Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, LL.D., (1787 – 1851) was a renowned American pioneer in the education of the deaf. Along with Laurent Clerc and Mason Cogswell, he co-founded the first institution for the education of the deaf in North America, and he became its first principal. When opened on April 15, 1817, it was called the "Connecticut Asylum (at Hartford) for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons," but it is now known as the American School for the Deaf.
Gallaudet University, a federally chartered private university for the education of the Deaf and hard of hearing located in Washington, D.C., is named for him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hopkins_Gallaudet
For additional information on the American School for the Deaf, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_School_for_the_Deaf
For additional information on Gallaudet University, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallaudet_University
Henry Barnard (1811 – 1900) was an American educationalist and reformer. As a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, he worked to reorganize and reform the common school system of the state, thus earning a national reputation as an educational reformer. In 1843, he was appointed by the governor of Rhode Island agent to examine the public schools of the state, and recommended improvements; and his work resulted in the reorganization of the school system two years later. Barnard's chief service to the cause of education, however, was rendered as the editor, from 1855 to 1881, of the American Journal of Education, the thirty-one volumes of which are a veritable encyclopedia of education, one of the most valuable compendiums of information on the subject to that time. He also edited from 1838 to 1842, and again from 1851 to 1854, the Connecticut Common School Journal, and from 1846 to 1849 the Journal of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Barnard
2nd ed