Lewis, Edwin Herbert. Papers, 1886-1939

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Literature and Poetry

Education

University of Chicago - Founding and Early History

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When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Lewis, Edwin Herbert. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Edwin Herbert Lewis, rhetorician, novelist, and poet, was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1866. He received an A.B. and A.M. from Alfred University in 1887, a Ph.D. in Latin from Syracuse University in 1892, and in 1894 was awarded the first Ph.D. in English by the University of Chicago. At the University of Chicago, he was successively a Fellow in English (1892-1893), Assistant in Rhetoric (1893-1894), Associate in Rhetoric (1894-1895), Instructor in English (1895-1896), and Associate Professor of Rhetoric (1896-1899). During this period, he completed his first works for publication: his dissertation, The History of the English Paragraph (1894), A First Book in Writing English (1896), and An Introduction to the Study of Literature (1899).

In 1896, while still teaching at the University of Chicago, Lewis joined the faculty of the Lewis Institute in Chicago as Associate Professor of English (1896-1899). The Lewis Institute, established in 1895 with a bequest from the estate of Allen C. Lewis, was a polytechnic school offering training in mechanical arts, liberal arts, and domestic economy for high school and college students. After resigning his position at the University of Chicago in 1899, Lewis remained on the faculty of the Lewis Institute as Professor of English until his retirement in 1934. In addition to his duties as a teacher, Lewis was also named to a number of administrative posts at the Institute, including Examiner of the Collegiate Division, Dean of College Students, and, after 1914, Dean of the Faculty. Working closely with George N. Carman, the Director of the school, Lewis was a vigorous advocate of the Institute's vocational curriculum, but his hopes for a strengthened collegiate program were often frustrated by financial constraints and a Board of Trustees unwilling to consider substantive reforms.

During his years at the Institute, Lewis continued his publication of basic textbooks in English, including Specimens of the Forms of Discourse (1900), A Text-Book of Applied English Grammar (1902), A Second Manual of Composition (1903), Business English (1911), and Senior High School English (1934). He also wrote a book of juvenile fiction, Almost Fairy Children (1909); a collection of verse, University of Chicago Poems (1923); and three novels, Those About Trench (1916), White Lightning (1923), and Sallie's Newspaper (1924). Lewis completed a final, unpublished novel, Belief, during retirement in Palo Alto, California shortly before his death in 1938.

The Edwin Herbert Lewis Papers contain correspondence, diaries, notebooks, manuscripts, teaching materials, offprints, photographs, and memorabilia. Correspondents include Rabindranath Tagore and George Carman. The collection also includes the words to the University of Chicago "Alma Mater" which Lewis wrote in 1894.

The Collection is comprised of six series: Series I: Correspondence; Series II: Diaries; Series III: Notebooks; Series IV: Teaching Materials; Series V: Writings; and Series VI: Memorabilia

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• Names
  • Tagore, Rabindranath, 1861-1941
  • Lewis, Edwin Herbert, 1866-1938
  • Carman, George Noble
  • University of Chicago -- History
  • Lewis Institute
  • University of Chicago -- Songs and music
• Subject
  • Students' songs
  • Alma maters (Songs) -- Illinois -- Chicago