William Torrey Harris (September 10, 1835 – November 5, 1909) was an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

. He worked for nearly a quarter century in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, where he taught school and served as Superintendent of Schools for twelve years. With

Susan Blow Susan Elizabeth Blow (June 7, 1843 – March 27, 1916) was an American educator who opened the first successful public kindergarten in the United States. She was known as the "Mother of the Kindergarten." Early life The eldest of nine childre ...

, in 1873 he established the first permanent, public

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

in the country. He is also known for establishing high school as an integral part of public education. Increasingly interested in Hegelian philosophy, he was cofounder of ''Journal of Speculative Philosophy'' (1867), the first philosophical journal in the US. He also worked with

Amos Bronson Alcott Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and av ...

Concord School of Philosophy The Concord School of Philosophy was a lyceum-like series of summer lectures and discussions of philosophy in Concord, Massachusetts from 1879 to 1888. History Starting the Concord School of Philosophy had long been a goal of founder Amos Bro ...

. In 1889 Harris was appointed as US Commissioner of Education, and served in that role, under four presidents, until 1906.

Biography

Born in 1835 in North Killingly,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, he attended

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

in Andover, Massachusetts. He completed two years at

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, then moved West. Beginning at age 22, Harris taught school and made his career in

, from 1857 to 1880, a period when the city was growing rapidly. It served both as a gateway to the West and as an industrializing city on the Mississippi River. He served as Superintendent of Schools from 1868 to 1880, and had a strong influence on the system. With Susan E. Blow in this city, in 1873 he established America's first permanent public kindergarten. While in St. Louis, William Torrey Harris implemented many influential ideas to strengthen both the institution of the public school system and the basic philosophical principles of education. His changes resulted in the expansion of the public school curriculum to include high school. He believed it was essential to growth of an individual and to meet new challenges of the industrial age. The expanded programs included art, music, and scientific and manual studies. He also encouraged all public schools to acquire libraries. Harris's St. Louis schools were considered some of the best in the country. His fellow educators included many local farmers and tradesemen who were immigrants from German provinces after the failed revolutions of 1848. They had a strong belief in education. In St. Louis, Harris met mechanic and philosopher

Henry Clay Brockmeyer Henry Clay Brockmeyer (born Heinrich Conrad Brokmeyer, August 12, 1826 near Petershagen, Prussia – July 26, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri) was a German-American poet, philosopher, and politician. Early life Brockmeyer was born Heinrich Conrad Br ...

, a German immigrant whose influence turned him toward

Hegelianism Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

. With Brockmeyer and other of the St. Louis Hegelians, Harris founded and edited the ''Journal of Speculative Philosophy'' (1867); it was the first

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also examples ...

in the United States. He edited it until 1893. Its contributors promoted Hegel's concept of time and events as part of a universal plan, a working out of an eternal historical dialectic. Harris returned to New England, where he was associated with

in Massachusetts from 1880 to 1889. In 1889 Harris was appointed as

U.S. Commissioner of Education The Commissioner of Education was the title given to the head of the federal Office of Education, which was historically a unit within and originally assigned to the Department of the Interior in the United States. The position was created on March ...

, serving under presidents

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

, until 1906. Harris worked to organize all phases of education on the principles of philosophical

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

as espoused by

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...

Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Ka ...

, Fröbel, Pestalozzi and many others of

idealist In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...

philosophies. As US Commissioner of Education, Harris also strongly supported education and assimilation of Native Americans. He wrote the introduction to the Bureau of Education Bulletin (No. 1, 1889) on "Indian Education", issued under

Thomas Jefferson Morgan Thomas Jefferson Morgan was an American Brevet Brigadier General during the American Civil War. He commanded the 14th United States Colored Infantry Regiment throughout the middle and end of the war. Later on, he became a prominent member of the ...

, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Harris called for mandatory education of American Indians through a partnership with Christianity in order to promote industry. Harris called for the removal of Native children from their families for up to 10 years of training for the "lower form of civilization", as a way of assimilating Indians into "American" civilization. He believed this was necessary to save the race, who he believed had to shift from their traditional cultures. Harris wrote,

"We owe it to ourselves and to the enlightened public opinion of the world to save the Indian, and not destroy him. We can not save him and his patriarchal or tribal institution both together. To save him we must take him up into our form of civilization. We must approach him in the missionary spirit and we must supplement missionary action by the aid of the civil arm of the State. We must establish compulsory education for the good of the lower race."

