The Murray Book Collection
One of the collections absorbed into Brunel University Archives from its constituent colleges is the
E.R.Murray Memorial Library. This article will give a short biography of Miss Murray and describe the
library created in her memory.
E.R.Murray
Elsie Riach Murray was a Scot, born in Edinburgh in 1861. In 1893, at the age of 33, much older than
the majority of students, she became a student at Maria Grey College. She had not studied the work
of Friedrich Froebel before that time but once at College ‘simply absorbed his writings’ 1. After her
training she was head of the preparatory department at Chiswick High School for three years but
returned to Maria Grey to take up the post of head of Kindergarten in 1898. She was to remain in post
until retirement in 1926, becoming Vice-Principal in 1914, and establishing the College as a centre of
the Froebelian movement. She was an inspirational teacher, treating students with courtesy and
respect and children with infinite patience. A student, Janet Payne, wrote that she and her fellow
students went to Murray’s lectures ‘as much for our own pleasure and profit as for our study of
methods’.
2
Those methods included Kindergarten birthday parties for Dorothy, an ancient doll now
residing in the University Archive.
The early days of the Kindergarten movement had seen the adoption of the teachings of Friedrich
Froebel and these were followed on orthodox lines by teachers of his method. These included
Elenore Heerwart who managed the kindergarten at Stockwell College, a college of the British and
Foreign School Society, the records of which are also held in the Brunel Archive. Froebel recognised
the importance of play and activity in learning and he designed educational play materials which
included building blocks and pattern weaving. Fluent in German, Murray was able to reinterpret
Froebel’s teachings. Realising that Froebel had meant his methods as applications and examples of
his principles and not as law to be followed without deviation she substituted a more liberal
interpretation. An example is given by H. Brown Smith in her contribution to the obituaries in the
College Magazine of 1933: ‘when autumn leaves suggested to her the story of King Midas and the
bulb became the Ugly Duckling’.
1
3
Murray’s teaching emphasised child development alongside the
Woods, Alice, In memoriam, Maria Grey College Magazine, January 1933
Payne, Janet E., obituary, ibid
3
Smith, H.Brown, Miss Murray’s work in public service, ibid
2
direct study of Frobelian texts and, as a result, rejected the more rigid adoption of method and
apparatus in favour of observation, understanding and working with children. She wrote of these
ideas in a series of articles for the journal Child life. These articles, and in particular her series What
to teach for the next three months, were eagerly awaited by students and teachers alike.
Murray wrote of her understanding of Froebel’s writings in a number of books that became classic
texts in the history of education: Froebel as a pioneer, Infant schools and kindergartens and The child
under eight, copies of which are held in the archive. Her explorations of other theorists in the
education of children led her to visit Italy to study the Montessori Method. At first an enthusiast, she
changed her mind when she observed the series of apparatus that Dr. Montessori had designed to
‘train the senses’. Murray felt this was ‘unpsychologial’. ‘The teacher should provide or let her children
provide material, sand beyond everything, and clay, paper and pencils, bits of cloth and ribbon,
chestnuts and acorns, empty match boxes, crayons, picture books, balls etc., etc., guided by
Froebel’s rules that a child’s toys shall be such as will incite activity, both mental and bodily’.
4
Although she admired Dr. Montessori’s enthusiasm and devotion to the education of young children,
she was not swayed from her dedication to Froebelian principles.
In addition to her teaching and writing, Murray campaigned for recognition of Froebelian teachers.
She was on the Council of the Froebel Society and the Board of the National Froebel Union and
lectured throughout England and Wales, though she had to accept that her native Scotland would
never adopt Froebelian ideals. In 1922 she was able to write that the Board of Education was ready
to give grants to students studying at Froebel colleges, giving them the same recognition as students
in state colleges.5
‘Her study and re-interpretation of the Froebelian texts, her involvement in the new child-study
movement and her knowledge of the importance of Dewey’s theories in the development of
psychological studies all contributed to her importance as an educator.’6 The dedication of the Library
in E.R.Murray’s memory would describe her as ‘Our greatest Froebelian’.
The Murray Book Collection
The Murray Book Collection forms part of the Maria Grey College Archives. It consists of over 700
books devoted to the interests of children, including children’s stories from Murray’s own collection.
4
Murray, E.R., The Montessori System, Maria Grey College Magazine, November 1912
Murray, E.R. The Board of education and the National Froebel Union, Maria Grey College Magazine, February 1922
6
Lilley, Irene M., Maria Grey College 1878-1976, published by the author, 1981
5
Items were added after her death, as a “Memorial Library”, with a contribution of £148 from the Old
Students’ Association. Among the contributors were past children and parents of the Kindergarten,
old students, colleagues and personal friends. A bookplate was designed by Miss Jarvis. A catalogue
of the 332 books of the original collection was listed in the Maria Grey College Magazine of 1934, with
further lists of additions to the library in the magazines of 1937, 1939 and 1943.
The collection contains books published in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and includes
both fiction and non-fiction books for children as well as texts on educational theory. Children’s books
of the early nineteenth century tended to concentrate on moral tales for little ones and most have an
uplifting and often a religious message. There are few illustrations. Examples are ‘Parliament in the
playroom’ by an author given as A.L.O.E. (A lady of England) and the ‘Moral lessons’ and ‘Moral
tales’ of Maria Edgeworth. Julia Horatia Ewing was a prolific author of children’s stories such as
‘Jackanapes’, ‘Lob lie by the fire’ and ‘Mrs Overtheway’s remembrances’ and there are copies of
these and her other works in the collection. There are many examples of more adventurous and
imaginative tales and the Library contains fairy stories by Hans Anderson and George Macdonald,
legends of King Arthur and other heroes, poetry and songs for children, school adventures by Susan
Coolidge and Angela Brazil and nine Doolittle story books by High Lofting. There are examples, too,
of the beautiful illustrations of Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham.
The subject of children’s education and, of course, the work of Friedrich Freobel is not neglected, the
collection contains a number of Murray’s own copies of books by Froebel and Pestalozzi in German.
Some of the most interesting items are early scientific textbooks for use in the classroom and books
on hygiene and exercise for children.
The Murray Book Collection is fully catalogued and the catalogue will be available online next year.
Penny Lyndon.