Hosea Ballou Collection

Hosea Ballou 2d was a prominent Universalist clergyman, educator, and writer in the 19th century. He was born in Guilford, Vermont on October 18, 1796. He began his career as a Universalist clergyman in Stafford, Connecticut, before moving to a newly established Universalist Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1821. In 1838, he took charge of the parish in Medford, Massachusetts and, together with Thomas Whittemore, worked as an editor of The Universalist Magazine, which Ballou had founded in 1819. Ballou wrote for a number of Universalist publications, and extensively explored Universalist history and theology. His writings include The Ancient History of Universalism, from the time of the Apostles to the Fifth General Council (1829), A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Use of Universalist Societies and Families (1837), and Counsel and Encouragement: Discourses on the Conduct of Life (1866). For his scholarship, Ballou was granted an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Harvard University and became one of its overseers in 1845. 

Ballou was one of the greatest influences in the founding of Tufts University, and he became its first president and first professor of History and Intellectual Philosophy in 1853. He established the college’s first curriculum, which developed into what is now the Bachelor of Arts Degree. Ballou died in office on May 27, 1861. His personal library, held in Tisckh Library Special Collections, and Ballou Hall, the first building constructed on the Medford Campus, remain as his legacy.