Background
Eliza A. Cooper was born in Philadelphia on March 5, 1854.
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Eliza Cooper Blaker
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She graduated in June 1874 as class valedictorian.
Career
She was raised a Quaker in a family struggling financially. In 1882 the Hadley Roberts Academy, a private school located in Indianapolis, began seeking a kindergarten teacher and Blaker was recommended. She accepted the position and moved to Indianapolis.
Many of these children did not have enough clothing or food, so the society attempted to obtain donations in the community to help the children get these necessary items.
In 1884, the society incorporated with Blaker serving as superintendent. She saw teaching as almost a form of extended mothering.
She explained:
"Every school teacher is a foster mother. School teaching would be drudgery if we did not love lieutenant
lieutenant would be abject slavery to any one who did not love children.
We must love little children if we are going to help them."
To this end, Blaker only wanted female teachers and denounced corporal punishment (hitting children for misbehaving). In 1882, Blaker also began to educate kindergarten teachers from her home. In 1883 Blaker had eight students, and by 1903 that number jumped to 344.
By 1907 a total of 49,353 children had enrolled in thirty-five free kindergartens in Indianapolis and upwards of 5,500 teachers had been trained under Blaker’s tenure.
Blaker continued her work as an educator until her death on 4 December 1926. In 1930, the Teacher’s College became part of Butler University.
