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Honors and Prizes in the Mla Field
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Two Centuries Ago another Dr. Johnson, commenting on the griefs and dangers that beset the scholar, advised him to pause a while from letters to be wise:
- Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes …
- There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,
- Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the gaol.
- See nations slowly wise, and meanly just,
- To buried merit raise the tardy bust.
A few years later he indicated that patrons are even greater ills than garrets in the life of the scholar. The corporate patronage of our time represents some advance over the system of individual patronage that was dying in the eighteenth century, and, in the field of modern scholarship, living merit is generally acknowledged–if not always in due proportion or in the crude but useful form of hire and salary. In two centuries there has been apparent progress, though it would be difficult to say how much. It is not the purpose of this essay to refute the universality of Dr. Johnson's sobering generalization but, for our own time and place, to qualify and perhaps to document it by surveying the honors reserved for living scholars, specifically those honors awarded by groups or institutions in the United States and Canada that have been or might conceivably be given to MLA members in recognition of unusual achievement.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1952
Footnotes
*
This is the third in a projected series of reports to MLA members on matters of general scholarly or professional interest. The author is Assistant Secretary of the Association. Earlier reports—on style (by the Secretary) and on serial bibliographies in the MLA field (by John H. Fisher)—may be found in the April 1951 PMLA. Later reports will be concerned with MLA Group projects, with the aims and methods of MLA research, with scholarly reviewing in the MLA field, with the criteria and desiderata of learned journals, and other such subjects.—Ed.
References
1 See the compilation, “Fellowships and Grants,” hitherto published annually in the Bibliographical (April) Number of PMLA, and hereafter to appear in a special supplement to PMLA published in September.
2 Among the American scholars in the MLA field who have been honored by more than one D.Litt., D.H.L., or LL.D. are J. D. M. Ford, the late Christian Gauss, Virginia Gildersleeve, Marjorie Nicolson, Helen C. White, E. H. Wilkins, and Louis B. Wright (all of whom have five or more honorary degrees to their credit), and A. B. Benson, Lily B. Campbell, T. M. Campbell, Lane Cooper, Hardin Craig, W. C. DeVane, H. G. Doyle, A. Feuillerat, R. H. Fife, N. Foerster, H. M. Jones, Watson Kirkconnell, H. C. Lancaster, S. E. Leavitt, K. B. Murdock, W. A. Nitze, F. N. Robinson, and G. W. Sherburn.
3 Perhaps the most renowned of these is the Gold Medal for Non-Fiction given annually by the Commonwealth Club of California to a resident of that state. MLA members who have received this award include Louis B. Wright and the late Dixon Wecter. Other local awards are the Ohioana Awards for the best books each year by authors resident in Ohio (given in 1951 to Richard Altick for The Scholar Adventurers), the Texas Institute of Arts and Letters Book Awards “for books and authors of Texas,” and the Annual Literary Award of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia “in recognition and encouragement of outstanding literary achievement in Philadelphia and its vicinity” given in 1951 to Henry N. Paul for The Royal Play of Macbeth.
4 There are, for example, the annual Gold Medal of the American Irish Historical Society awarded to a distinguished American of Irish blood, the annual Joel E. Spingarn Medal given since 1915 for the highest achievement of an American Negro, the annual Catholic Literary Awards for outstanding books in fiction and non-fiction by members of the Gallery of Living Catholic Authors, and the Laetare Medal presented annually since 1883 to an outstanding member of the Catholic Laity of America by the University of Notre Dame (two MLA members have received this award, J. D. M. Ford in 1937 and Helen C. White in 1942).
5 The most notable exception to this practice was the award of 1902 (the second year the prize in literature was given) to Theodor Mommsen.
6 Honors for scholars are in part a reflection of the more widespread interest in literature and scholarship in the major European countries. Except during the Occupation and immediately afterwards, France has consistently published more new books annually than the United States. In 1950, “the number of new books and editions published [in Great Britain] … was 6,000 more than in the United States; [and] … when a Gallup poll asked the question—Are you now reading any books or novels?—the answer ”yes“ came from 55 per cent in Britain, 43 per cent in Norway, 40 per cent in Canada, and 21 per cent in the United States” (Vincent Brome, “Barabbas Was a Publisher,” The Nation, clxxiii [1951], 475).
7 The British have bestowed the Order of Merit, knighthoods, and even Civil List pensions on their scholars. Five of the eleven British honorary members of the MLA have been knighted (Chambers, Craigie, Greg, Grierson, and Williams); all of them together with two other honorary members of the MLA (D. Nichol Smith and J. Dover Wilson, the latter awarded the order Companion of Honour in 1936) have been elected to the British Academy, and even more are Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature. American scholars in the MLA field have been variously honored by English organizations. Corresponding membership in the British Academy (restricted to one member per country) is the highest honor; G. L. Kittredge held this honor for the United States, and to the best of my knowledge it is now vacant. Frederick W. Hilles and Justin O'Brien have been given the Order of the British Empire. Honorary fellowship in the Royal Society of Literature has been extended to several Americans, among them Hardin Craig, J. L. Hotson, C. T. Prouty, Lionel Stevenson, and E. E. Willoughby. The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize of £100 (founded in 1888, now administered by the Council of the British Academy, and given to a woman of any nationality who has written a critical or historical work of sufficient value on any subject connected with English literature) has been awarded to three Americans: Hope Emily Allen (1929), Marjorie Nicolson (1947), and Rosemond Tuve (1949). Americans who have been honored by the presidency of the Modern Humanities Research Association include J. D. M. Ford (1937), H. C. Lancaster (1947), and Albert C. Baugh (1949). Of the many visiting and exchange professorships in England, the most notable is the Eastman Visiting Professorship at Oxford University, currently held by Donald Stauffer, the first Eastman Professor in Literature since J. L. Lowes (1931).
