Barnas Sears

Barnas Sears was the general agent of the Peabody Education Fund who was sent to Staunton, Virginia, by George Peabody to help out with Public Education. Sears was General Agent of the fund from 1867 until February 1880. He settled in Staunton because of the easy access to the railroad.

Sears travelled extensively throughout the south promoting Southern education, "free schools for the whole people". Sears "inspired confidence, removed doubts and suspicions, and aroused sympathy" through his warm personality, tact, and intelligence.

"Under his direction the Fund improved the sentiment for education in the South, developed the idea of adequate taxation for public schools, and helped remove the hostility toward Black education."

Sears also served as the president of Brown University whose "Encyclopedia Brunoniana" offers a more detailed biography of Sears [http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=P0360] .