MOTHERING IN PUBLIC - THE DIVISION OF ORGANIZED CHILD-CARE IN THE KINDERGARTEN AND DAY-NURSERY, ST-LOUIS, 1886-1920

Two case studies from turn-of-the-century St. Louis, the public school kindergarten and a privately run day nursery, reveal that both organizations provided compensatory child rearing, yet one was legitimated through the public school and the other continued as an impoverished, largely illegitimate institution. Distinctions were supported by leaders' overt and covert intentions and organizations were kept separate through the elimination from the kindergarten of the ''nursery element'' and resistance to educational offerings in the day nursery. Implications for merging the two organizations and for attitudes about working mothers and the public care of children are discussed.