Born: 1856, Uruguay
Died: 30 August 1922
Country most active: Uruguay
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Daughter of Don Santiago Stagnero and Dona Ana Brignardello.
This exceptional woman, whose intelligence, kindness and devotion to her educational work has earned for her the first monument erected to a woman in Montevideo. In her youth, her clear views on public instruction, coupled with decision, made her the director of a model school for girls. She learned her first lessons from Jose Pedro Varala, illustrious reformer of public instruction, the Horace Mann of Uruguay, who found in this young girl gifts as a teacher of teachers. At his death, she succeeded him in his patriotic aim and founded the Institute for Young Ladies in Montevideo. Many distinguished foreigners attended her school, among them, Sarmiento and Avellameda, both presidents of Argentina. Jose de Arechavaleta, Daniel Munoz, Alfredo Acevedo, Emilio Roniero and other well known South Americans have written acknowledging this highly cultured woman’s work. In 1912, after seven years without a holiday, her health broke and she was obliged to give up the direction of the Institute; she was named honorary Directora. We may say she died then, for her Institute was her home and her pupils her daughters. She prepared teachers for the whole country and they all loved and revered her. After her death, her family was voted a pension, her name was given to a street in Montevideo, and a public collection was taken up for the erection of the monument standing in the beautiful Prado of Montevideo. There, among the trees and flowers she loved, this monument is visited frequently by the school children.