Salem was home to some pioneering individuals and organizations in the field of education, many of whom were women. Elizabeth Peabody, founder of the American kindergarten movement, is perhaps the foremost of these, closely followed by Charlotte Forten who taught school in South Carolina after the Civil War. Sarah Derby, who lived in Salem for twelve years, founded the Derby Academy in Hingham in 1784—the first coeducational private school in America.

Numerous private schools for girls flourished in Salem in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Public schools were desegregated in the 1840s thanks, largely, to John Remond whose daughter, Sarah benefited from his efforts along with many others. In 1842, Brigham Young, the leader of the Mormon Church, sent his daughter, Vilate, to Salem to take advantage of the city’s excellent public schools which had a reputation for treating girls fairly.

Vocational training for girls took place at the Mack Industrial School; skills training also took place at The House of the Seven Gables Settlement House, along with language classes and other opportunities for recently arrived immigrants to settle comfortably into Salem.

The Salem Hospital established a nurses training program as early as 1879.  Lydia Pinkham taught women how to take better care of their health; her daughter, Aroline Pinkham Chase Gove opened a free clinic for women in her mother’s name to expand efforts in the field of women’s health education. Carolyn Gardner taught women about birth control in her clinic while it was still illegal.

Higher education in Salem is represented by Salem State College, which traces its roots to the Salem Normal School. The teacher training institution was one of many established by Horace Mann, the “Father of American Public Education,” who married Mary Peabody Mann of Salem—a talented teacher in her own right. The Salem Society for the Higher Education for Women, founded in 1897, provided financial assistance.

Organizations like the Salem Woman’s Club encouraged young women toward higher education and held educational programs for its members. Susan Burley conducted intellectual “salons” and formed a book club. Private and public libraries promoted self-education, thanks to Caroline Plummer and Mary A. Bertram. Kate Tannatt Woods founded the Thought and Work Club to promote literary efforts. The Ropes sisters established a botanical garden behind their home to host classes and lectures.

The National Park Service has been educating the public about Salem history since 1938; the Park Service site in Salem welcomed its first woman superintendent in 1984.

Women artists, collectors, preservationists and philanthropists have contributed to the Peabody Essex Museum since the eighteenth century.