Highest among the French honors that have been conferred upon American scholars is the Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Paris, recently awarded to H. C. Lancaster (1946, though first conferred on him at Algiers in 1944) and Norman Torrey (1951); Morris Bishop received a similar degree from the University of Rennes (1948). At least 4 MLA members are Officiers de la Légion d'Honneur (G. Chinard, J. D. M. Ford, H. C. Lancaster, and J. B. Munn), and at least 8 have been made Chevaliers (Morris Bishop, A. Feuillerat, the late Christian Gauss, Urban T. Holmes, H. C. Lancaster, W. A. Nitze, Justin O'Brien, and C. D. Zdanowicz). At least 2 of our members are corresponding members of constituent Academies of l'Institut de France: Gilbert Chinard (Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques) and J. D. M. Ford (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres). At least 3 others have been named Officers d'Académie (Morris Bishop, W. R. Quynn, and C. D. Zdanowicz). Visiting and exchange professors at the Sorbonne have included J. D. M. Ford, H. C. Lancaster, and more recently J. W. Beach; Harry Levin will be added to the list in the near future.
Many other countries have honored American scholars for work in the MLA field. Italy has conferred the Order of the Crown on J. D. M. Ford and E. H. Wilkins, and J. G. Fucilla holds an honorary membership in the Accademia Cosentina. Spain has honored J. D. M. Ford with the Order of Isabella the Catholic and corresponding memberships in the Spanish Academy (Madrid) and the Spanish Academy of Belles Lettres (Barcelona); S. E. Leavitt holds a corresponding membership in the Hispanic-American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Cadiz). Latin-American honors have gone to H. G. Doyle (Order of Merit of Ecuador and honorary membership in the faculties of the National Universities of Mexico and Colombia), Archer Taylor (honorary member of Mexican and Argentinian folklore societies), S. E. Leavitt (corresponding member of the Colombian Academy of History), and Virginia Gildersleeve (Gran Official de la Orden de Cristobal Colon of the Dominican Republic). German honors are difficult to survey at this time, partly because some scholars renounced them during the 'thirties; among Americans who hold German honors are such eminent Germanic scholars as R. H. Fife (honorary member of the Deutsche Philologische Gesellschaft and honorary correspondent of the Deutsche Akademie), F. W. J. Heuser (recently given a Ph.D.h.c. by the University of Erlangen), and Carl F. Schreiber (recipient of the Hindenburg Medal für Kunst und Wissenschaft). At least 7 of our members have received important Scandinavian (including Icelandic and Finnish) honors: G. T. Flom and Einar Haugen have both received the Order of St. Olaf, first class (Norway), and Flom is also a fellow of the Norske Videnskaps-Akademie i Oslo; Halidór Hermannsson is a Commander of the Order of the Falcon, and Kemp Malone is a Knight of the Falcon and an honorary member of the Bókmentafelag (Iceland); Malone is also a Knight of Dannebrog (Denmark); both A. B. Benson and H. Kökeritz are Knights of the Order of the North Star, and Benson is a Commander of the Order of Vasa (Sweden); Archer Taylor is an honorary member of the Norsk Videnskapsselskab, the Gustav Adolfs Akademi for folklivsforskning, the Finnish Academy of Science, and the Finnish Literary Society, as well as of the Schweizerische Gesellschaf t für Volkskunde. Among the very few instances of Central European honors I have been able to discover are W. Lednicki's corresponding membership in the Polish Academy of Science and Letters and his foreign membership in the Slavonic Institute in Prague, Watson Kirkconnell's decoration by the Polish Academy of Literature and his knighthood in the Order Polonia Restituta, Kemp Malone's corresponding membership in the Czech Academy of Science and Arts in Prague, A. Feuillerat's knighthood in the Order of St. Sava (Jugoslavia), and J. D. M. Ford's knighthood in the Royal Order of Cultural Merit (Rumania).
