The book is dedicated to the famous Swiss pedagogue and reformer, one of the greatest persons in the history of pedagogy - Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 - 1827). He laid the foundation of the modern primary school. After going to school and starting a university study he changed his mind and wanted to help the poor farmers by setting an example of modern agriculture. For one year he was an apprentice in agriculture, then he lend money bought some land, build a new farm called “Neuhof” (Newfarm) and in 1769 started working with new seeds and modern methods. This did not work. He had to give up. Than in 1775 he opened an orphanage at “Neuhof”. Pupils had to learn and to work and the idea was that they would gain enough money to earn their living. It did not work. He had to close, but he had started his experiences in pedagogy. Than he started writing. In 1780 he wrote “The Hours of a Hermit” and in 1783 “Leonard and Gertrud” which became a success, propagated his pedagogical ideas and started to make him famous for his new pedagogy. He went to Stanz, where he took over a orphanage in 1798 and then to Burgdorf where he opened a school for boys which ran from 1800 to 1804. From 1805 to 1825 he directed a school and a teachers institute in Yverdon. In the meantime he had become very well known for his new pedagogical ideas and so he got pupils and visitors from all over Europe. But with all his fame he was always in financial trouble and so his school closed in 1825. He died in 1827 in Brugg and in his last days still worked on his dream to open a new orphanage, which he would not see realized. The author of the book A. Zigmunde describes on the basis of archival sources and the materials of libraries his influence on education in what is now the territory of Latvia during the 19th and 20th Century. Pestalozzi's institute in Yverdon has also been visited by students from Livonia and Courland. The author has established a list of pupils from the territory of present-day Latvia and describes these students on the basis of the documents. In the book, you can also find information to the question in which newspapers, magazines, calendars of today's Latvia Pestalozzi has been described as an educator. The famous institution for the formation of teachers and vergers in Walk (Livonia) has been working under the ideas of Pestalozzi as well as the school for teachers in Dzerve (Zirau, Courland). The book gives detailed information concerning the pupils, the students and the teachers and shows how the pedagogical ideas of Pestalozzi arrived in the Baltic districts of Russia and how strait the connections were between some Baltic landlords and Pestalozzi so that Pestalozzi got fond of the idea to resettle in Riga. One chapter is dedicated to the influence of Pestalozzis ideas on the Polytechnic Institute of Riga. Pestalozzi's ideas had an important influence on the activities of the University of Latvia too, particularly on its educational department. The first PhD in Education (1940) was dedicated to the educational views and activities of Pestalozzi. Pestalozzi was the author of some books in Swiss-German language which treated pedagogical subjects.