Anna S.C. Blake (Boston, 1844Santa Barbara (?) 1899) was the wealthy founder of the Santa Barbara

Sloyd Sloyd (Swedish ), also known as educational sloyd, is a system of handicraft-based education started by Uno Cygnaeus in Finland in 1865. The system was further refined and promoted worldwide, and was taught in the United States until the early 2 ...

School in 1892 in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. The school was renamed after her death into Anna Blake Manual Training School.

Biography

Anna Blake was the eldest daughter of George B. Blake, founder of a bank. Besides founding a school, Anna Blake left her home, which was built in 1886, into a refuge for the ill and miserable. The home, on Santa Barbara street and Constance avenue was turned into the Miradero Sanitarium in Santa Barbara.

School

The school originally had kindergarten education. Older girl students got an education in cooking and needlework; boys were educated in carpentry. The school later changed in a state normal school. In 1944 it became part of the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. Blake, who modeled her curriculum after the

sloyd Sloyd (Swedish ), also known as educational sloyd, is a system of handicraft-based education started by Uno Cygnaeus in Finland in 1865. The system was further refined and promoted worldwide, and was taught in the United States until the early 2 ...

method, would ultimately rely on her neighbor, Ednah Rich, to run the school after sending Rich to study the sloyd method in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Rich would become principal of the school in 1896. In May 1898, Blake, nearing the end of her life, deeded the school to the city of

as part of the Santa Barbara public schooling system. The deed was officially transferred on July 1, 1899, just months after Blake's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Anna S. C. 1844 births 1899 deaths Founders of American schools and colleges 19th-century American philanthropists People from Santa Barbara, California