included are biographical materials regarding women associated with Utah kindergartens; the minutes, letters, and research notes of ACE branches; and other documents, such as programs and manuals.

Throughout her life, Marie Fox Felt involved herself in organizations and activities whose purposes lay in benefitting children. She was instrumental in establishing the Kiwanis-Felt Boys and Girls Clubs. As a teacher, author, and community figure, her contribution to the welfare of children in Utah has been significant. Her principal involvement was in the kindergarten movement in Utah, and more specifically, the ACE of which she served as president for three terms. This organization, established in Utah in 1937, grew out of previous kindergartens and kindergarten organizations. It was through the combined efforts of the early pioneers, the eventual support of the State Legislature, and the later leadership of women like Marie Fox Felt that Kindergartens in Utah became firmly established.

Since the opening of the first kindergarten in Utah by Camilla C. Cobb in 1874, the kindergarten movement has had a rich and interesting history. Leaders of the movement recognized this and many became involved in writing short histories of what they remembered of the early kindergartens and their involvement in them. In the 1940s, the ACE formed a committee whose function was to write a history of the kindergarten movement in Utah. As the instigator of this idea, Marie Fox Felt later continued this work as her thesis for her Master of Arts degree in Education. Although the thesis was not completed, she did write a partial history dealing with the pioneering period of the kindergarten movement and collected a great deal of research material from 1874 through the 1960s. These materials relating to the people and organizations of kindergartens in Utah comprise the bulk of the Anne Marie Fox Felt papers.

The collection contains original histories, research notes, correspondence, newspaper articles, and scrapbooks. The material is organized chronologically beginning with the first independent kindergartens and the various kindergarten organizations of the late nineteenth century. The collection follows the activities and expansion of the ACE through the first half of this century and although the ACE had several names prior to 1937, the materials relate to the growth of one organization.

Also included are biographical materials of several women associated with Utah kindergartens, the minutes, letters, and research notes of the branches of the ACE, and original documents of the movement such as programs and manuals.

The majority of the correspondence has been organized chronologically in one group, except where it is related to some other specific subject in the collection. For example, the correspondence of the Camilla C. Cobb branch of the ACE is to be found in those folders dealing with branch material rather than in general correspondence.

Although the collection is complete in many areas, there are gaps in the continuity of the kindergarten's history, especially after World War II. This is due primarily to the advanced age of many of the women who had been leaders in the 1930s and 1940s, and for this reason there is almost no material from the 1950s and very little of the 1960s.

As well as research materials and original documents, the collection contain Mrs. Felt's thesis proposal and her own history of the early kindergarten years, "History of Kindergartens in Utah During the Pioneering Period, 1874-1898." In addition, there is also material relating to the establishment of the Kiwanis-Felt Boys and Girls Clubs and other materials related to schools and kindergartens.

Dates

1874-1967

Creator

Felt, Marie Fox (Anne Marie), 1900-1974 (Person)

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Biographical Sketch

Born on 24 July 1900, the daughter of Jessie M. Fox and Rena Neve Fox, Anne Marie Fox Felt (1900-1974) spent her life in Salt Lake City working in the field of education. She attended public schools in Salt Lake, graduated from LDS High School, and went on to graduate from the University of Utah as a kindergarten and primary teacher. She taught in public schools from 1919 to 1931 and served as president of the State Kindergarten-Primary Association from 1927 to 1931. She was later to serve for three terms as president of the National Association for Childhood Education, during which time the organization joined the international Association for Childhood Education (ACE).

In addition to her work in public education, Mrs. Felt was associated with religious education as well. She served as director of kindergarten in the Granite and Grant Stakes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was appointed as a member of the General Board of the Deseret Sunday School Union in 1930. In addition she wrote and co-authored several religious books for children: Life Lessons for Little Children, Sunday Morning in the Nursery, and Sacred Stories for Children.

Mrs. Felt was also the founder of the Kiwanis Felt Center in Salt Lake City, an activity center designed to provide recreation for the city's youth.

During the 1960s she began to write a history of kindergartens in Utah as a thesis for a M.A. degree in the Department of Education at the University of Utah. Although the thesis was never completed, her work provides a good, if partial, history of the pioneering period in the kindergarten movement in Utah.

Mrs. Felt was married in 1931 to Joseph H. Felt, a prominent Salt Lake businessman. She died in 1974.

Extent

3 Linear Feet (8 boxes)

Additional Description

Abstract

The Anne Marie Fox Felt papers (1874-1967) contains a history of the organization of the kindergarten movement in Utah from 1874, biographies of women involved in the Utah State Kindergarten Association, scrapbooks, proposal and rough draft of a thesis "History of Kindergarten Education in Utah" submitted for a Master of Arts degree at the U. of U., and information on the Kiwanis-Felt Boys and Girls Club.