Gardner, Henry B.

Henry Brayton Gardner (1863-1939), professor of economics, was born in Providence on March 26, 1863. He studied at the University Grammar School and graduated from Brown in 1884. He received his Ph.D. degree from John Hopkins University in 1890. Meanwhile he was instructor of political economy at Brown from 1888 to 1890. He became associate professor in 1890 and full professor in 1898, after a year’s study in Germany. In 1919 he became the first Eastman Professor of Political Economy. As other faculty members were added to his department, he specialized in courses in money and banking and public finance, but continued to participate in the teaching of the introductory economics course. He was placed in charge of the Financial History of the United States, which was prepared under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution. He was head of the department of economics until he retired in 1928. He was a founder of the Family Welfare Society. For 45 years he was a trustee of the Providence Public Library, and for 25 years he was its president. He died in Providence on April 22, 1939.