8 For Canadians, election to the Royal Society of Canada is probably the chief distinction.
9 Franklin Carter (1884-86), J. R. Lowell (1887-91), F. A. March (1892-93), A. M. Elliott (1894), J. M. Hart (1895), Calvin Thomas (1896), A. S. Cook (1897), A. Fortier (1898), H. C. G. von Jagemann (1899), T. R. Price (1900), E. S. Sheldon (1901), J. W. Bright (1902); George Hempl (1903), G. L. Kittredge (1904), F. B. Gummere (1905), H. A. Todd (1906), F. N. Scott (1907), F. M. Warren (1908), M. D. Learned (1909), Brander Matthews (1910), L. F. Mott (1911), C. H. Grandgent (1912), A. R. Hohlfeld (1913), F. E. Schelling (1914), J. B. Fletcher (1915), J. D. Bruce (1916), Kuno Francke (1917), E. C. Armstrong (1918-19), J. M. Manly (1920), W. G. Howard (1921), R. Weeks (1922), O. F. Emerson (1923), W. A. Neilson, (1924) H. Collitz (1925), T. A. Jenkins (1926), A. H. Thorndike (1927), H. K. Schilling (1928), W. A. Nitze (1929), F. Tupper (1930), G. O. Curme (1931), C. C. Marden and M. A. Buchanan (1932), J. L. Lowes (1933), J. T. Hatfield (1934), C. Searles (1935), Carleton Brown (1936), E. Prokosch (1937), J. S. P. Tatlock (1938), H. C. Lancaster (1939), Karl Young (1940), J. A. Walz (1941), F. M. Padelford (1942), R. Schevill (1943), R. H. Fife (1944), F. N. Robinson (1945), E. H. Wilkins (1946), T. M. Campbell (1947), P. W. Long (1948), George Sherburn (1949), S. G. Morley (1950), Archer Taylor (1951), A. C. Baugh (1952).
10 To mention only deceased members, Francis J. Child, H. H. Furness, T. E. Lounsbury, and, more recently, Leonard Bloomfield, Tucker Brooke, and R. K. Root.
11 The oldest such group is the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast; its presidents have been B. I. Wheeler (1899), E. Flugel (1900), C. M. Gayley (1901), A. T. Murray (1902), W. A. Merrill (1903), J. Goebel (1904), E. B. Clapp (1905), H. R. Fairclough (1906), H. K. Schilling (1907), J. E. Matzke (1908), C. B. Bradley (1909), George Hempl (1910), L. J. Richardson (1911), C. Searles (1912), J. T. Allen (1913), J. Elmore (1914), W. M. Hart (1915), O. M. Johnston (1916), G. Chinard (1917), H. C. Nutting (1918), J. S. P. Tatlock (1919), W. A. Cooper (1920), M. E. Deutsch (1921), C. G. Allen (1922), A. P. McKinlay (1923), C. Paschall (1924), I. M. Linforth (1925), H. D. Gray (1926), G. R. Noyes (1927), A. M. Espinosa (1928), R. Schevill (1929), B. O. Foster (1930), Max Radin (1931), H. D. Austin (1932), A. G. Kennedy (1933), G. M. Calhoun (1934), W. D. Briggs (1935), R. Altrocchi (1936), H. Craig (1937), Louis Wann (1938), C. C. McCown (1939), L. M. Price (1940), S. G. Morley (1941), Hermann Frankel (1942-44), R. D. Harriman (1945), F. H. Reinsch (1946), Gabriel Bonno (1947), L. Stevenson (1948-49), R. F. Jones (1950), A. E. Gordon (1951).
Presidents of the New England MLA have been W. B. Snow (1903-04), C. E. Fay (1905), W. C. Collar (1906), M. L. Perrin (1907), M. S. Brooks (1908), H. C. Bierwirth (1909), W. D. Head (1910), H. C. G. von Jagemann (1911), S. P. Cabot (1912), Kenneth McKenzie (1913), W. H. Buell (1914), G. T. Files (1915), J. S. Ford (1916), R. H. Fife (1917), J. Hatheway and E. F. Langley (1918-19), Alice H. Bushee (1920), C. W. Eastman (1921), M. S. Brooks (1922-23), C. W. French (1924-25), Helen A. Stuart (1926), L. J. A. Mercier (1927), C. L. Tappin (1928), E. M. Gartland (1929), O. T. Robert (1930), Marie A. Solano (1931), A. de Salvio (1932), Marjorie H. Ilsley (1933), Arsène Croteau (1934), Elizabeth I. O'Neill (1935), S. C. Goding (1936), J. G. Green (1937), C. M. Walch (1938), M. S. Donlan (1939), Hans Kurath (1940), Ruth E. Clark (1941), J. H. Sasserno (1942), F. M. Currier (1943), Helen E. Patch (1944-45), C. P. Merlino (1946), D. W. Schumann (1947), S. M. Waxman (1948), D. D. Walsh (1949), Max Levine (1950), Dorothy M. Bement (1951).
The South Atlantic MLA has had the following presidents: W. S. Barney (1928), F. W. Bradley (1929), J. N. Ware and E. J. Erwin (1930), N. A. Goodyear (1931), G. R. Coffman (1932), Clement Vollmer (1933), J. C. Dawson (1934-35), S. E. Leavitt (1936), C. F. Hamff (1937), C. P. Lyons (1938), A. Vermont (1939), Urban T. Holmes (1940), F. L. Jones (1941), G. R. Vowles (1942-44), T. H. English (1945), A. H. Gilbert (1946), J. O. Swain (1947), G. P. Jackson (1948), G. B. Watts (1949), C. A. Robertson (1950), Paul T. Manchester (1951).
The South-Central MLA and the Rocky Mountain MLA are the youngest of the regional associations. S-CMLA presidents have been Aaron Schaffer (1940), H. Drennon (1941-45), R. P. McCutcheon (1946), C. B. Qualia (1947), R. T. Clark (1948), L. B. Beach (1949), A. D. McKillop (1950), Jewel Wurtzbaugh (1951). Presidents of the RMMLA are T. M. Pearce (1947); L. J. Davidson (1948), E. F. Chapman (1949), A. J. Dickman (1950), S. Cuthbertson (1951), A. Westfall (1952).
