MONTESSORI | Missing Book Discovered (Postscript November 15, 2020)

Maria Montessori

July 11, 2012—My mother, Hilda van Stockum, often spoke about Maria Montessori and the course she took with her, I believe in Dublin, Ireland. Her mother Olga Boissevain van Stockum was also Montessori-trained. My sister Sheila O'Neill heads up a Montessori school at High Elms in Garston, near Watford, UK, and all four of her daughters are trained Montessori teachers.

One of the things HvS did as part of her Montessori training was prepare a curriculum book. This was a labor of love for my mother and Mrs. Montessori was — my mother told me — very impressed with it. HvS told me she loaned it to a nun who was interested in the Montessori method and it was never returned. This was a big loss to her.

As HvS's executor, I have been hunting for this book in order to reprint it for use in Montessori schools and and for perusal by those interested in the history and practice of the Montessori method. Recently some Montessori School files were cleaned out in London and a copy of the missing book was retrieved — a long and interesting story that got the information to me via someone in Nairobi — and I therefore now have it,

However, I am still trying to track down the original book, because the copy is in black and white whereas the original was in color.

P.S. November 15, 2020—Reviewing comments from emails over the past year, I read that John Pine was given a copy (or the original?) of the manuscript by Sister Stephanie, OSF (Order of St. Francis), headmistress of St. Anthony's. The school seems to have closed and the name and real estate (?) was sold to a private equity firm that created another school in its place. I am still trying to track down the manuscript.