The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Schaeffer, Nathan C.

SCHAEFFER, Nathan C., American clergyman and educator: b. Maxatawny, Berks County, Pa., 3 Feb. 1849; d. Lancaster, Pa., 14 March 1919. In 1867 he was graduated at Franklin and Marshall College after which he studied divinity at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church and finished his education at the universities of Berlin, Tübingen and Leipzig. From 1875 to 1877 Dr. Schaeffer was professor at Franklin and Marshall College and from 1877 to 1893 was principal of the Keystone State Normal School. In the year last named he became State superintendent of public instruction, a post he held until his death. He also served as president of the State board of education and was president of a commission that prepared a new school code for the State, and was a member of the simplified spelling board. In 1879 he received the degree of doctor of philosophy and in 1904 received the degrees of doctor of divinity and doctor of laws from Dickinson College. He was a prolific writer on educational and religious subjects. His works include ‘Thinking and Learning to Think’ (1900); ‘History of Education in Pennsylvania’; (editor) ‘Bible Readings for Schools’ (1897); introduction to Hinsdale's ‘Civil Government’; Riddle's ‘Nicholas Comenius’; ‘Life of Henry Harbaugh,’ and editor of the Pennsylvania School Journal after 1893.