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This is the second article in an ongoing series, published annually, highlighting a selection of English-language dissertations from the previous calendar year related to Montessori philosophy and education. Thirteen doctoral dissertations completed and approved during the 2023 calendar year were identified. The authors selected three dissertations to spotlight because they represent high-quality research in an area that is relevant to the current educational landscape: antibias and anti-racist (ABAR) educational practices.

Maria Montessori’s visit to California in 1915—her second visit to the United States—coincided with multiple events in the region: San Francisco’s Panama–Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), San Diego’s Panama–California Exposition (PCE), and the National Education Association of the United States (NEA) annual meeting in Oakland. Her visit also came at a time when the American Montessori movement was splintering, and the academic elite increasingly criticized her educational model. These circumstances made Montessori’s visit to California a potentially valuable opportunity to rekindle interest in Montessori education across the United States. Discussions of Montessori’s visit in 1915 have been framed around her training course and demonstration school at the PPIE. Based on information from primary sources (e.g., newspapers and archival materials), some of which have been overlooked, this article asserts that her visit to California had broader implications. While her eight months in California did have a positive impact on the growth of the Montessori movement, Montessori’s engagement with mainstream education had limited impact and it gave way to waning interest in Montessori education in the United States.

This article is the first in a series of planned reviews to be published annually that highlight a selection of dissertations. Some aspects of the selection and review methodology may be adjusted in coming issues as the process is refined to maximize the value to the field. Twenty-three Montessori-related dissertations completed during 2021 and 2022 were identified that represented five broad categories based on topic or subject matter. Two dissertations were selected for inclusion in this review because they represent high-quality research in areas that are of particular relevance and value to the field at this time: (a) public Montessori education and issues of equity and intercultural competence and (b) teacher perspectives and technology.

The Montessori Bibliography Online (MBO) makes information about Montessori education and the Montessori movement more accessible through an online interface that includes links to digitized source materials. Historically, Montessori bibliographies and indexes have been published in physical form and include references to other sources, but a direct link is absent. This database builds on previously compiled indexes to consolidate citations into a comprehensive repository with an intuitive user interface and a robust search capability. Additionally, the MBO provides hyperlinks to digitized source material. Although this type of tool is not unprecedented in the larger research and educational landscape, it is novel within the domain of Montessori education. This methodological essay discusses the steps I took to compile and develop the MBO. Beginning with a review of the literature and legal matters, the discussion describes the methods and processes employed. It concludes by outlining future directions for the MBO. The MBO is accessible at https://montessoribib.ku.edu.

Between April and December 1915, Maria Montessori and her son, Mario Montessori, spent time in California. Historical accounts of this period have emphasized Montessori's participation in San Francisco's world's fair, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), and identified this event as the crux of her travels. The following text and accompanying images provide an account of the Montessoris' travels from Italy to California, where they visited Los Angeles, Oakland, Pasadena, San Diego, and San Francisco. This travelogue attempts to highlight some less-documented aspects of their travels to Southern California (i.e., San Diego and the Los Angeles area) in 1915, and show that some of the areas, buildings, and establishments they visited are still in existence today.