Emma B. Alrich, the 19th-century teacher who served as a school superintendent.
There are many fine educators in American history who have served as pioneers in their field. One of these is Emma B. Alrich, a 19th-century teacher from Kansas who was the only woman of her time to serve as a superintendent of city schools.
Emma was born on April 4, 1845, in Seaville, Cape May County, New Jersey. She was an avid reader, even at an early age. At only three years old, she was reading the Bible. At the age of five, the enterprising child picked blackberries to earn the money to by an arithmetic book. By the time she was 12, she was writing for her local paper.
Emma earned her teacher’s certificate when she was only 16 years old. She opened a summer school in her home just as the War Between the States erupted. Two years later, to hone her teaching skills, Emma enrolled at the State Normal School in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1862. The institution is now known as The College of New Jersey. She earned her degree in 1864, valedictorian of her class.
In 1886 the young educator married Levi Alrich, a distinguished Civil War veteran who had fought for the North. Right after their marriage, the couple settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she taught school. Two years later, Emma and her husband migrated to Cawker City, Mitchell County, Kansas. While teaching there, the pioneering educator earned additional teaching certificates. She also became the superintendent of the city schools, the only woman in her day to serve in this capacity.While in the post she worked diligently to support teachers’ rights, a local women’s club, and the public library.
In 1883, Emma’s husband bought the local paper, the Free Press. He changed the publication’s name to the Public Record. Emma promptly rolled up her sleeves and worked as a journalist for her husband’s newspaper. At the same time, she served for two years on the Board of Teachers’ Examiners. In addition to this work, Emma was one of 40 local women who organized the National Women’s Relief Corps. She founded the Kansas Women’s Press Association, and she was one of three women who founded the Women’s Hesperian Library Club.
This amazing educator passed away on December 15, 1925, in Cawker City. She is interred in Prairie Grove Cemetery.
To learn more about Emma, click on this link: A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches.
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