12 Presidents of the Executive Committee of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations have been W. B. Snow (1919-20), J. P. W. Crawford (1921), S. W. Cutting (1922-23), A. G. Canfield (1924), J. D. Fitz-Gerald (1925-26), C. W. French (1927), W. A. Beardsley (1928), A. W. Aron (1929), C. D. Zdanowicz (1930-31), C. H. Handschin (1932-33), F. F. DiBartolo (1934-35), Lilly Lindquist (1936-37), S. L. Pitcher (1938-43), Wm. Milwitzky (1944-45), Julio del Toro (1946), S. A. Freeman (1947), Charles M. Purin (1948-51), A. P. Coleman (1952-).
The Central States Modern Language Teachers Association, known until 1946 as the Association of Modern Language Teachers of the Central West and South, has had the following presidents: A. G. Canfield (1916), J. T. Hatfield and E. C. Hills (1917), Kenneth McKenzie and E. S. Ingraham (1918), E. W. Olmsted (1919), A. R. Hohlfeld and C. E. Young (1920), D. H. Carnahan (1921), C. M. Purin (1922), A. de Salvio (1923), B. J. Vos (1924), E. B. de Sauzé (1925-27), A. G. Bovee (1928), J. D. Fitz-Gerald (1929), C. M. Purin (1930), R. P. Jameson (1931-32), Julio del Toro (1933 and 1936), A. W. Aron (1934), Bert E. Young (1935), R. O. Roseler (1937), S. L. Pitcher (1938), E. B. de Sauzé (1939), Ruth Maxwell (1940), Lilly Lindquist (1941), H. C. Berkowitz (1942-44), Elton Hocking (1945), Elfriede Ackermann (1946-48), Samuel Will (1948-50), Harry Josselson (1950-52). Presidents of the American Association of Teachers of French have been Charles Downer (1927-29), Bert E. Young (1930-31), E. B. de Sauzé (1932-33), L. J. A. Mercier (1934-35), Lilly Lindquist (1936), F. D. Cheydleur (1937), E. A. Méras (1938), C. D. Zdanowicz (1939 and 1944-45), S. A. Freeman (1940-43), J. Fermaud (1946-47), J. M. Carrière (1948-49), Julian Harris (1950-).
The American Association of Teachers of German has had the following presidents: C. vonKlenze (1926-27), E. W. Bagster-Collins (1928-31), R. H. Fife (1932), A. R. Hohlfeld (1933), John A. Walz (1934), Albert W. Aron (1935), Theodore Huebener (1936), F. H. Reinsch (1937), E. F. Hauch (1938), Ernst Feise (1939-40), L. M. Price (1941), George Danton (1942), Gerhard Berg (1943-44), Richard Jente (1945), J. C. Blankenagel (1946), C. C. D. Vail (1947), C. M. Purin (1948), E. W. Jockers (1949), Günther Keil (1950), W. A. Reichart (1951), C. R. Goedsche (1952).
Presidents of the American Association of Teachers of Italian have been Kenneth McKenzie (1924), James Geddes (1925), J. E. Shaw (1926), E. H. Wilkins (1927), G. L. Hamilton (1928), R. Altrocchi (1929), A. de Salvio (1930), O. M. Johnston (1931), W. L. Bullock (1932), Emilio Goggio (1933), H. D. Austin (1934), A. Marinoni (1935), H. H. Vaughan (1936), O. H. Moore (1937), A. Arbib-Costa (1938), J. G. FuciUa (1939), C. P. Merlino (1940), Hilda Norman (1941), J. van Horne (1942-43), M. de Filippis (1944), GabrieUa Bosano (1945), Elton Hocking (1946), T. G. Bergin (1947), D. Vittorini (1948), C. Speroni (1949), J. Rossi (1950), H. P. Thornton (1951), Angelina Lo Grasso (1952). The American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages has had the following presidents: George R. Noyes (1941-43), S. H. Cross (1944), George Bobrinskoy (1945), E. H. Simmons (1946), Edmund Zawacki (1947), Alfred Senn (1948), O. A. Maslenikov (1949), A. P. Coleman (1950), Eduard Míček (1951), Frances de Graaff (1952). Presidents of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese have been L. A. Wilkins (1918-20 and 1927), J. D. Fitz-Gerald (1921-22), C. S. Williams (1923), E. C. Hills (1924), W. M. Barlow (1925), W. S. Hendrix (1926), A. M. Espinosa (1928), G. W. H. Shield (1929), H. G. Doyle (1930), W. A. Clarke (1931), S. G. Morley (1932), Vesta E. Condon (1933), W. A. Beardsley (1934), H. Alpern (1935), J. W. Barlow (1936), E. B. Place (1937), E. H. Hespelt (1938), Mary E. Peters (1939), F. M. Kercheville (1940), W. K. Jones (1941), S. L. Pitcher (1942-44), D. L. Canfield (1945), S. E. Leavitt (1946), Elsie I. Jamieson (1947), L. O. Wright (1948), J. E. Englekirk (1949), W. H. Shoemaker (1950), Marjorie C. Johnston (1951).
