Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard: Reconsidering a Life

This study of Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (1809-1889), the tenth president of Columbia College (1864-1888), is a reconsideration of his life and his contribution to higher education. The study draws from scholarship in women's studies and revisionist interpretations of the history of higher education in the United States during the nineteenth century. Barnard advocated coeducation and greater educational and professional opportunity for women at a time and place when many of his colleagues fought to keep women out of elite male colleges like Columbia. Equally important, his life was an interesting one, filled with significant relationships, struggle, and creative adaptation. Chapter One focuses on Barnard's early childhood and upbringing, from his birth in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in 1809, until his departure from New York City for the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1837. In this chapter, and throughout the study, emphasis will be given to personal relationships and significant events. Barnard's deafness, as well as his relationships with influential women, affected his personal life and career decisions. Chapter Two will discuss how Barnard crafted a place for himself in public discourse and in the social and intellectual life of the South during the years from 1837 until 1862. He "found his voice," so to speak, through writing and public speaking. Chapter three is a discussion of Barnard's early experiences following his inauguration as President of Columbia College in 1864. He worked to institute a number of small reforms, but he had difficulty with the Columbia trustees. Even the most favorable accounts of his era indicate that Barnard was a marginal administrator and a poor politician. Yet he continued to promote change at the college, particularly change in the composition of the student body. He championed coeducation. Chapter Four focuses on the coeducation debate at Columbia. Not only did Barnard advocate coeducation at Columbia, he incorporated the views of women in his reform agenda and he worked in many ways to further both educational and professional opportunities for women. Chapter Five concludes the study by exploring the way Barnard's life and work on behalf of women have been remembered from an historical standpoint.