William Starr Myers (June 17, 1877 – January 27, 1956) was a

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

professor and historian who chronicled

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

and the

GOP The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a right-wing political party in the United States. One of the two major parties, it emerged as the main rival of the then-dominant Democratic Party in the 1850s, and the tw ...

Myers was the son of J. Norris Myers and Laura Virginia Starr of Baltimore, the family later moving to North Carolina. Myers married Margaret Barr on 8 June 1910. Myers graduated from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, class of 1897. Myers, the class of '97 poet, evidently felt great pride in his alma mater and was a prolific song writer who wrote several school-related songs which remain famous. "Hark the Sound" and "

Tar Heel Tar Heel (or Tarheel) is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina and its people. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace ba ...

Born" are two of his most famous. At UNC Myers joined the fraternity

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, , it consist ...

and was its president in his senior year. He was active in the Dialectic Society. After graduating from UNC cum laude, Myers went to graduate school at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

where he studied political science, was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, and received his PhD in 1900. Myers was an Editor of "Prominent Families of New Jersey - Volume 1" by Clearfield Publishing. While digitized volumes of this book do not contain a copyright or publishing date, some reviewers cite it was initially published in the 1940s. In addition to Political Science, Myers studied journalism and while at UNC was editor of the yearbook, the ''Hellenian'' and editor of the school paper, the ''Tar Heel''. After Johns Hopkins, Myers became a "master" at a boys' school, the

Gilman School Gilman School is an all-boys independent school, independent, day school, day, college preparatory school located in the Roland Park neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. There are three school divisions: Lower School, grades pre ...

in Baltimore. Myers became assistant professor at

, 1906-1918, then professor from 1918 until his death.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, William Starr 1877 births 1956 deaths Johns Hopkins University alumni Princeton University faculty Writers from Princeton, New Jersey Writers from Baltimore University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Schoolteachers from Maryland Historians from New Jersey Historians from Maryland