Francis Hovey Stoddard Papers
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Abstract
Francis Harvey Stoddard served as Professor of English Language and Literature at New York University (NYU) from 1888-1914 and retired as Professor Emeritus. He also served as the Dean of the Faculty of the College of Arts and Pure Science, subsequently the College of Arts and Science, from 1910-1914. Stoddard published widely on topics of English literature, language, and poetry. His papers consist of lecture notes taken by his students as well as biographical material.
Biographical Note
Frances Hovey Stoddard was born in Middlebury, Vermont, on April 25, 1847. He graduated with an A.B. with high honors from Amherst College in 1869 and subsequently began teaching. He married Lucy Maria in Springfield, Massachusetts on May 14, 1873, and they had a daughter, Lucy Stoddard. After 1873 Stoddard worked for several years in the cotton manufacturing business in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was a student at Oxford University from 1884-1886 and afterward spent two years at the University of California as an instructor of English literature. In 1888 Stoddard became Professor of English Language and Literature at New York University; he held that title until he retired in 1914 as Professor Emeritus. It was during his first year at NYU that the University began admitting graduate students as candidates for the doctoral degree. He also served as the Dean of the Faculty of the College of Arts and Pure Science (subsequently the College of Arts and Science) from 1910-1914.
Stoddard's published works include: The Modern Novel (1883); The Ideal in Literature (1884); Psycho-Biography (1885); Women in the English Universities (1886); The Caedmon Poems, Conditions of Labor in England, and Miracle Plays and Mysteries (1887); Tolstoi and Matthew Arnold (1888); The Uses of Rhetoric and Inductive Work in College Classes (1890); The Study of the English Language (1894), Lord Byron: Introduction to Works (1899); The Evolution of the English Novel (1900), and the Life of Charles Butler (1903). Stoddard also edited Poems of National Spirit (1904), and served thirty years as the editor of The Pocket Classics (old series), issued by Macmillan.
Stoddard received an honorary A.M. degree from Amherst College in 1886, an honorary Ph.D. from Western University of Pennsylvania (later the University of Pittsburgh) in 1896, and an honorary LL.D from NYU in 1914. He served as a member of the Century and Authors' Clubs, the Modern Language Association of America, and the American Association of University Professors. Stoddard died in New York City on February 6, 1936.
Arrangement
Materials are arranged chronologically in two series:
Series I: Lecture Notes
Series II: Biographical Materials
Scope and Contents
Francis Hovey Stoddard's papers consist of two folders of lecture notes taken by his students for courses taught from 1905-1907, a menu for a dinner given in his honor in 1914, and a copy of his biographical sketch in the 1937 National Cyclopedia of American Biography.
Subjects
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Francis Hovey Stoddard Papers; MC 41; box number; folder number or item identifier; New York University Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials found in collection; there is no documentation concerning the provenance of these materials. The accession number associated with this collection is 2019.011.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Decisions regarding arrangement, description, and physical interventions for this collection prior to 2019 are unknown.
Revisions to this Guide
Repository
Series 1: Lecture Notes, 1905-1907, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Series I includes lecture notes taken by Stoddard's students for courses taught from 1905-1907.
Notes on the Development of Fiction - Taken by Katharine C. Shively from the Lectures of Professor Stoddard (English IV), 1905-1906, inclusive
Lectures on English Poetry Delivered by Professor Stoddard - Notes Taken by Olga Marx in the Graduate School of NYU, 1906-1907, inclusive
Series 2: Biographical Materials, 1914-1937, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Series II includes a menu for a dinner given Stoddard's honor in 1914 and a copy of his biographical sketch in the 1939 National Cyclopedia of American Biography.