Three unique albums of paper cutting, folding, and weaving, executed as samples of children's learning devices, recommended by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), known as the Froebel Gifts.
[ New York:]: [n.d., ca. 1910]. The samples included in these albums are executed with a remarkable level of skill, precision, and attention to aesthetics. The manuscript text explaining paper weaving patterns, plus the expertise on display in these albums, indicate that these were created by a teacher or a teacher-in-training. As a part of their training, aspiring kindergarten instructors were often expected to complete large-scale portfolio projects demonstrating their mastery of the Froebel Gifts and their ability to teach the concepts to students. We were unable to determine the exact meaning of “JHTS,” but the “TS” likely stands for “training school” or something similar. The students named in one volume may have been the young students in the model classroom at the training school, as teacher training institutions often had associated classrooms where the aspiring instructors were able to gain practical teaching experience. With nearly three hundred beautiful samples of paper cutting, weaving, and folding (Froebel Gifts thirteen, fourteen, and eighteen, respectively). Some weaving samples are in cloth, and some of the paper samples incorporate illustrations. With a couple leaves of manuscript text noting paper weaving patterns at various levels of difficulty. One paper-weaving sample spells out “JHTS Class of 1910,” and another sample spells out “Froebel” adjacent to a folded paper lighthouse. Includes a two-page spread of thirty-two paper-weaving samples labelled with students’ names. Slight staining to cloth and some minor tears to a few samples. Still a near-fine set of unusually attractive Froebel Gift albums. Contemporary straight-grained gray cloth. Three volumes, two sized 11 x 11 x 1 in. and one sized 9 x 9 x 1 in. [32]; [32]; [26] ff. Item #17464
Friedrich Froebel,the inventor of the kindergarten concept, developed his Gifts between about 1830 and 1850. These twenty activities, which varied in complexity, were intended for young children to preteens. Many of the Gifts could be fashioned through materials available at home or in any classroom, but publishers like the Milton Bradley Company also distributed the materials for the Gifts in kits for parents and teachers. Through the Gifts, educators were able to use the concept of “learning through play” to teach students abstract reasoning, problem-solving, artistry, and many more skills that would prepare them for a life of creativity and independent thinking.
Helen B. Dowd (1886 – 1975) was born in New York and lived in New Jersey. Gifts thirteen (paper-cutting), fourteen (paper-weaving), and eighteen (paper-folding), represent an increase in difficulty, as well as an increase in the aesthetic value of the finished products. Froebel valued beauty and artistry in learning, and the later Gifts encourage students to pay greater attention to color, design, and craft. These later Gifts have been particularly influential to figures like Frank Lloyd Wright and Kandinsky, as well as book artists like Barbara Hodgson and Claudia Cohen.
Price: $2,500.00