Harris died on November 5, 1909 in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

Legacy and honors

Harris was awarded the honorary degree of

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

from various American and foreign universities, as he had an international reputation.

Honors

Harris–Stowe State University Harris–Stowe State University is a historically black public university in St. Louis, Missouri. The university offers 50 majors, minors, and certificate programs in education, business, and arts & sciences. It is a member-school of the Thurg ...

in St. Louis is named for Harris, and author

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...

. In 1906 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching conferred upon him "as the first man to whom such recognition for meritorious service is given, the highest retiring allowance which our rules will allow, an annual income of $3000."

Notable quotations

Harris was a strong proponent of the American colonial projects in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines following the Spanish–American War. In an article entitled "An Educational Policy for Our New Possessions", Harris wrote: “… the other people of the world to the number of some fourteen hundred millions are united under the five great powers of Europe, while we in turn have only one hundred millions, our national idea will be threatened abroad and have more dangers than ever at home.” “We must accept the charge of as many of these colonies as come to our hand. We must seek to give them civilization in the highest sense that we can conceive of it.” “The highest ideal of a civilization is that of a civilization that is engaged constantly in elevating lower classes of people into participation of all that is good and reasonable and perpetually increasing at the same time their self-activity. Such a civilization we have a right to ''enforce'' on this earth mphasis added”

Achievements

He was also assistant editor of ''Johnson’s New Universal Cyclopaedia'' and editor of ''Appletons' International Education Series''. He expanded the

United States Bureau of Education The Office of Education, at times known as the Department of Education and the Bureau of Education, was a small unit in the Federal Government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1867 to 1972. It is now separated ...

and started graphic exhibits of the United States in international expositions. He was responsible for introducing

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

into

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

so that the native

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

s and

trapper Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management. History Neolithic ...

s would have another livelihood, before they brought other species to

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. Harris was one of the 30 founding members of the

Simplified Spelling Board The Simplified Spelling Board was an American organization created in 1906 to reform the spelling of the English language, making it simpler and easier to learn, and eliminating many of what were considered to be its inconsistencies. The board oper ...

, founded in 1906 by

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

to make English easier to learn and understand through changes in the

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...

of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

. As editor-in-chief of ''

Webster's New International Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...

'' (1909), he originated the divided page. In the book ''The Educational Philosophy of William T. Harris'' by Richard D. Mosier, it is stated that Harris forms the bridge between the mechanism, associationism, and utilitarianism of the 18th century and the pragmatism, experimentalism, and instrumentalism of the 20th century. William Torrey Harris took

Bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

’s original ideas on the organization of information for libraries and modernized them to be applied in the United States by the second half of the 1800s. William Harris, who worked creating a library catalog for the Public Library School of St. Louis, wrote an essay on creating an organization system for libraries. It wasn’t the first one in America, but it was an scheme that gained international reputation rapidly. Harris used a deductive hierarchy and created a structure better adapted to the interrelation of knowledge, which facilitated its application in libraries’ catalogs. Harris proposed a practical system of rules for the classification going from the generic to the specific. Those rules included main divisions, ultimate divisions, appendixes, and hybrids. The problem with Bacon’s approach was the difficulty to limit all knowledge within a restricted classification. Conversely, Harris suggested that content is predominant in minor divisions and sections, while form is the “guiding principle” in the main divisions.

Works

Besides voluminous reports on educational matters, many papers contributed to the ''Proceedings of the American Social Science Association'', and various compilations edited by him, his publications include:
''Introduction to the Study of Philosophy'' (1889)

''The Spiritual Sense of Dante's Divina Commedia'' (1889)

''Hegel's Logic: a Critical Exposition'' (1890)
* '' A. Bronson Alcott, his Life and Philosophy'' (with F. B. Sanborn) (1893)
''Psychologic Foundations of Education'' (1898)
* ''Elementary Education'' (Monographs on Education in the United States; vol. 1.) (1900; second edition, 1904)
''The School City'' (1906)
* ''The Philosophy of Education'' (1906)

References

External links

*
William Torrey Harris Papers
finding aid at th
St. Louis Public LibraryThe Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol. I, Nos. 1-4, 1867
Harris as editor. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, William Torrey 1835 births 1909 deaths 19th-century American philosophers American lexicographers American non-fiction writers Philosophers from Connecticut Schoolteachers from Missouri People from Killingly, Connecticut Phillips Academy alumni Transcendentalism United States Bureau of Education people 19th-century American educators 19th-century lexicographers