Editing Henry Barnard

{{short description|American educator (1811–1900)}}
{{Other people}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name        = Henry Barnard
|image       = Henry Barnard American educator.jpg
|office      = [[United States Commissioner of Education]]
|president   = [[Andrew Johnson]]<br>[[Ulysses S. Grant|Ulysses Grant]]
|term_start  = March 11, 1867
|term_end    = March 15, 1870
|predecessor = Position established
|successor   = [[John Eaton (general)|John Eaton]]
|birth_date  = {{birth date|1811|1|24}}
|birth_place = [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]], Connecticut, U.S.
|death_date  = {{death date and age|1900|7|5|1811|1|24}}
|death_place = Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
|education   = [[Yale University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
|signature   = Signature of Henry Barnard (1811–1900).png
}}
'''Henry Barnard''' (January 24, 1811 – July 5, 1900) was an American [[education|educator]] and reformer.

==Biography==
He  was born in [[Hartford, Connecticut]] on January 24, 1811<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lcVKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA505 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=I |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=505 |year=1893 |access-date=2021-04-29 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and attended [[Wilbraham & Monson Academy]]. He graduated from [[Yale University]] in 1830 and was admitted to the Connecticut [[Bar association|bar]] in 1835. In 1837–1839, he was a member of the [[Connecticut House of Representatives]],<ref>''Roll of State Officers and Members of General Assembly of Connecticut from 1776-1881'', Press of the Cass, Lockwood & Brainard Co.: 1881, pg. 387-389</ref> effecting in 1838 the passage of a bill, drafted and introduced by himself, which provided for "the better supervision of the common schools", and established a board of "commissioners of common schools" in the state.  He was the secretary of the board from 1838 until its abolition in 1842, and during this time worked indefatigably to reorganize and reform the common school system of the state, thus earning a national reputation as an educational reformer.<ref name=Monroe>{{cite book |first=Will Seymour |last=Monroe| author-link = Will Seymour Monroe|year=1893 |title=The educational labors of Henry Barnard: a study in the history of American pedagogy |publisher=C. W. Bardeen |url= https://archive.org/details/educationallabo01monrgoog|page={{page needed|date=March 2011}}}}</ref>

In 1843, he was appointed by the governor of [[Rhode Island]] agent to examine the public schools of the state, and recommended improvements; and his work resulted in the reorganization of the school system two years later. From 1845 to 1849, he was the first commissioner of public schools in the state, and his administration was marked by a decided step in educational progress. In 1845, Barnard established the first "Rhode Island Teachers Institute" at [[Smithville Seminary]].

Returning to Connecticut, from 1851 to 1855, he was "superintendent of common schools", and principal of the [[Connecticut State Normal School]] at [[New Britain, Connecticut]].<ref name=Monroe/>

In 1852, Barnard was offered the newly created position of [[President of the University of Michigan]], but he declined. From 1859 to 1860, he was chancellor of the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] and agent of the board of regents of the normal school fund; in 1866 he was president of [[St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)|St. John's College]] in [[Annapolis, Maryland]]; and from 1867 to 1870 he was the first [[United States Commissioner of Education]], and in this position he laid the foundation for the subsequent work of the [[Bureau of Education]].<ref name=Monroe/>

He was awarded [[American Library Association Honorary Membership]] in 1893.

==''American Journal of Education''==
{{Distinguish|American Journal of Education{{!}}''American Journal of Education''}}
Barnard's chief service to the cause of education, however, was rendered as the editor, from 1855 to 1881, of the ''American Journal of Education'', the thirty-one volumes of which are a veritable encyclopedia of education, one of the most valuable compendiums of information on the subject ever brought together through the agency of any one man.<ref>Chisholm 1911.</ref> He also edited from 1838 to 1842, and again from 1851 to 1854, the ''[[Connecticut Common School Journal]]'', and from 1846 to 1849 the ''[[Journal of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction]]''.<ref name=Monroe/>

==Death and legacy==
He died at Hartford on July 5, 1900, aged 89.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76707458/dr-henry-barnard/ |title=Dr. Henry Barnard |newspaper=[[Hartford Courant]] |page=5 |date=1900-07-06 |access-date=2021-04-29 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

He is buried at [[Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)|Cedar Hill Cemetery]] in Hartford. The Henry Barnard School at [[Rhode Island College]] and the [[Henry Barnard School]] in [[New Rochelle, New York]] are named in his honor. There is also an elementary school named in his honor in Enfield, CT-Henry Barnard Elementary School.

==See also==
*[[Henry Barnard House]]
* [[Education in Connecticut]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barnard, Henry}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Curti |first=Merle |author-link=Merle Curti |title=The Social Ideas of American Educators |year=1935 |pages=139–68 }}
* JENKINS, RALPH CARLTON. "HENRY BARNARD, PROGRESSIVE EDUCATOR OF TEACHERS" (PhD dissertation, New York University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1937. 7303216).
* {{cite book |last=MacMullen |first=Edith Nye |title=In the Cause of True Education: Henry Barnard & Nineteenth-Century School Reform |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-300-04809-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/incauseoftrueedu0000macm }}
* {{cite book |last=Thursfield |first=Richard Emmons |title=Henry Barnard's American Journal of Education |publisher=Johns Hopkins U Press |year=1945 }}
* Wieland, C. M. "The contribution of Henry Barnard to modern education" (PhD dissertation, University of Southern California; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1939. EP59445).

===Primary sources===
* {{cite book |first=Henry |last=Barnard |title=The American Journal of Education vol 19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIE3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA137 |year=1870 }}
* {{cite book |last=Barnard |first=Henry |title=Normal Schools: And Other Institutions, Agencies, and Means Designed for the Professional Education of Teachers |publisher=Tiffany |year=1851 |url=https://archive.org/details/normalschoolsan02barngoog }}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=42764| name=Henry Barnard}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Henry Barnard}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091120044317/http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/barnard.html The Fales Library of NYU's guide to the Henry Barnard Papers]
* [https://archive.org/details/schoolarchitectu01barn  ''School Architecture'', Barnard, Henry, 4th ed., 1850]
* {{Find a Grave}}
*[https://www.henrybarnard.org/ Henry Barnard School]

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{{s-bef|before=[[John Hiram Lathrop|John Lathrop]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of presidents and chancellors of the University of Wisconsin–Madison|Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison]]|years=1959–1960}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Whelan Sterling|John Sterling]]}}
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{{s-off}}
{{s-new|office}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Commissioner of Education]]|years=1867–1870}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Eaton (general)|John Eaton]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{University of Wisconsin–Madison leaders}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Henry}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1900 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)]]
[[Category:Leaders of the University of Wisconsin-Madison]]
[[Category:Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:United States Bureau of Education people]]
[[Category:Wilbraham & Monson Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Yale College alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly]]