Ezra_Brainerd

Ezra Brainerd

Ezra Brainerd

American academic administrator (1844–1924)

Ezra Brainerd (December 17, 1844 – December 8, 1924) was president of Middlebury College, Vermont, United States, from 1885 until 1908.

Born in St. Albans, Vermont, Brainerd was a graduate of the college in 1864. Brainerd assumed the presidency at a time when the college was recovering from an extended period of hardship. Brainerd remained president for 23 years, during which time the student body doubled, Starr Library and Warner Hall were constructed, and the college changed from an almost exclusively local college into a more regionally oriented institution.[1] Brainerd was an educator with diverse interests, teaching in almost every subject, from physics to mathematics, to English and rhetoric.[1] He was especially interested in botany; his papers and letters are in several herbaria and libraries throughout New England and the East.[2] Brainerd's diverse talents and interests also informed his educational philosophy. Brainerd focused his efforts on strengthening and broadening the education offered by Middlebury rather than enforcing discipline and religion.[3]

In 1995, when Middlebury initiated a system of residential commons, Brainerd Commons was named in his honor.

A type of Hawthorn, Crataegus brainerdii, is named in his honor.[4]

The standard author abbreviation Brainerd is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[5]

References

  1. [1]
    "Brainerd Commons". Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved April 30, 2006.
  2. [2]
    "Library of the Gray Herbarium". Archived from the original on August 23, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2006.
  3. [3]
    Mumford, Howard M., The New England Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Mar. 1938), pp. 209-210
  4. [4]
    "Crataegus brainerdii (Brainerd's hawthorn))". Go Botany. New England Wildflower Society. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  5. [5]
    International Plant Names Index.  Brainerd.
Preceded by President of Middlebury College
1885–1908		 Succeeded by


Flag of United StatesBiography icon

This biography of an American academic administrator born in 1840–1849 is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Ezra_Brainerd, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.