=Henry Barnard’s Part in the Educational Awakening.=--But there was another important contribution to the awakening made by a New Englander, which was of a rather different nature from that connected with the influence of Horace Mann. Before that reconstruction of the common schools, which was responsible for the best elements in our national civilization, could be at all complete, it was necessary that America should have a better comprehension of what was being done in education elsewhere. The United States had for two centuries been undergoing a gradual transition from the institutional types transplanted from England and the Continent in colonial days, and was coming more and more to blossom out into democracy and the people’s schools, but for a long time there was little knowledge of what was being done by the other countries that had by this time adopted similar ideals. Conceptions of universal and democratic education and of improved organization and methods had been slowly developing in Prussia and other German states, and had extended to France and elsewhere. A literature connected with the advanced theories of such reformers as Rousseau, the philanthropists, Pestalozzi, and Fellenberg had likewise grown up in Europe. It was very important that America, now keenly alive to the need of educational reorganization, should become acquainted with all this, that the New World might secure the advantages of comparison, corroboration, and expansion of view from the work of older civilized peoples. Some reports on foreign education and translations of European treatises had already appeared (pp. 304 f.), but the time was now ripe for a more extensive and systematic exposition of European education and its application to popular education in America, and for a really capable scholar to bring these world views within the grasp of all classes of teachers and educational authorities. This literary representative of the awakening appeared at length in Henry Barnard (1811-1900), who is fully worthy of a place in the educational pantheon of America. Barnard (Fig. 39) made a brilliant record at Yale for general scholarship, and a position as assistant librarian during his last two years in college did much to afford him a wide grasp of bibliography. After graduation, he obtained a valuable experience in teaching, and, by travelling extensively in America and Europe, formed a broad acquaintance with educational institutions, libraries, galleries, and social conditions in all the leading states and nations. [Illustration: Fig. 37--James G. Carter (1795-1849).] [Illustration: Fig. 38.--Horace Mann (1796-1859).] [Illustration: Fig. 39.--Henry Barnard (1811-1900).] [Illustration: Fig. 40.--Francis W Parker (1831-1902).] GREAT AMERICAN EDUCATORS [Sidenote: Untoward educational conditions in Connecticut,] [Sidenote: and Barnard’s attempt to reform;] [Sidenote: _School Journal_] [Sidenote: and publication of educational material.]