Jones, Thomas E. (Thomas Elsa), 1888-1973 (President)
Biography
Thomas E. Jones served as Earlham’s president from 1946 to 1958.
He grew up in Fairmount, Indiana, attended Fairmount Academy. Graduating from Earlham in 1912, he did graduate work in sociology at Columbia University. A recorded Quaker minister, he worked as executive secretary of the Young Friends movement. He had lived in Japan while his wife, Esther, served as a missionary.
Jones was serving as president of Fisk University when asked to become Earlham’s next president. Under Jones’s leadership enrollment rose from 225 to almost 1000, $10 million dollars was raised for campus improvements, and the faculty was transformed. Jones developed the “Earlham Idea,” a vision for Earlham’s present and future. Jones engaged in fundraising not only for buildings, but for higher salaries for faculty as well.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Thomas E. and Esther B. Jones Collection
The Thomas E. and Esther B. Jones Collection consists of personal papers of Thomas E. Jones, the president of Fisk University from 1926 to 1946 and Earlham College from 1946 to 1958, and his wife Esther (Balderston) Jones, a missionary teacher in Japan. It contains significant material on Quaker work in Japan, race relations, Earlham College, and Quaker affairs in the twentieth century.