The National Council of Teachers of English has had the following presidents: F. N. Scott (1912-13), F. T. Baker (1914), E. H. K. McComb (1915), E. M. Hopkins (1916), Allan Abbott (1917), E. L. Miller (1918), J. M. Thomas (1919), J. F. Hosic (1920), H. G. Paul (1921), C. R. Gaston (1922), J. W. Searson (1923), T. C. Blaisdell (1924), T. W. Gosling (1925), S. A. Leonard (1926), Dudley Miles (1927), C. C. Fries (1928), R. B. Inglis (1929), Ruth M. Weeks (1930), R. L. Lyman (1931), Stella S. Center (1932), W. Barnes (1933), O. J. Campbell (1934), C. S. Thomas (1935), Dora V. Smith (1936), H. D. Roberts (1937), M. E. Shattuck (1938), Essie Chamberlain (1939), E. A. Cross (1940), R. C. Pooley (1941), J. J. DeBoer (1942), Max J. Herzberg (1943), Angela M. Broening (1944), H. A. Anderson (1945), Helene W. Hartley (1946), P. G. Perrin (1947), T. C. Pollock (1948), M. C. Sheridan (1949), Mark Neville (1950), Paul Farmer (1951), Lennox Grey (1952).
13 The American Dialect Society has had the following presidents: Francis J. Child (1889-90), J. M. Hart (1891-92), J. M. Garnett (1893), E. S. Sheldon (1894-95), C. H. Grandgent (1896), G. L. Kittredge (1897), O. F. Emerson (1898), L. F. Mott (1899-1900), George Hempl (1901-05), O. F. Emerson (1906-09), R. Weeks (1910), Calvin Thomas (1911-12), W. E. Mead (1913-15), J. W. Bright (1916-21), W. A. Neilson (1922-37), Louise Pound (1938-41), H. M. Ayres (1942-43), Kemp Malone (1944-46), A. L. Hench (1947-48), A. W. Read (1949-50), E. H. Criswell (1951-).
Presidents of the Linguistic Society of America have been H. Collitz (1925), M. Bloomfield (1926), C. D. Buck, (1927), F. Boas (1928), C. H. Grandgent (1929), E. Prokosch (1930), E. H. Sturtevant (1931), G. M. Bolling (1932), E. Sapir (1933), F. Edgerton (1934), L. Bloomfield (1935), G. T. Flom (1936), C. D. Buck (1937), L. H. Gray (1938), C. C. Fries (1939), A. L. Kroeber (1940), R. G. Kent (1941), H. Kurath (1942), F. N. Robinson (1943), K. Malone (1944), Y. R. Chao (1945), E. A. Hahn (1946), A. Goetze (1947), H. Keniston (1948), M. B. Emeneau (1949), E. Haugen (1950), J. Whatmough (1951), G. S. Lane (1952).
Presidents of the College English Association have been R. M. Gay (1939), W. C. DeVane (1940), N. Foerster (1941), Howard Lowry (1942), H. S. Canby (1943-44), Mark Van Doren (1945-46), Odell Shepard (1947), Theodore Spencer (1948), G. K. Chalmers (1949), R. T. Fitzhugh (1950-51), E. E. Leisy (1952). There are numerous similar organizations, local to particular states or regions, such as the Conference of College Teachers of English, local to the state of Texas.
The English Institute has had the following chairmen: Carleton Brown (1939-40), George Sherburn (1941), Tucker Brooke (1942), E. H. Wright (1946), Dorothy Bethurum (1947), N. H. Pearson (1948), Rudolf-Kirk (1949), Elizabeth Nitchie (1950), J. M. Osbom (1951), Edward Hubler (1952).
The Hispanic Society of America was founded in 1904 by Archer M. Huntington, who has been its president since that time. The American-Scandinavian Foundation has had the following presidents: Frederick Lynch (1910-15), W. H. Schofield (1916-19), Hamilton Holt (1920-24), Henry Goddard Leach (1925-36 and 1938-47), Charles S. Haight (1937), and Lithgow Osborne (1948-).
The Bibliographical Society of America has had the following presidents: W. C. Lane (1904-08), A. S. Root (1909 and 1923-25), W. D. Johnston (1910-11), C. H. Gould (1912), Andrew Keogh (1913), C. B. Roden (1914-15), G. W. Cole (1916-20), W. W. Bishop (1921-22), H. H. B. Meyer (1926-28), H. M. Lydenberg (1929-30), L. C. Wroth (1931-32), A. H. Shearer (1933-35), L. L. Mackall (1936), V. H. Paltsits (1938-39), R. G. Adams (1940), T. W. Streeter (1941-43), R. W. G. Vail (1944-45), W. A. Jackson (1946-47), LeRoy E. Kimball (1948-49), James T. Babb (1950-).
Presidents of the American Folklore Society have been Alcée Fortier (1888, 1894), F. J. Child (1889), D. G. Brinton (1890), O. T. Mason (1891), F. W. Putnam (1892), Horatio Hale (1893), Washington Matthews (1895), J. G. Burke (1896), Stewart Culin (1897), Henry Wood (1898), C. L. Edwards (1899), Franz Boas (1900, 1932, 1935), Frank Russell (1901), George Dorsey (1902), Livingston Farrand (1903), G. L. Kittredge (1904), Alice C. Fletcher (1905), A. L. Kroeber (1906), R. B. Dixon (1907-08), J. R. Swanton (1909), H. M. Belden (1910-11), J. A. Lomax (1912-13), Pliny Goddard (1914-15), R. H. Lowie (1916-17), C. M. Barbeau (1918), Elsie C. Parsons (1919-20), F. G. Speck (1921-22), A. M. Espinosa (1923-24), Louise Pound (1925-26), A. M. Tozzer (1927-29), Edward Sapir (1930-31), Martha W. Beckwith (1933-34), Archer Taylor (1936-37), Stith Thompson (1938-39), I. A. Hallowell (1940-41), H. W. Thompson (1942), Gladys A. Reichard (1943), Benjamin Botkin (1944), M. J. Herskovits (1945), J. M. Carrière (1946-47), Erminie W. Voegelin (1948), Thelma James (1949), A. H. Gayton (1950), F. L. Utley (1951-52).
