Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Miner, Alonzo Ames, 1814-1895
Alonzo Ames Miner (1814-95) was the second president of Tufts, serving from 1862 to 1875.He was born in Lempster, New Hampshire, on August 17, 1814.As a young man, Miner taught school in various rural towns in Vermont and New Hampshire. In 1839 he was ordained a Universalist minister. In 1848 he succeeded Hosea Ballou (the elder) as pastor of the Second Universalist Church of Boston, a post he held until his death. Although Miner had little formal education himself, he was firmly devoted to the cause of education in Massachusetts at all levels. He was at various times a member of the Board of Trustees of Tufts College, the Board of Overseers of Harvard, the Massachusetts State Board of Education and other secular and religious educational institutions. | |
Alonzo Miner was involved in many moral and civic organizations. He was very active in the Temperence movement of the mid-nineteenth century on a local and national level, local work relief committees, national and state peace congresses, and other local civic groups. | |
Miner was appointed president of Tufts College in 1862, after the untimely death the previous year of Hosea Ballou, 2d. According to the terms of the agreement, Miner continued to hold his position at the Second Universalist Church and received no salary for serving as the president of the college. Miner brought the college back from the brink of financial ruin, and developed many new educational programs. He died on June 14, 1895. A bronze bust in memory of Miner is located in Goddard Chapel. | |
Miner Hall on the Medford Campus was named in his honor. | |
Source: UA001.004. | |
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