William Andrus Alcott (6 August 1798-29 March 1859), editor and educator, was born and raised in Wolcott, Connecticut. He shared the desire of his cousin, Bronson Alcott, to improve the educational methods of the day and put his ideas into action when he taught in Connecticut schools. Alcott made the classroom a bright and attractive area to study in, with good ventilation and comfortable seats, and added grammar and geography to the curriculum. Interested in his pupils' health, Alcott attended the Yale Medical School and was licensed to practice medicine in 1826. He popularized his teaching methods through books on education, health (he was a vegetarian), and for teachers, such as Confessions of a Schoolmaster (Andover, Mass.: Gould, Newman & Saxton, 1839), and during his editorships of the Annals of Education, Juvenile Rambler, and Parley's Magazine. He died in Newton, Massachusetts.