167th Annual Moravian Historical Society Lecture, James A. Owen

This talk explores the role of John Comenius in developing educational plans at Harvard Indian School. Puritan leaders at Harvard, including John Winthrop and John Eliot, admired Comenius and were in direct communication with him between 1641 and the late 1660s. Comenius's Pansophic education program, using Janua Linguarum Reserata and other books, became the standard for teaching Native American students at Harvard. Using archival documents from across Europe and the United States, this talk demonstrates how the Bohemian Brethren influenced the earliest Native American Christians. Tantalizing clues found in the papers of Puritans and European Protestant leaders suggest a more prominent role for Comenius in American education than has previously been known.