Marshall Conant

In his administration Mr. Conant expanded the scientific studies in the Normal School, adding books to the school library, anatomical plates, historical, geological and geographical maps, and scientific apparatus, including an orrery, which he made. He also helped to organize the Bridgewater Natural History Society and delivered the opening lecture to this group. He sent forth many excellent teachers, some of whom headed and developed Normal Schools in many parts of the country, and he brought to the Normal School faculty two of its most illustrious members, Albert Gardner Boyden and Eliza B. Woodward, both of whom came to the school in the fall of 1857. When he resigned from the principalship in 1860, the foundation of a professional school for teachers was firmly laid.