The San Diego
Association for the Education of Young Children began in an era when only about
two dozen nursery schools existed in the United States. Isabella Hammack was a
student at Teachers College, Columbia University, when she attended the organizational meetings of the Committee on
Nursery Schools in 1926. A few years later, she returned home to teach in
San Diego’s first nursery school, now the La Jolla Country
Day School. When the original committee became the National
Association for Nursery Education (NANE), Isabella Hammack
helped set up the Pacific Cost Nursery School Association as a “subsidiary”
group in 1930.
Until 1949,
Southern California (SCANE) members from San Diego and Los
Angeles met
jointly. When the San Diego Association for Nursery Education was formed, Miss Hammack was on the faculty at San Diego State College and
director of the demonstration nursery school where students worked with
pre-kindergarten children. Through her efforts, and those of Beryl Campbell as
the first president, a small group of local preschool teachers had been meeting
to hear speakers or t exchange ideas. Dues were $1.25 a year until 1958, when
they were raised to $2.00 so that more services could be provided. Membership
in the national organization required additional dues, so most San Diego members didn’t join.
When NANE
reorganized to become the National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) in 1964, San Diego
became the ninth affiliate. There were eleven (yes, 11!) members paying $5.00
for combined local, state, and national dues. With an increased recognition of
preschool education, including the establishment of Head Start in 1965,
membership began to increase and the level of professional activities was
accelerated. While Amelie Weinfeld
was president, in 1970/71, the first all-day SDAEYC workshop was held (on
“Creativity in the Curriculum”), the first multi-page newsletter was published,
and a successful membership campaign was initiated.
Membership
continued to increase, even through dues were raised to $12.00 in 1972. Members
received the national journal, Young
Children, and both state and local newsletters. A full schedule of meetings
and workshops provided ongoing professional training and established a feeling
of camaraderie that joined together a membership with diverse backgrounds
ranging from child care aides to pediatricians and university professors. A
wide range of backgrounds and orientations continues to characterize a
membership with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
California’s first statewide Nursery Education Week was in 1965. The first
official SDAEYC observation of what we now call Week of the Young Child was in
1973, when SDSU students held a craft fair in the new mission Valley shopping
mall. Its success led to an annual Day in the Park that was held until 2004.
The can-do spirit
of the little San Diego Section led to hosting of the 1974 annual conference of
the California AEYC, “Challenge: Children and Change.” Despite a gasoline
crisis, it made the phenomenal profit of $12,000. Others have followed, with
our logo coming from the 1985 theme of Children: Our Windows to the Future.
The San Diego AEYC
has been constantly evolving – and will continue the dynamic process of
evaluation and planning that makes any organization viable. From those early
meetings of a dozen or so individuals, discussing mutual problems over tea, it
has become a financially stable and highly structured organization with over a
thousand members and a range of activities that combine professional enrichment
with essential networking support.
Dorothy W. Hewes, Ph.D.
SDAEYC Historian
