Mary Tyler Peabody Mann

Mary Tyler Peabody Mann helped Domingo F. Sarmiento connect American educators with Argentina. Writing from Cambridge on May 14, 1867, she reported that the teachers Foster Thayer and Storrow Higginson expected to sail within ten or twelve days. She planned to give Thayer her copy of Sarmiento’s journal Ambas Américas for the voyage, and used the same letter to argue that educated women could advance Argentine education. ^{1, 2}

Born in Cambridge in 1806, Mann was educated at home and began teaching at eighteen. She worked in Maine and Massachusetts and as a governess in Cuba. She married Horace Mann in 1843 and contributed to his Common School Journal. After his death in 1859, she wrote his biography and collected his educational writings for publication. ³

Her English translation of Sarmiento’s Facundo appeared in 1868 with her biographical sketch of its author. Teacher recruitment continued after his diplomatic mission: she recommended Mary Elizabeth Gorman, who reached Argentina in 1869. When Gorman declined the planned move to San Juan, Mann suggested that she ask the educator Juana Manso for help finding work in Buenos Aires. ^{4, 5}