14 Festschriften do not necessarily appear in book form; frequently they take the form of a special issue of a learned journal or, as has happened five times in the history of PMLA, the dedication of a whole volume of a journal, though this last form may not be thought quite festschriftlich. They have long been a bibliographical headache, but the recent Index of Medieval Studies Published in Festschriften 1865-1946: With Special Reference to Romanic Material, compiled by Harry F. Williams and published by the University of California Press (1951), and the forthcoming index to Festschriften now being compiled by Miss Florence M. Craig of Stanford University, should alleviate the pain considerably. As examples, I shall list only Festschriften published since 1940 in honor of MLA presidents: Essays and Studies in Honor of Carleton Brown (New York, 1940); Adventures of a Literary Historian: A Collection of His Writings Presented to H. Carrington Lancaster (Baltimore, 1942); dedication of PMLA, Vol. lviii (1943), to George Lyman Kittredge; Pope and His Contemporaries: Essays Presented to George Sherbum (New York, 1949); and dedication of an enlarged issue of Romance Philology to S. Griswold Morley, forthcoming.
15 The Royal Society is, of course, a scientific body; the British Academy was only founded at the turn of the present century, having been chartered in 1902. The only similar official body in the United States is the National Academy of Sciences, incorporated by Congress in 1863 with the object that it “shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science or art” (my italics); there is no corresponding official body that takes in the MLA field. The Royal Society of Canada, unlike the British Royal Society, is broad enough in scope to include the MLA field; it will be discussed in greater detail below.
16 Honorary in both the MLA and APS: Amado Alonso, Sir William Craigie, Benedetto Croce, Sir Walter Greg, Ramon Menéndez Pidal, and Alfonso Reyes. Members in the MLA field: Frank Aydelotte, A. C. Baugh, Van Wyck Brooks, Douglas Bush, G. Chinard, J. L. Haney, H. M. Jones, H. Keniston, H. C. Lancaster, A. 0. Lovejoy, Kemp Malone, Marjorie Nicolson (one of the very few women in the Society), W. A. Nitze, C. G. Osgood, A. H. Quinn, F. N. Robinson, A. S. W. Rosenbach, Stith Thompson, and Louis B. Wright.
17 Honorary in both organizations: Amado Alonso, F. Baldensperger, J.-M. Carré, Benedetto Croce, Ramon Menéndez Pidal, Jan H. Scholte, and L. L. Schücking. Some MLA life members emeriti are also fellows emeriti of the Academy: Wm. G. Howard (who was Secretary of the MLA from 1912-19 and President in 1921), E. F. Langley, and C. H. C. Wright. Fellows in the MLA field include G. A. Borgese, Van Wyck Brooks, Douglas Bush, O. J. Campbell, G. Chinard, R. P. T. Coffin, G. R. Coffman, R. S. Crane, B. DeVoto, H. G. Doyle, R. D. Havens, M. A. DeWolfe Howe, W. A. Jackson, Roman Jakobson, H. M. Jones (President of the Academy since 1944), H. Keniston, Hans Kurath, H. C. Lancaster, Harry Levin, K. B. Murdock, W. A. Nitze, H. R. Patch, F. N. Robinson, H. E. Rollins, Ellery Sedgwick, J.-J. Seznec, G. W. Sherburn, C. S. Singleton, Taylor Starck, Archer Taylor, W. F. Twaddell, E. H. Wilkins, and Louis B. Wright.
18 Members in the MLA field include Arthur Adams, F. B. Adams, Jr., G. Chinard, S. F. Damon, B. DeVoto, W. A. Jackson, H. S. Jantz, L. E. Kimball, Perry Miller, F. L. Mott, K. B. Murdock, A. H. Quinn, F. N. Robinson, A. S. W. Rosenbach, R. L. Rusk, S. T. Williams, and Louis B. Wright.
19 Undoubtedly many MLA members are included, but I have been unable to get a list of members of the Society to check against our membership.
20 Honorary in both organizations: Sir Edmund Chambers, Alfred Jeanroy, Ramon Menéndez Pidal, and Mario Roques. MLA members who are Fellows of the Academy are Hope Emily Allen, A. C. Baugh, G. R. Cofiman, J. D. M. Ford, Grace Frank, G. H. Gerould, Urban T. Holmes, F. Klaeber, W. W. Lawrence, F. P. Magoun, Kemp Malone, W. A. Nitze, F. N. Robinson, Archer Taylor, B. J. Whiting, and E. H. Wilkins. Of the 38 deceased Fellows of the Academy, at least 12 were MLA members.
21 M. A. Buchanan, A. J. Denomy, David 0. Evans, Watson Kirkconnell, Séraphin Marion, Wm. 0. Raymond, F. Salter, J. E. Shaw, and A. S. P. Woodhouse.
