Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), American educator and philosopher, who developed a method of teaching young children by means of conversation. He was born in Wolcott, Connecticut. In 1834 Alcott established a school at Boston in which his system of teaching through conversation was employed. The school was criticized by the press and regarded by the general public as a revolutionary innovation. In 1839 Alcott closed the school and later moved to Concord, Massachusetts. Thereafter he became widely known as a lecturer. He was a prominent abolitionist and a leader of the philosophic doctrine of transcendentalism. His writings include Observations on the Principles and Methods of Infant Instruction (1830), Concord Days (1872), Table Talk (1877), and Sonnets and Canzonets (1882).