Joe Russell Whitaker

Joseph Russell Whitaker also in the spelling variant J. Russell Whitaker (born January 30, 1900 in Cynthiana , Harrison County , Kentucky , † February 24, 2000 in Nashville , Davidson County , Tennessee ) was an American geographer .

Life

Family and education

Joe Russell Whitaker, son of Walter Howard Whitaker and the Whitaker Nancy Green, a graduate of Cynthiana High School , devoted himself since 1918 to the study of geography and natural sciences at Berea College in Berea in the US state of Kentucky . In 1920 he continued his studies at the University of Chicago , in 1922 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science . Then Joe Russell Whitaker studied at the University of Wisconsin – Madison , in 1923 he earned the academic degree of a Master of Science . In 1930 he received his doctorate from the University of Chicago to the Doctor of Philosophy .

The Methodist baptized Joe Russell Whitaker married on December 21, 1922, Sarah Houk. The children Thomas Russell, Sarah Ann and Margaret Clare came from the connection. He died in February 2000 a few weeks after he had turned 100 in Nashville.

Professional background

Joe Russell Whitaker got a job as a Teacher of Science at Berea College in 1917, which he held until 1919. From 1921 to 1923 Whitaker was an Assistant in Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1924 he was appointed head of the Department of Geography at State Teachers College in Marquette , Michigan . In 1930 Joe Russell Whitaker followed a call as Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 1937 he was appointed Associate Professor . In 1940 he moved to Peabody College in Nashville as Professor of Geography and head of the department of the same name. In 1939 he was a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota summer courses .

In 1935, a research assignment sponsored by the National Research Council took him to Ontario . Whitaker was a member of the National Research Council from 1939 to 1953. In addition, he served as an advisor to the United States Department of War and the State Department from 1942 to 1944, and to the United States Military Government for Germany in 1947. He belonged to the Educational Survey of South Carolina in 1945 , and in 1946 that of the US state of Idaho on. In 1956 he was a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the World Book Encyclopedia.

Whitaker , who received the Distinguished Service Award of the National Council for Geographic Education in 1955, was an elected member of the Association of American Geographers , which he presided over in 1953, the National Council of Geography Teachers, of which he was President in 1938, the Phi Beta Kappa , the Sigma Xi and the Pi Gamma Mu. He emerged in particular as an author and editor of books relating to his field.

Publications

• The development of the tobacco industry in Kentucky: a geographical interpretation. MS University of Wisconsin - Madison 1923, 1923
• Negaunee , Michigan: an urban center dominated by iron mining. publisher not identified, Philadelphia, 1931
• together with RH Whitbeck, Loyal Durand: The working world; an economic geography. Cincinnati American Book Co., New York, 1937
• The life and death of the land. Peabody Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1946
• Geography in school and college; talks on values ​​and problems. Bureau of Publications, George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn., 1948
• together with Ralph H. Brown: Historical geography of the United States. Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1948
• together with Edward A. Ackerman: American resources, their management and conservation. Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1951
• Analects from an owls' roost: selections from the journals of Joe Russell Whitaker. JR Whitaker, Nashville, Tenn., 1994

literature

• Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women. : Volume 33 (1964-1965). Marquis Who's Who, Chicago, Ill., 1964, p. 2143.
• Carolynn Nan Fischel: Concepts and generalizations essential to the study of geography at the ninth grade level. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1965, pp. 33, 40.
• Thomas Frank Barton, Pradyumna Prasad Karan: Leaders in American Geography: Geographic education. New Mexico Geographical Society, Mesilla, NM, 1992, p. 187.
• Geoffrey J. Martin: Joe Russell Whitaker (1900-2000). in: Association of American Geographers: Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Volume 93, Issue 1. The Association, Washington, DC, 2003, pp. 223-228.