22 Present members in the MLA field include Van Wyck Brooks, Kenneth Burke, H. S. Canby, R. P. T. Coffin, Malcolm Cowley, B. DeVoto, M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Archer M. Huntington, Louis Kronenberger, J. W. Krutch, R. M. Lovett, Bliss Perry, Allen Tate, C. B. Tinker, Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, R. P. Warren, and Thornton Wilder. Members of the MLA as well as the Institute who died during the past decade include Wilbur L. Cross, John Erskine, Ellen Glasgow, George M. Harper, J. L. Lowes, W. L. Phelps, and Felix Schelling.
23 Present members in the MLA field include Van Wyck Brooks, M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Archer M. Huntington, Bliss Perry, C. B. Tinker, Mark Van Doren, and Thornton Wilder. Members of the MLA as well as the Academy who died during the past two decades include Irving Babbitt, Wilbur L. Cross, Ellen Glasgow, Brander Matthews, and W. L. Phelps.
24 William Lyon Phelps (1937), S. Griswold Morley (1942), Gilbert Chinard (1944), H. L. Mencken (1948).
25 Brander Matthews (1918), Bliss Perry (1919), Wilbur L. Cross (1928), Irving Babbitt (1932), Chauncey B. Tinker (1933), William Lyon Phelps (1934 and 1936), Thornton Wilder (1948), and Mark Van Doren (1951).
26 Honorary, Sigurdur Nordal; regular, Chauncey B. Tinker and Thornton Wilder. Other Norton Lecturers in literature include Gilbert Murray, O. M.; H. W. Garrod, C.B.E.; T. S. Eliot, O. M.; Laurence Binyon; Robert Frost; and Sir Maurice Bowra.
27 L. R. Cazamian (1929), H. W. Garrod (1930), Irving Babbitt (1931), Sir William Craigie (1932), Sir Herbert Grierson (1933), G. G. Sedgewick (1934), E. E. Stoll (1935), F. B. Snyder (1936), D. Nichol Smith (1937), C. W. Stanley (1938), Douglas Bush (1939), Herbert Davis (1940), H. Granville-Barker (1941), F. P. Wilson (1943), F. 0. Matthiessen (1944), S. C. Chew (1945), Marjorie Nicolson (1946), G. B. Harrison (1947), E. M. W. Tillyard (1948), E. K. Brown (1949), M. W. Wallace (1950), R. S. Crane (1951).
28 Given by Sir Herbert Grierson (1926-27), F. A. Pottle (1940-41), Henri Peyre (1942-43), Douglas Bush (1944-45), H. M. Jones (1947-48) and Marjorie Nicolson (1947-48).
29 Given by R. P. T. Coffin (1940-41), B. DeVoto (1942-43), and Douglas Bush (1948-49).
30 Kemp Malone (1940), H. C. Lancaster (1941), Henry Schnitzler (1941), L. B. Wright (1942), Hardin Craig (1944), J. W. Beach (1946), B. I. Payne (1946), Malcolm Cowley (1950), E. M. Starkie (1951).
31 Lecturers who spoke on topics in the MLA field include Charles Eliot Norton (1894), Ferdinand Brunetière (1897), C. H. Herford (1900), Angelo de Gubernatis (1904), Eugene Kühnemann (1907), Ramon Menéndez Pidal (1909), G. L. Kittredge (1914), Sir Walter Raleigh (1915), Paul Elmer More (1916), C. M. Gayley (1921), Émile Legouis (1922), A. Feuillerat (1927), Edmond Faral (1930), T. S. Eliot (1933), R. W. Chambers (1933), Lascelles Abercrombie (1935), Sir Herbert Grierson (1936), D. Pedro Salinas (1937), R. P. T. Coffin (1938), Archibald MacLeish (1939), W. H. Auden (1940), J. W. Beach (1941), G. F. Whicher (1947), Donald Stauffer (1948), C. J. Sisson (1949), Marie-Jeanne Dury (1950), E. M. W. Tillyard (1951).
32 Given by F. E. Schelling (1923), Edwin Greenlaw (1924), Charles Cestre (1925), W. J. Lawrence (1926), J. H. Hanford (1927), M. W. Wallace (1928), F. M. Padelford (1929), Hardin Craig (1930), J. Q. Adams (1931), Allardyce Nicoll (1932), Louis Cazamian (1933), E. E. Stoll (1934), Bonamy Dobree (1935), L. B. Wright (1936), C. F. Tucker Brooke (1937), S. C. Chew (1938), Marjorie Nicolson (1939), Douglas Bush (1940), Leslie Hotson (1941), M. Y. Hughes (1942), William Haller (1946), Karl Shapiro (1947), O. J. Campbell (1948), A. S. P. Woodhouse (1949), W. R. Parker (1950), Perry Miller (1951).
33 Fellows to date have been Christopher Morley (1931), Lawrence C. Wroth (1932), Shane Leslie (1934), A. Edward Newton (1936), R. G. Adams (1938), George P. Winship (1940), R. W. G. Vail (1945), Curt F. Bühler, James G. McManaway, and Lawrence C. Wroth (on a joint fellowship, 1947), Clarence S. Brigham (1948), Dard Hunter (1949), Dr. John F. Fulton (1950), and Lewis Hanke (1951).
