Allen, Frederick Lewis (05 July 1890–13 February 1954), editor and social historian, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Frederick Baylies Allen, a clergyman, and Alberta Hildegarde Lewis. Allen was educated at Groton School and Harvard University, where he received his B.A. in English in 1912 and his M.A. in 1913 in modern languages. Allen edited the literary magazine at Harvard and subsequently taught composition there for two years; he became an assistant editor at the ...
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Allen, Frederick Lewis (1890-1954), editor and social historian
James Ross Moore
Article
Asbury, Herbert (1891-1963), journalist and popular historian
A. J. Kaul
Asbury, Herbert (01 September 1891–24 February 1963), journalist and popular historian, was born in Farmington, Missouri, the son of Samuel Lester Asbury, a surveyor and city clerk, and Ellen N. Prichard. His grandfather and great-grandfather were Methodist ministers. Asbury claimed that his great-great uncle was ...
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DeVoto, Bernard Augustine (11 January 1897–13 November 1955), journalist and historian
Mary Ellen Boyling
DeVoto, Bernard Augustine (11 January 1897–13 November 1955), journalist and historian, was born in Ogden, Utah, the son of Florian DeVoto, a teacher and freight agent, and Rhoda Dye. Educated well beyond the demands of the jobs he held, DeVoto’s father could provide only a meager income and a very modest home for his small family. As the offspring of religious dissenters (his father was a lapsed Roman Catholic; his mother, a nonpracticing Mormon), DeVoto blamed his family’s economic circumstances and religious nonconformity for alienating him from his birthplace. He grew up openly critical of the townspeoples’ provincial ways and censorious attitudes....
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Eastman, Max (1883-1969)
Maker: Arnold Genthe
In
Max Eastman Photograph by Arnold Genthe, 1916. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-G432-1374).
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Eastman, Max (1883-1969), writer
William L. O’Neill
Eastman, Max (04 January 1883–25 March 1969), writer, was born Max Forrester Eastman in Canandaigua, New York, the son of Samuel Elijah Eastman and Annis Bertha Ford, both ordained ministers of the Congregational church. From the age of eleven to eighteen he lived in Elmira, New York, where his mother was associate pastor of Park Church. He graduated from Williams College in 1905, and from 1907 to 1910 he studied philosophy under ...
Article
Ford, Henry Jones (1851-1925), journalist and historian
Michael T. Johnson
Ford, Henry Jones (25 August 1851–29 August 1925), journalist and historian, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Franklin Ford and Anne Elizabeth Jones. He graduated from Baltimore City College in 1868. Upon graduation he spent the next four years trying his hand at various trades, becoming in 1872 an editorial writer for the ...
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Gunther, John (1901-1970), foreign correspondent and writer
Morrell Heald
Gunther, John (30 August 1901–29 May 1970), foreign correspondent and writer, was born in Chicago, the son of Eugene M. Gunther, a salesman, and Lisette Shoeninger, a schoolteacher. His mother stimulated Gunther’s interest in literature and history; at eleven he already was compiling a personal encyclopedia of world affairs. The wide-ranging interests, energy, and enthusiasm displayed at this early age characterized his personal and professional life. At the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1922, he became literary editor of the campus newspaper while building his personal library by reviewing books for other journals as well. Eager for a writer’s career, he headed for Europe to soak up continental culture without waiting to receive his bachelor’s degree....
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Holbrook, Stewart Hall (1893-1964), journalist and historian
Todd Forsyth Carney
Holbrook, Stewart Hall (22 August 1893–03 September 1964), journalist and historian, was born in Newport, Vermont, the son of Jessie Holbrook, an itinerant businessman, and Kate Stewart. As a result of his father’s frequent relocations, Stewart’s childhood education was incomplete. He attended Colebrook Academy in New Hampshire but left without graduating when his family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1911. Shortly thereafter, his father died, leaving Holbrook to find his own means of support. Pursuing latent interests in writing, he worked as a reporter for the Winnipeg ...
