Harriet Merrill Johnson

Who is Harriet Merrill Johnson?

Harriet Merrill Johnson, graduated from the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital and began working as a district nurse at the Henry Street Settlement. While working as a district nurse, Johnson became interested in the needs of children. Along the side of Lucy Sprague Mitchell and Caroline Pratt, they formed the Bureau of Education Experiments in 1916. Their aim was to bring various specialists and researchers together in an experimental educational environment. Johnson was the founder and first director of the bureau's Nursery school, which was later named in her honor.

Harriet Johnson wrote many books:

Harriet Johnson Nursery School

The Harriet Johnson Nursery School opened in 1918 at the Bureau's new quarters in a series of houses on West 12th and West 13th Street. The staff included teachers, psychologists and researchers who worked to discover the environments in which children grew and learned to their full potential. The staff observed how children learned, and they began documenting the learning process in order to determine the environments and educational practices best suited to foster the growth and development of children.