The Use of Photos to Create a New History of Education
A Case Study of the Mompiano Kindergarten in Italy in the Early 20th Century
Abstract
Photography has been a heuristic tool of historical documentation since the historiographical revolution introduced it during the twentieth century by the French Annales school, reinforced by more recent historical-educational study models. This paper analyses a series of photos published in 1903 in Italy to document school life in the Mompiano kindergarten in Brescia (Italy), which followed the pedagogical and methodological principles introduced by the sisters Rosa and Carolina Agazzi under the guidance of Pietro Pasquali. The study shows how those photos became a fundamental tool for training educators and spreading an innovative reform experiment in pre-school education for children’s emancipation.
Downloads
References
Agazzi, A. (1951). Il metodo delle sorelle Agazzi per la scuola materna (Storia, principi pedagogici e didattica). La Scuola.
Agazzi, R. (1932). Guida per le educatrici dell’infanzia. La Scuola.
Agazzi, R. (1973). Ordinamento pedagogico dei giardini d’infanzia secondo il sistema di Fröbel. In R. Agazzi & P. Pasquali, Scritti inediti e rari (M. Grazzini, Ed., pp. 61–86). La Scuola. (Original work published 1899)
Albisetti, J. C. (2009). Froebel crosses the Alps: Introducing the kindergarten in Italy. History of Education Quarterly, 49(2), 159–169. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5959.2009.00193.x
Bolvig, A. (2003). Introduction. In A. Bolvig & P. Lindley (Eds.), History and images: Towards a new iconology (pp. xxiii–xxx). Brepols.
Braster, S. (2011). Educational change and Dutch classroom photographs: A qualitative and quantitative analysis. In S. Braster, I. Grosvenor, & M. del Mar del Pozo Andrés (Eds.), The black box of schooling: A cultural history of the classroom (pp. 21–37). Peter Lang.
Braster, S., Grosvenor, I., & del Mar del Pozo Andrés, M. (2011). Opening the black box of schooling: Methods, meaning and mysteries. In S. Braster, I. Grosvenor, & M. del Mar del Pozo Andrés (Eds.), The black box of schooling: A cultural history of the classroom (pp. 9–18). Peter Lang.
Burke, P. (2001). Eyewitnessing: The uses of images as historical evidence. Reaktion Books.
Cavarero, A. (2013). Inclinazioni: Critica della rettitudine. Cortina.
Chiosso, G. (1995). Alle origini di Mompiano. L’esperienza agazziana nella realtà sociale ed educativa di fine secolo. In M. Bagnalasta Bàrlaam (Ed.), Rosa Agazzi nella cultura pedagogica italiana e nella realtà educativa della scuola materna (pp. 53–70). Istituto di Mompiano Pasquali-Agazzi.
Chiosso, G. (2012). Novecento pedagogico. La Scuola. (Original work published 1997)
Comas Rubí, F. (2010). Fotografia i història de l’educació. Educació i Història: Revista d’Història de l’Educació, 15, 11–17. https://doi.org/10.2436/20.3009.01.51
Comas Rubí, F., & Sureda García, B. (2012). The photography and propaganda of the Maria Montessori method in Spain (1911–1931). Paedagogica Historica, 48(4), 571–587. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2011.633924
Contesini, G. (1903). Il giardino di Mompiano giudicato sotto l’aspetto pedagogico. In P. Pasquali (Ed.), Il nuovo asilo: Guida per le maestre e le madri nell’educazione della prima infanzia sulle tracce dell’Asilo di Mompiano (pp. 75–80). Canossi.
Cowen, R. (2020). Comparative, international, and transnational histories of education. In T. Fitzgerald (Ed.), Handbook of historical studies in education: Debates, tensions, and directions (pp. 47–63). Springer.
Dams, K., Depaepe, M., & Simon, F. (1999). Sneaking into school: Classroom history at work. In I. Grosvenor, M. Lawn, & K. Rousmaniere (Eds.), Silences and images: The social history of the classroom (pp. 15–46). Peter Lang.
Dekker, J. J. H., & Wichgers, I. I. (2018). The embodiment of teaching the regulation of emotions in early modern Europe. Paedagogica Historica, 54(1–2), 48–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2017.1397713
del Mar del Pozo Andrés, M. (2003–2004). La escuela nueva en España: Crónica y semblanza de un mito. Historia de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 22–23, 317–346.
del Mar del Pozo Andrés, M. (2006). Imágenes e historia de la educación: Construcción, reconstrucción y representación de las prácticas escolares en el aula. Historia de la Educación, 25, 291–315.
Depaepe, M., & Henkens, B. (Eds.). (1998). Imagine, all the education… The visual in the making of the educational space through history. Leuven University Press.
Depaepe, M., & Henkens, B. (2000). The history of education and the challenge of the visual. Paedagogica Historica, 36(1), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0030923000360101
Depaepe, M., & Simon, F. (1995). Is there any place for the history of “education” in the “history of education”? A plea for the history of everyday educational reality in and outside school. Paedagogica Historica, 31(1), 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/0030923950310101
Dussel, I., & Priem, K. (2017). The visual in histories of education: A reappraisal. Paedagogica Historica, 53(6), 641–649. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2017.1392582
Elias, N. (1939). Il processo di civilizzazione. Il Mulino.
Escolano Benito, A. (2008). La cultura empírica de la escuela: Aproximación etnohistórica y hermenéutica. In J. Mainer (Ed.), Pensar críticamente la educación escolar: Perspectivas y controversias historiográficas (pp. 145–172). Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza.
Grazzini, M. (2006). Sulle fonti del metodo Pasquali-Agazzi e altre questioni: Interpretazioni, testi e nuovi materiali. Istituto di Mompiano-Centro Studi Pedagogici Pasquali-Agazzi.
