Originally founded in 1875 as the Peabody Normal School, the Peabody College is today a part of the Vanderbilt University after a series of merging and splitting from other institutions. However, despite the quite unstable management, it still managed to be the top graduate school of education in the US, as according to the US News & World Report Rankings in 2009.

Also known as the Peabody College of Education and Human Development, the Peabody College is also a historic site. In fact, its 50-acre campus, along with the 22 main buildings, was declared as a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Peabody College has produced a considerable amount of notable alumni. It includes former Senator Theodore Bilbo, pop culture icon Bettie Page, authors Christine Sadler and Laura Vernon Hamner, and educators George Doherty and ES Richardson to name a few.