Sears, Barnas (1802 - 1880)
Role: Fifth PresidentDates: 1855 - 1867
Portrait Location: Sayles Hall 108
Artist: Arnold, John Nelson (1834 - 1909)
Portrait Date: 1869
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 45 1/2
Framed Dimensions: 59
Brown Portrait Number: 30
Brown Historical Property Number: 626
Barnas Sears issued from a humble family in the Berkshires, Massachusetts. He worked his way through school building stone walls in the summer and teaching during winter breaks. He graduated from Brown in 1825 and went on to study at Newton Theological Institution. He was ordained as a Baptist minister, but health problems interfered with his practice. Sears returned to teaching, becoming professor of theology and then president of Newton. He published a number of texts and, in 1848, succeeded Horace Mann as secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. Sears's prominence as a Baptist educator rivaled President Wayland's, and in 1855 Sears followed Wayland as president of Brown. Like Wayland, Sears respected student opinions and encouraged freethinking, yet being much less severe, he was deeply loved by the students.
Artist John N. Arnold lived in Providence and painted portraits of a number of governors and distinguished Rhode Island Citizens. He executed Sear's portrait in 1869.