William Allen (biographer)
| Wiliam Allen | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 3rd President of Bowdoin College | |
| Term | 1820 – 1839 |
| Predecessor | Jesse Appleton |
| Successor | Leonard Woods |
| Born | January 2, 1784 Pittsfield, Massachusetts |
| Died | July 16, 1868 (aged 84) Northampton, Massachusetts |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
William Allen (January 2, 1784 – July 16, 1868)[1] was a biographer, scholar and academic.
[edit] Biography
He was born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1784. He graduated from Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1802 and after a few years of work became assistant librarian at Harvard. He became Pastor of Pittsfield 1810; and President of Bowdoin College 1820-1839. He was largely responsible for establishing the Medical School of Maine at Bowdoin College in 1820. He resigned in 1839. Died at Northampton in 1868.
He prepared his American Biographical and Historical Dictionary (1809), the first work of general biography published in the United States. In 1810 he succeeded his father as pastor of the Church in Pittsfield. He was chosen president of Dartmouth University in 1818 and remained until the Dartmouth College Case extinguished the institution in 1819. In 1820 he went to Bowdoin College, over which institution he presided until 1839, when he resigned and devoted himself to literary studies. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1823.[2]
He collected 10,000 words not contained in standard dictionaries, and published them as a supplement to Webster's " Dictionary." tie wrote "Junius Unmasked," in which he sought to prove that Lord Sackville was the author of the Junius letters (Boston, 1828)" "Psalms and Hymns" (1835)" "Memoirs of Dr. Eleazer Wheeloek and of Dr. John Codman" (1853); "A Discourse at the Close of the Second Century of the Settlement at Northampton, Massachusetts." (1854)" " Wunnissoo, or the Vale of Housatonnuck," a poem (Boston, 1856)" a Dudleian lecture at Cambridge" a book of" Christian Sonnets" (NorthaInpton, 1860)" "Poems of Nazareth and the Cross" (1866); "Sacred Songs" (1867)" and numerous pamphlets, and contributed biographical articles to Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit." See his "Life, with Selections from his Correspondence" (Philadelphia, 1847). Some of the hymns, especially those about slavery, are curious.
[edit] References
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- Julian, John (June, 1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology. London: John Murray. p. 50.
- George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library. "William Allen, Administrative Records". http://library.bowdoin.edu/arch/archives/wag.shtml. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Jesse Appleton |
President of Bowdoin College 1820–39 |
Succeeded by Leonard Woods |
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