Goddard, William Giles (1794 - 1846)
Role: Trustee, ProfessorDates: 1842 - 1846, 1825 - 1842
Portrait Location: Maddock Alumni Center 200
Artist: Selinger, Jean Paul (1850 - 1909)
Portrait Date:
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24 1/2"w x 29 1/2"h
Framed Dimensions: 37"w x 42"h
Brown Portrait Number: 71
Brown Historical Property Number: 539
William Giles Goddard was born in Johnston, RI. He graduated from Brown with the Class of 1812 and immediately took up law studies in Worcester, Massachusetts. He soon became involved in the local newspaper, the Worcester Spy , however, and gave up his studies to devote himself to full-time newspaper work. From 1813 to 1825 he was editor of the Rhode Island American . Perhaps it was his coverage of politics that led him back to Brown in 1825 as a professor of moral philosophy. But as he soon discovered he had little aptitude for philosophical studies, he taught rhetoric and American history instead. He continued writing for the local press, especially during the Dorr Rebellion in 1842. In that year he resigned from teaching for health reasons but joined the Board of Trustees, serving as secretary from 1843 to 1846, the year of his death. Goddard had five sons, of whom William (BP 83, 204) became tenth chancellor of the University Corporation.
Jean Paul Selinger was a painter of both figures and landscapes, working principally in Boston. His likeness of Goddard was copied from an original by an unknown artist belonging to Goddard's widow, Charlotte Rhoda Goddard. The portrait was given to Brown by his family after his death.