34 April 23?
35 By G. L. Kittredge (1937), W. A. Neilson (1938), C. F. Tucker Brooke (1939), Leslie Hotson (1940), Allardyce Nicoll (1941), C. G. Osgood (1942), S. C. Chew (1947), T. M. Parrott (1948), C. J. Sisson (1949), J. C. Adams (1950), William Haller (1951).
36 The 17 lecturers were Samuel H. Cross (1939); B. DeVoto (1941); Jacques Barzun, James B. Munn, and Theodore Spencer (1942); Douglas Bush, W. Lednicki, and W. D. Orcutt (1943); John V. Kelleher (1944); W. J. Bate and I. A. Richards (1945); Gerald G. Walsh (1946); H. M. Jones and David McCord (1949); Rudolph Altrocchi and Gordon N. Ray (1950); Harry Levin (1952).
37 The Lewis prize has been given 11 times to date, including 2 awards in the social sciences and 2 in the humanities.
38 To Kenneth Burke and Malcolm Cowley (1946); Lloyd Frankenberg (1947); Dudley Fitts and Harry Levin (1948); James Agee, Joseph Campbell, and Alfred Kazin (1949); Maxwell Geismar (1950); Newton Arvin, Louise Bogan, Randall Jarrell, and Vladimir Nabokov (1951).
39 In 1946 to Van Wyck Brooks and in 1950 to H. L. Mencken.
40 To the late John M. Manly and the late Edith Rickert in 1942; J. Burke Severs, 1946; and R. S. Loomis, 1951.
41 Emory Holloway (1926), Odell Shepard (1938), and R. B. Nye (1945); other awards in the MLA field have been given to M. A. DeWolfe Howe (1925), Carl Van Doren (1939), and Ola E. Winslow (1941).
42 Fiction: Thornton Wilder (1928), Ellen Glasgow (1942), R. P. Warren (1947); drama: Thornton Wilder (1938 and 1943); poetry: R. P. T. Coffin (1936) and Mark Van Doren (1940).
43 In 1943 for On Canadian Poetry and in 1951 for Rhythm in the Novel. I have not been able to get lists of recipients prior to 1941, when the Royal Society was administering the awards, although I have discovered that another MLA member, E. F. Langley, received the award in 1938; they are now administered by the Canadian Authors Association.
44 In 1950 to Ralph L. Rusk for Ms book on Emerson; in 1951 to Newton Arvin for his book on Melville in the American Men of Letters Series.
45 In 1943 to the University of Chicago Press for the Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles; in 1944 to E. P. Dutton & Co. for Van Wyck Brooks's World of Washington Irving; in 1945 to Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., for H. L. Mencken's The American Language; and in 1948 to William Sloane Associates for the American Men of Letters Series.
46 I have been unable to obtain lists of recipients of the various awards of the American Historical Association.
47 From a statement appended to its list of prizes by the American Historical Association. A prize possibly relevant to this survey is the AHA's Albert J. Beveridge Memorial Fellowship of $1,500 plus royalties, awarded annually “for the best original manuscript … in the history of the United States, Latin America, or Canada.”
48 It is noteworthy that the MLA had earlier considered awarding an annual prize of a similar nature. In 1938 the Committee on Research Activities recommended to the Executive Council's attention the following proposal: “As one means of promoting research and of encouraging the submission to our Association of the very best works of our ablest members, and in order that our organization may be associated with the publication thereof, we urge the Executive Council to establish an annual grant of not less than $1,000, to be known as the M. L. A. award for the best work submitted, said work to be published by us, and its author to receive royalties at the rate commonly paid by commercial publishers” (PAILA, liii [1938], 1339). The 1939 report of the Committee reads, “action on this recommendation has not yet been taken, but meanwhile one book previously submitted to the Committee has won the award of a Pulitzer Prize” (PMLA, liv [1939], 1345; the book, Mott's History of American Magazines). The last heard of the proposal is the statement in the account of the spring, 1940, meeting of the Executive Council that “action was indefinitely postponed” (PMLA, lv [1940], 901).
Currently another proposal for an MLA prize is being considered by the Executive Council. This is to be an annual Council Prize of $100 for the best article published in the MLA field in any journal by a member of the Association. It was approved in principle at the Council meeting in December 1951, but machinery remains to be worked out. Another recently established prize for an article is an award of $100, given by the Cleveland Museum of Art for the best article published in the 1951-52 volume of the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism; it is hoped that the award may become an annual one.
49 Ramsey's is the first MLA prize book without a colonic title. Is it to be hoped that the proportion of such titles will ever fall far below 75 per cent?
50 Three awards have been made thus far, the first in 1946.
51 Established in 1879 as a decennial prize, the award has been granted only five times to date, most recently (1951) to Dr. Amos N. Wilder for his book, Modem Poetry and the Christian Tradition.
52 As recounted in “For Members Only,” PMLA, lxvi (April 1951), ix.
53 W. H. F. Lamont of Rutgers University recently polled an international group on the deserts of winners of the Nobel Prize in literature. Galsworthy and Kipling were deemed unworthy, while Conrad, Joyce, and Willa Cather were named as writers who should have been honored.
54 Logan Wilson, The Academic Man (New York, 1942), pp. 24-25.
55 “For Members Only,” PMLA, lxvi (Dec. 1951), i.