Nash, Lola, 2006 April 12
Scope and Contents
Lola Nash set up the first Head Start Program in the United States in the Elm Haven neighborhood of New Haven. She was also one of the founders of the Edith B. Jackson family daycare center in New Haven and, in the 1980s, established a daycare at Yale New Haven Hospital to provide child care to nurses and other female employees. Before coming to New Haven, Nash cultivated a background in early childhood education by working in many diverse programs. She graduated from college in 1945 then worked for government-sponsored day care centers in New York City, a wartime program to allow mothers to labor in factories and other industries. She then traveled to Burma with her husband and home-schooled their children while teaching music to local children. After returning to the United States, she taught at public schools serving low-income communities in New York. She and her husband moved to New Haven in the 1960s because he was hired to set up alternative school programs. Nash was then asked to establish the Head Start program, which was funded as a pilot program and further supported by Ed Ziegler and the Yale Child Studies Center. She talks about her experiences there, her teaching philosophies, and Head Start's commitment to physical and emotional needs of children and their parents.
Interviewer: Sauer, Jordan
Dates
- 2006 April 12
Creator
- From the Collection: New Haven Oral History Project (New Haven, Conn.)
Conditions Governing Access
As a preservation measure, original materials may not be used. Digital access copies must be provided for use. Contact Manuscripts and Archives at beinecke.library@yale.edu to request access
Extent
1 Computer Files (.wav)
0:55:38 Duration (HH:MM:SS.mmm)
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
beinecke.library@yale.edu
Location
Sterling Memorial Library
Room 147
120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511