Henry Barnard was born January 24, 1811. The fourth child of a wealthy family in Hartford, Connecticut he enjoyed the benefits of an elite education, attending Monson Academy, a private boarding school, in Massachusetts and then enrolling at Yale University in 1826. While an undergraduate he joined the Linonia literary society where he began to build a reputation as an orator through speeches delivered at local events and participating in debates. Following his graduation in 1830 Barnard traveled extensively in the United States and Europe, staying for an extended period of time in Washington, D.C. to observe Congressional debates. He then returned to Yale to study law and gained admission to the Connecticut bar in 1834.

Henry Barnard's his career as an education reformer began in earnest with his election, as a Whig, to the General Assembly of the Connecticut state legislature in April of 1837. During his three terms in office, from 1837 until 1839, Barnard became involved in efforts to improve public education in the state. At the time Connecticut's locally controlled public schools suffered from poor facilities, overcrowding, irregular student attendance, and poorly trained teachers. To address these issues Barnard lobbied to create a "Board of Commissioners of the Common Schools," which would monitor the condition of public schools in Connecticut and make recommendations for their improvement to the legislature. Shortly after the body was established in 1838 the legislature selected Barnard himself to serve as its secretary. He retained the post until 1842 when the Democratic Party gained a majority in the government and abolished the Board. During his tenure Barnard worked to bring more attention to the issue of public education through the establishment of a periodical dedicated to the subject, the Connecticut Common School Journalof 1838-1842, and describing in his speaches and articles the important role of public education in molding children into virtuous and productive citizens. He advocated in particular the improvement of school facilities, the creation of a uniform centralized education system, compulsory attendance, and substantial professional training for teachers. In the course of his efforts he began to develop personal and professional relationships with other education reformers including Horace Mann and William Alcott, a network he would expand over the course of his life.

In 1843 Barnard traveled to Rhode Island to act as an agent for the state's legislature, charged to evaluate the condition of public schools in the state and propose improvements. There, with the help of his new connections and growing reputation as an authority on education, Barnard successfully campaigned for the establishment of a state system of public schools in 1845, which he was appointed to administer. Not long after he received his new post he met and married Josephine Desnoyers in 1847. Together the couple would have five children. Two years after his marriage Barnard resigned from his position in the Rhode Island public school system, citing poor health. He returned to Connecticut to serve simultaneously as the principal of the new Connecticut State Normal School in New Britain, an institution devoted to training teachers, and superintendent of the state's pubic schools. While serving in this dual role Barnard began to attain national recognition as an authority on the subject of public education, particularly in matters of law and the architecture of school buildings. He also joined the newly established American Association for the Advancement of Education, a national organization of school superintendents, lawyers and ministers devoted to promoting reform in public education. He helped to draft the organization's constitution in 1849 and held the association's presidency in 1855.

That same year Barnard resigned from his post in Connecticut and began to publish his American Journal of Education, a periodical devoted to literature and reports concerning the history, contemporary theory, and conditions of public education in the United States and Europe. He had published similar periodicals in the past, such as the Connecticut Common School Journal, and the Journal of the Rhode Island Institute of Instructionof 1845 to 1849, but neither approached the longevity or the volume of the new Journal. The issues Barnard published irregularly from 1855 until 1882, when printed in octavo form, filled thirty-two volumes of roughly eight hundred pages each. Barnard was assisted by others in the manufacture of the Journal, including Daniel Coit Gilman who helped to collect material for the publication, but Barnard retained sole control over the content. It is considered by some his most substantial legacy.

At the same time Barnard continued to receive requests from across the United States for advice and lectures on subjects ranging from textbooks to school architecture. He was also sought after to participate in ceremonial occasions such as the opening of new schools, including one in New York City at the invitation of his friend Elias Loomis, a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at New York University. In addition Barnard was nominated for the presidency of several institutions of higher education, including the University of Michigan and Indiana University. In 1858 he was elected Chancellor of the young University of Wisconsin. As chancellor Barnard again played a dual role, acting as head of the university while supervising the instruction of teachers in schools throughout the state. Barnard held the chancellorship for two years; in 1860 he tendered his resignation to the Board of Regents and returned to Hartford.

Following his departure from Wisconsin Henry Barnard focused on publishing the American Journal of Educationand began working on a "Library of Education", which he intended to be resource for teachers. Ultimately the work consisted of fifty-two volumes, composed largely of selected treatises that had appeared in the Journal. He remained in strong demand as a speaker, and addressed several prestigious organizations including the National Teacher's Association and the Lowell Institute of Boston. Barnard also traveled a great deal, frequently visiting Washington, D.C. in an effort to win a position in the federal government. In 1865 Barnard was elected president of St. John's College in Maryland but resigned in 1867 when President Andrew Johnson appointed him as the U.S. Commissioner of Education, placing him in charge of the newly created federal Department of Education. Barnard's position required him to collect and disseminate statistics regarding public education throughout the United States and to report on its condition to Congress each year. After a brief term Barnard retired to Hartford, Connecticut in 1870.

In his retirement Henry Barnard focused on his publications, particularly the American Journal of Education, and conducted research into the history of education. At the same time he remained a prominent figure among professionals and scholars, including James L. Hughes, the Inspector of Schools in Toronto, Canada, who hailed him as the "Nestor of Education." Barnard continued to lecture at gatherings of educators and corresponded regularly with his friends and colleagues including Elizabeth Peabody, Theodore Woolsey, and Andrew White. Many public schools in New England honored Barnard by sending congratulatory letters, making dedications of trees, and holding school exercises to celebrate his birthdays. More public commendations of Barnard were common in the speeches and writings of the new generation of educators, including Will S. Monroe who acted as Barnard's research assistant in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Meanwhile Barnard's own works received numerous awards from the International Exhibitions at Vienna (1873), Paris (1878), New Orleans (1884), and Chicago (1893). Henry Barnard died on July 5, 1900 at the age of eighty-nine.

Sources:

MacMullen, Edith Nye. In the Cause of True Education: Henry Barnard and Nineteenth-Century School Reform. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1991.

Starr, Harris E. "Barnard, Henry." In Dictionary of American Biography. Edited by Allen Johnson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1928.