Grosvenor, I. (1999). On visualising past classrooms. In I. Grosvenor, M. Lawn, & K. Rousmaniere (Eds.), Silences and images: The social history of the classroom (pp. 85–105). Peter Lang.
Grosvenor, I., & Lawn, M. (2001). Ways of seeing in education and schooling: Emerging historiographies. History of Education, 30(2), 105–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/00467600010012382
Grosvenor, I., & Macnab, N. (2015). Photography as an agent of transformation: Education, community and documentary photography in postwar Britain. Paedagogica Historica, 51(1–2), 117–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2014.997757
Lascarides, V. C., & Hinitz, B. F. (2011). History of early childhood education. Routledge.
Le Goff, J. (Ed.). (1980). La nuova storia (T. Capra, Trans.). Mondadori. (Original work published 1979)
Liepe, L. (2003). On the epistemology of images. In A. Bolvig & P. Lindley (Eds.), History and images: Towards a new iconology (pp. 415–430). Brepols.
Lombardo Radice, G. (1928). Il problema dell’educazione infantile. La Nuova Italia.
Luc, J.-N. (1997). L’invention du jeune enfant au XIXe siècle: De la salle d’asile à l’école maternelle. Belin.
Macchietti, S. S. (1984). Pietro Pasquali tra scuola e società: Dall’ultimo Ottocento al primo Novecento. Istituto di Mompiano Pasquali-Agazzi.
Mazzetti, R. (1967). Pietro Pasquali e le sorelle Agazzi e la riforma del fröbelismo in Italia. Armando. (Original work published 1962)
Meda, J., & Badanelli, A. M. (Eds.). (2013). La historia de la cultura escolar en Italia y en España: Balance y perspectivas. EUM.
Morandi, M. (2014). Pasquali Pietro. In Dizionario biografico degli italiani (Vol. 81). Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pietro-pasquali_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/
Orlando Cian, D. (1967). L’ambiente socio-culturale e l’esperienza agazziana. La Scuola.
Owen, R. (1994). L’armonia sociale: Saggi sull’educazione. La Nuova Italia. (Original work published 1816)
Pasquali, P. (1903). Il nuovo asilo: Guida per le maestre e le madri nell’educazione della prima infanzia sulle tracce dell’Asilo di Mompiano. Canossi.
Pasquali, P. (1910). Il nuovo spirito dell’asilo: A complemento del volume Il nuovo asilo. La Voce delle Maestre d’asilo.
Peim, N. (2005). Introduction: The life of signs in visual history. In U. Mietzner, K. Myers, & N. Peim (Eds.), Visual history: Images of education (pp. 7–34). Peter Lang.
Plutz, J. (1995). Photography and the body. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Pironi, T. (2010). Da Ellen Key a Maria Montessori: La progettazione di nuovi spazi educativi per l’infanzia. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 1, 1–15.
Polenghi, S. (2017). La ricerca storico-educativa sull’infanzia nel XX secolo. In M. Gecchele, S. Polenghi, & P. Dal Toso (Eds.), Il Novecento: Il secolo del bambino? (pp. 31–49). Junior-Spaggiari.
Polenghi, S. (2021). Hygiene, school and children’s body in the Kingdom of Italy. In S. Polenghi, A. Németh, & T. Kasper (Eds.), Education and the body in Europe 1900–1950: Movements, public health, pedagogical rules and cultural ideas (pp. 187–206). Peter Lang.
Priem, K. (2017). Beyond the collapse of language? Photographs of children in postwar Europe as performances and relational objects. Paedagogica Historica, 53(6), 683–696. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2017.1371776
Roldán Vera, E., & Fuchs, E. (Eds.). (2019). The transnational in the history of education: Concepts and perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan.
Rousseau, J.-J. (2016). Emilio, o dell’educazione (A. Potestio, Trans.). Studium. (Original work published 1762)
Sani, R. (2008). Nuove tendenze della ricerca storico-educativa. In S. S. Macchietti & G. Serafini (Eds.), La ricerca sull’educazione tra pedagogia e storia (pp. 67–75). Pensa Multimedia.
Sani, R. (2016). For a history of childhood and of its education in contemporary Italy: Interpretations and perspectives of research. Cadernos de História da Educação, 15(2), 808–862. https://doi.org/10.14393/che-v15n2-2016-18
Scaglia, E. (2021). A history of infant pedagogy in Europe from the fourteenth to the early twentieth century. Cadernos de História da Educação, 20(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.14393/che-v20-2021-52
Taylor Allen, A. (1982). Spiritual motherhood: German feminists and the kindergarten movement, 1848–1911. History of Education Quarterly, 22(3), 319–339. https://doi.org/10.2307/367772
Tyack, D., & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform. Harvard University Press.
Tyack, D., & Tobin, W. (1994). The grammar of schooling: Why has it been so hard to change? American Educational Research Journal, 31(3), 435–479. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312031003453
Veiga, C. (2018). The body’s civilisation/decivilisation: Emotional, social and historical tensions. Paedagogica Historica, 54(1–2), 20–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2017.1358290
Wagner, P. (1995). Reading iconotexts: From Swift to the French Revolution. Reaktion Books.
Copyright (c) 2025 Evelina Scaglia (Autor)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Os direitos autorais pertencem exclusivamente aos autores. Os direitos de licenciamento utilizados pelo periódico consistem na licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0): são permitidos o acompartilhamento (cópia e distribuição do material em qualqer meio ou formato) e adaptação (remix, transformação e criação de material a partir do conteúdo assim licenciado) para quaisquer fins, inclusive comerciais.
Recomenda-se a leitura desse link para maiores informações sobre o tema: fornecimento de créditos e referências de forma correta, entre outros detalhes cruciais para uso adequado do material licenciado.
