petus to the study of art. Mrs. Prang visited him in Boston, and, introducing his books in Syracuse, found them of great service in making possible the study of historic ornament, supplying in some measure the examples necessary for her work.
Mrs. Prang^s remarkable physique and excellent health enabled her to complete successfully an unusual amount of labor. Several of her classes in the high school numbered seventy or eighty pupils each, but Mrs. Prang worked with the strength of her convictions, and with a joyousness of spirit that communicated itself to her pupils.
In order that the children might be properly taught, she formed teachers^ classes that were conducted after school hours. In addition she closely supervised the work in all the schools, and was ever ready to help the teachers with pertinent suggestions and cheerful encouragement. Her supervision of the schools of Syracuse extended over more than ten years; and there are teachers in the field to-day, occupying high positions, who are proud to trace the beginning of their successes to the influence of Mrs. Prang, with whom they were associated as high school students or as grade teachers.
Exhibitions of public school drawings were held at the high school building, and, while children and teachers were thus encouraged and stimulated, the general public became educated as to the possibilities of children in this direction. These exhibitions, together with exhibitions made at the State Teachers' Association and at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, were all factors in the progress of art education in the public schools. In Syracuse they attracted the attention of broad-minded people, and comprehensive reports upon them were made by physicians, architects, and other people of education, among whom were Dr. Martin B. Anderson, President of Rochester University, and Dr. Andrew D. White, President of Cornell University. The public schools of Syracuse became well known as foremost in the country in art education.
Endeavoring in every way to spread the influence of art, Mrs. Prang assisted largely in the development of the Social Art Club of Syracuse, the purpose of which was the reading of the history of art and the study of historic and current art. Mrs. Prang was president of the club for five years, and through her efforts its members were able to gather illustrations and to pursue a systematic course of reading relating to ancient, early Christian, and modern art. The club was extremely popular, the wailing list being filled with names of women of the highest social standing. The present president, formerly a student with Mrs. Prang, has held the position for twenty-five years. The Social Art Club was the second club formed in Syracuse, being antedated only by the Portfolio Club, an association of Mrs. Prang's pupils.
From the beginning of Mrs. Prang's connection with the Prang Educational Company in 1878, she was adviser on all the educational phases of the work. Even before her name appeared as joint author of the various publications prepared by the company, all questions involving educational influence and value were brought to her for judgment and advice. Her wide experience and sympathetic insight as to the needs of the teachers contributed largely toward making possible the wide introduction of the Prang work in the public schools of the country. Her wisdom and catholicity helped to make the Prang work acceptable to the utilitarian, to the lover of beauty in form and color, and to the educator. The spirit of the work in its power of developing and uplifting was never forgotten.
Mrs. Prang was among the first to point out that the instruction in art given in the public schools must of necessity cover entirely different ground from that given in the art schools and studios. She taught clearly the difference in the purpose of the two— the one being intended for those specially gifted by nature, while the other means the development of the art instinct, the power of art expression in every child. Advocating these views, she is a frequent speaker at art and educational associations. The difficulties attending the introduction of a comparatively new work and the lack of public school training on the part of supervisors led them to seek frequent conferences with Mrs. Prang, and many super-
