Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Anthony, Gardner Chace, 1856-1937
Gardner Chace Anthony (1856-1937), M1890, H1889, H1905, served Tufts College as the first dean of the Engineering School. Anthony House, at 14 Professors Row on the Medford Campus, was Professor Anthony's residence during his lifetime and is named in his honor. | |
Anthony was born in Providence, Rhode Island, an area first settled by his ancestors, on April 24, 1856.He attended the English and Classical School of Providence, although failed to graduate due to poor health. In 1874, Anthony began work in the drafting room of the Providence Steam Engine company in preparation for his entrance to Brown University the following year. In 1877, he left Brown to pursue special studies in engineering at Tufts. Anthony then continued work in drafting rooms while he married Susie A. Pearson in 1879. They had one son. | |
He obtained his first teaching position at Rhode Island School of Design in 1885, where he was appointed Director of the Mechanical Department. Two years later, he founded the Rhode Island Technical Drawing School, and in 1889 assumed the principalship of the Pawtucket Evening Drawing School. He obtained a master's degree from Tufts in 1890. | |
Anthony maintained his positions in the Rhode Island schools until he returned to Tufts in 1893 as dean of the Bromfield-Pearson School and professor of Technical Drawing for the college. When the engineering courses at Tufts were organized into a separate school in 1898, Anthony became the program's first dean, holding the position until his retirement in 1927.During the thirty-four years he was affiliated with Tufts, Anthony worked to establish, organize, and promote the College of Engineering, watching its enrollment more than quadruple during his tenure. In 1921, following the death of his first wife, he married Ella Taylor. At his retirement, Anthony was made dean emeritus of the Engineering School. | |
Recognized as an authority on mechanical drawing and machine design, Anthony was active in several academic and engineering societies, including the American Society for Mechanical Engineers and the American Association of Arts and Sciences. He served as president of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education in 1913, having held the position of vice-president two years earlier. He published at least five books covering drawing, descriptive geometry and machine design, including the "Technical Drawing Series," and is also attributed with introducing the term "Graphics" to describe the various phases of drawing. | |
Anthony died on November 28, 1937, in New Rochelle, New York. | |
Source: VF; HTC, 142-144. | |
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