Ellen Eddy Shaw

Ellen Eddy Shaw (April 1, 1874 – December 20, 1960) was an American writer, editor, and teacher on gardening and farming. From 1913 to 1945, she was Curator of Elementary Instruction at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Ellen Eddy Shaw
Ellen Eddy Shaw from a 1925 newspaper
BornApril 1, 1874
Woburn, Massachusetts
DiedDecember 20, 1960
Taunton, Massachusetts
Other namesEllen E. Shaw
OccupationWriter, editor, teacher

Early life
The cover of Ellen Eddy Shaw, Gardening and Farming (1911), with illustration by Léon-Victor Solon

Shaw was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Marcus Morton Shaw and Jane Elizabeth Cobb Shaw. She graduated from Woburn High School in 1893,[1] and earned a bachelor's degree from Tufts College and began medical school there, before she left to care for her ailing father, and began a teaching career instead.[2][3]

Career

Shaw taught school as a young woman, and supervised the nature study program at the Ethical Culture School in New York. She edited the children's page of Garden magazine, and the nature department of Country Life in America.[2] She wrote The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming (1911),[4] and Garden Flowers of Spring, Summer, and Autumn (1917, 3 volumes).[5] She was managing editor of the magazine of the National Plant, Flower, and Fruit Guild.[6] She was president of the American Nature Study Society in 1939 and 1940,[7] vice president of the National Council of Garden Teachers, and secretary of the School Garden Association of America.[8]

The Children's Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Shaw was Curator of Elementary Instruction at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from 1913 until she retired in 1945.[9][10][11] Under her guidance, over half a million city children were exposed to gardening and nature study. She gave nature programs, taught workshops, raised funds, held events,[12] and wrote about the garden's work in national publications. She lectured about her work in England in 1931,[13] and in Amsterdam in 1935.[14] She ran the BBG Children's Garden Club,[15] providing scaled-down garden tools and incentives (including scholarship money, medals and badges), for children who created rooftop gardens, raised vegetables, and identified flower specimens, among other achievements.[16] She encouraged older children to recruit younger children into gardening tasks, and rewarded acts of responsibility and cooperation.[17][18] "Children are my job," she explained in 1925, "and what I try to teach them here primarily is not gardening, but I strive to make of them better men and women I try to show them, through the solving of problems here, how to learn life's lessons."[19]

Personal life

Shaw died in 1960, aged 86 years, in Taunton, Massachusetts. Shaw's Children's Garden remains as an educational program of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.[17][20]

References
  1. "Woburn's Heroine; Ellen E. Shaw, a Plucky High School Girl, Refused the Diploma". Boston Post. June 29, 1893. p. 2. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  2. Leonard, John William (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. American Commonwealth Company. p. 736.
  3. Mayer, Rae (1937-02-28). "Child's Garden is Now an International Tribute to One Woman". Times Union. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Shaw, Ellen Eddy (1911). Gardening and Farming. Doubleday, Page.
  5. Shaw, Ellen Eddy (1917). Garden Flowers of Autumn. Doubleday, Page.
  6. Shaw, Ellen Eddy (January 1925). "New Year's Greeting". National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild Magazine. 14: 1.
  7. "Ellen Eddy Shaw". The American Nature Study Society News Letter: 3. July 1955 – via Internet Archive.
  8. Shaw, Ellen Eddy (April 1922). "Personal Activities". Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record. 11: 65.
  9. "Ellen Eddy Shaw Begins Her Newest Project". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1940-02-13. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Plans Day While Still in Bed; Plays Cards Each Morning". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1945-06-03. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Ellen E. Shaw Honored". The New York Times. June 15, 1945. p. 32 – via ProQuest.
  12. "Botanic Contest in House Plants". Times Union. 1927-10-02. p. 90. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Ellen Eddy Shaw Going to Lecture in London School". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1931-02-22. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. Cogan, Alice (1936-03-19). "These Amazing Women". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 21. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Shaw, Ellen Eddy (March 1938). "Children's Garden Work in a Botanical Garden". Recreation. 31: 691–692.
  16. Shaw, Ellen Eddy (June 12, 1918). "Fifth Annual Garden Exhibit for Brooklyn Boys and Girls". Leaflets. 6: 1–4.
  17. Peters, Elizabeth (March 16, 2014). "A Lasting Harvest: A Century of Children's Education at BBG". Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  18. "Finds Gardens Help Develop Young Minds". Daily News. 1940-02-08. p. 341. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. McCommon, Katharan (1925-06-28). "Miss Shaw Made Big Botanical Garden Become Useful as Well as Ornamental". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 96. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. Cacciola, Jessica (2011-07-05). "A Century Of Sowing Seeds". Edible Brooklyn. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
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