Howard Mumford Jones

Howard Mumford Jones (born April 16, 1892 in Saginaw , Michigan ; † May 11, 1980 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) was an American literary scholar , historian and writer who dealt primarily with American literature and American studies . He taught primarily at Harvard University and was also active as a poet and literary critic . In 1965 he was honored with the Pulitzer Prize .

Career

Howard Mumford Jones was born in Michigan, but moved in his youth with his family to Wisconsin , where he worked in La Crosse the high school attended. He then enrolled there in 1910 at State Teachers College (now the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse ), before moving to the University of Wisconsin – Madison after two years within the University of Wisconsin system , where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1914 . His further studies led him to the University of Chicago , to him for a work at the North Sea from the Book of Songs by Heinrich Heine the Master of Arts awarded.

As a result, Jones taught American literature and comparative literature as an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin and at the University of Montana - Missoula , but a lack of a doctorate prevented his academic advancement. As a result, he returned to the University of Chicago in parallel to his teaching activities and began working on a dissertation , but discarded this goal a little later, as he would have been obliged for formal reasons to attend courses that he had already taught himself. Without Ph.D. In 1924/25 he was drawn to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , where he was appointed to his first full professorship in 1927 . In the same function, he moved to the University of Michigan in 1930 , before he accepted a call from Harvard University in 1936 and worked there until his retirement in 1962, most recently as Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of Humanities .

During his tenure at Harvard and beyond, Jones was a visiting professor at a number of universities, including Cornell University , York University , the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , the Hebrew Union College and the University of Arkansas . He also chaired the American Council of Learned Societies from 1955 to 1959 and served as President of the Modern Language Association in 1965 .

Jones was married twice and had a daughter from his first marriage. He died in Cambridge on May 11, 1980 at the age of 88.

Work and honors

Jones dealt with American literature throughout his life, with his focus initially on literary considerations, but he later also turned to cultural and historical aspects. For his work "O Strange New World - American Culture: The Formative Years" he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the non-fiction category in 1965 and the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize . He deals with the development of American culture from the time the continent was discovered to the Jacksonian Democracy . In the literary field, among other things, he dealt with the work of Edgar Allan Poe . In addition, he was active as a literary critic and poet , so in 1918 he published the collection of poems "Gargoyles and Other Poems" . His last work was his autobiography , published in 1979 .

In addition, Jones had been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1938 and served as president from 1944 to 1951. He was a member of the American Historical Association , the American Philosophical Society , the American Antiquarian Society, and Phi Beta Kappa, and received three Guggenheim Fellowships . In his honor, the professorship for American studies at Harvard University bears his name today (Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies) . In addition, he was awarded the following 15 honorary doctorates :

Harvard University , 1936 University of Colorado , 1938 Tulane University , 1938 University of Wisconsin – Madison , 1948 Case Western Reserve University , 1948 Clark University , 1952 Ohio State University , 1960 Hebrew Union College , 1960

Colby College , 1962 Northwestern University , 1966 University of Utah , 1966 Clarkson College of Technology , 1968 New York University , 1969 University of Windsor , 1969 University of Pennsylvania , 1976

literature

• WH Bond: Howard Mumford Jones. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, Vol. 90, Part 2, Oct. 1980, pp. 302-307. (available online at americanantiquarian.org )
• Elizabeth A. Brennan, Elizabeth C. Clarage: Who's Who of Pulitzer Price Winners. Oryx Press, Phoenix , 1999, pp. 254-255, ISBN 1-57356-111-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter J. (PDF; 354 ​​kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved May 13, 2018 . 
2. ^ Howard Mumford Jones. gf.org, accessed on May 14, 2018 (English).