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{{Infobox Personperson
| name = Cyrus Peirce
| image =Cyrus Peirce 1790-1860.jpg
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| children = none
}}
'''Cyrus Peirce''' (1790-18601790–1860), American educator and Unitarian minister, was the founding president of the first American public [[normal school]], which evolved into [[Framingham State University]].<ref name="framingham.edu">[http://www.framingham.edu/150th/presidents.htm Framingham State College - 150 Years in Framingham<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
 
==Biography==
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In a 1841 letter to Henry Barnard where he described his work in the Lexington Normal School, Peirce wrote:
 
<i>''"You ask for a full account of my manner of instruction in the art of Teaching. This, it is not easy to give. From what I say, you may get somo idea of what I attempt; and of the manner of it. Two things I have aimed at, especially in this school. 1. To teach thoroughly the principles of the several branches studied, so that the pupils may have a clear and full undei standing of them. 2nd, to teach the pupils by my own example, as well as by precepts, the best way of teaching the same Dungs effectually to others. I have four different methods of recitation. 1st, by question and answer; 2nd, by conversation; 3rd, by calling on one, two, three, more or less, to give an analysis of the whole subject contained in the lesson, and 4th, by requiring written analyses in which the ideas of the author are staled in the language of the pupil. I do not mean that these are all practised at the same exercise. The students understand that, at all the recitations, they are at perfect liberty to suggest queries, doubts, opinions."<ref name="barnard.edu">[http://books.google.com/books?id=twoCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&vq=peirce#v=onepage&q=peirce&f=false Connecticut common school journal, Volumes 1-4, p. 140]</ref></i>''
 
The experimental normal school in Lexington, which was to evolve into today's [[Framingham State College]], began on a modest note with only three students, but it had grown to 42 by July 1842, when ill health forced Peirce to resign his position there and return to Nantucket. By 1844 the school had moved to [[West Newton, Massachusetts|West Newton]] and Peirce was persuaded to return for another term in July 1844. He served until May 1849, when ill health again forced him to resign. While at the school, he closed each class with the call for them to "Live to the Truth". His words are the motto of today's Framingham State College, which has acknowledged him as its first president.<ref name="framingham.edu"/>
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===Later life===
After returning from Europe in 1850, Cyrus Peirce became involved with [[Nathaniel Topliff Allen]] (1823-19031823–1903) in Allen's Academy in West Newton. After the normal school moved to Framingham in 1953, the academy took over its buildings which were located on Washington Street, where the First Unitarian Society in Newton now stands. Ill health again forced Peirce to retire but he remained associated with the academy until his death.
 
Cyrus Peirce died on April 5, 1860, in West Newton and is buried in Section TT, Lot 148 in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket. His monument was erected by the students of the normal school and consists of a Celtic cross inscribed with the motto he had chosen for the school: "Live to the Truth." Harriet Peirce died on September 29, 1884 and is buried next to her husband.<ref name="prospecthillcemetery.com"/>
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