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Lerner, Max (1902-1992), scholar, teacher, and newspaper columnist
George W. Bain
Lerner, Max (20 December 1902–05 June 1992), scholar, teacher, and newspaper columnist, was born Maxwell Alan Lerner near Minsk, Russia, the son of Benjamin Lerner, an itinerant scholar, and Bessie Podel. His father emigrated to the United States the next year, and Max followed with his mother and siblings in 1907. After brief jobs in New York and New Jersey, his father moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1913 and entered the dairying business....
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Mayo, Katherine (1867-1940), writer
Faye A. Chadwell
Mayo, Katherine (24 January 1867–09 October 1940), writer, was born in Ridgeway, Pennsylvania, the daughter of James Henry Mayo, a mining engineer, and Harriet Elizabeth Ingraham. Mayo and her family moved regularly as her father pursued mining opportunities. She was educated at private schools in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she lived between 1883 and 1888. Her family then moved to Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. After finishing school, Mayo pursued studies in colonial history on her own....
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Mencken, H. L. (1880-1956)
Maker: Carl Van Vechten
In
H. L. Mencken Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1932. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-42489).
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Mencken, H. L. (1880-1956), author, editor, and journalist
Fred Hobson
Mencken, H. L. (12 September 1880–29 January 1956), author, editor, and journalist, was born Henry Louis Mencken in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of August Mencken, a cigar manufacturer, and Anna Abhau. Having emigrated from Germany during the mid-nineteenth century, the Menckens and Abhaus had quickly adapted to life in the United States, and they provided a home more Victorian than German-American for their four children. Henry Mencken, the eldest, did attend a private German school for his earliest education, but he completed his formal education at Baltimore Polytechnic, a high school primarily responsible for producing engineers and technicians....
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Paul, Elliot (1891-1958), writer
Ann T. Keene
Paul, Elliot (13 February 1891–07 April 1958), writer, was born Elliot Harold Paul in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Howard Henry Paul, a varnish manufacturer, and Lucy Greenleaf Doucette. Howard Paul died in a mental institution shortly before Elliot’s fourth birthday. Consequently, older siblings and other relatives helped support the family. Paul showed early talent as a musician, but after graduating from high school in 1907, he joined his older brother in Montana and worked as a civil engineer for the U.S. Reclamation Service. He then returned east and spent the academic year 1908–1909 at the University of Maine, studying engineering. In 1909 Paul moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and worked for a year as a city engineer....
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Seldes, Gilbert Vivian (1893-1970)
Maker: Carl Van Vechten
In
Gilbert Seldes Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1932. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LOT 12735, no. 1019 P&P).
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Seldes, Gilbert Vivian (1893-1970), critic and writer
Michael Kammen
Seldes, Gilbert Vivian (03 January 1893–29 September 1970), critic and writer, was born in Alliance, New Jersey, the son of George Sergei Seldes, a pharmacist, and Anna Saphro, who died when Gilbert was three. His only sibling, George Seldes, became a distinguished journalist known for his coverage of European affairs between the world wars. Their father, a freethinker of Russian Jewish descent, sought to convert his farm into an anarchist utopian colony. When that did not succeed, he entered the drugstore business. He enjoyed friendships with ...
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Villard, Oswald Garrison (1872-1949), journalist, author, and reformer
Robert L. Gale
Villard, Oswald Garrison (13 March 1872–01 October 1949), journalist, author, and reformer, was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, the son of Henry Villard, a newspaper correspondent, and Fanny Garrison Villard. When Villard was born, his parents were sojourning abroad for his father’s health. The family soon returned to the United States, lived briefly in Boston, and moved to New York City in 1876. After attending the James Herbert Morse private school in New York, Villard entered Harvard University in 1889, earning his A.B. in 1893. He traveled in Europe for a year with his father, who by this time had bought control of the ...
