Barrett Wendell (August 23, 1855 – February 8, 1921) was an American

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

known for a series of textbooks including ''English Composition,'' studies of ''

Cotton Mather Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meetin ...

'' and ''

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

,'' ''A Literary History of America,'' ''The France of Today,'' and ''The Traditions of European Literature.''

Early life

Wendell was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

on August 23, 1855. He was the son of Jacob and Mary Bertodi ( Barrett) Wendell. His parents married in Boston in 1854, about a year after his father had moved from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and joined the firm of J.C. Howe & Co. Among his three younger brothers were Gordon Wendell, philanthropist and athlete Evert Jansen Wendell, and actor Jacob Wendell. His paternal grandparents were Jacob Wendell Sr. and Mehitable Rindge ( Rogers) Wendell. The first Wendell, Evert Jansen, left the Netherlands in 1640 and settled in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Ci ...

.Small, Miriam Rossiter. ''Oliver Wendell Holmes''. Twayne's United States authors series, 29. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1962. . p. 20 His maternal grandparents were Boston merchant Nathaniel Augustus Barrett and Sally ( Dorr) Barrett. Both the Barrett and Dorr families had deep roots in colonial America, with the Dorrs making their fortune in the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...

. Wendell graduated from Harvard in the class of 1877 with Abbott Lawrence Lowell, who was later a president of Harvard. At Harvard, Wendell was a member of The

Lampoon Lampoon may refer to: *Parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ...

Career

In 1880, he was appointed Instructor in English at Harvard. He later became an Assistant Professor of English from 1888 to 1898, and a Professor of English from 1898 to 1917, after which he was a professor emeritus. He was also elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers. In 1904 to 1905, he travelled overseas, and lectured at Cambridge University in England, the Sorbonne in Paris, and other French universities. After this visit he wrote ''The France of Today''. He was a trustee of the

Boston Athenaeum Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

, a member of the

Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...

, and a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

in 1916. He received honorary degrees from Harvard and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, and an LL.D. from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ...

in France.

Personal life

On June 1, 1880, Wendell was married to Edith Greenough (1859–1938) at

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...

. Edith was a daughter of

William Whitwell Greenough William Whitwell Greenough (June 25, 1818 – June 17, 1899) was an American merchant who served as president of the Boston Public Library from 1868 to 1888. Early life Greenough was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 25, 1818. He was the onl ...

and Catharine Scollay ( Curtis) Greenough. Edith was a national leader of movements to preserve historical sites. Together, they were the parents of four children: * Barrett Wendell Jr. (1881–1973), an investment banker who married Barbara Higginson, granddaughter of the founder of Lee, Higginson & Co. * Mary Barrett Wendell (1883–1975), who married Geoffrey Manilus Wheelock. They divorced and she married Reinier van der Woude. * William Greenough Wendell (1888–1967), who married Ruth Appleton, a daughter of Francis R. Appleton. They divorced in 1938 and he married Evelyn Fahnestock, a daughter of Ernest Fahnestock. * Edith Wendell (1893–1963), who married publisher and Mayor of Auburn, New York Charles Devens Osborne in 1913. Wendell died in Boston on February 8, 1921. His widow died in Boston in October 1938.

Descendants

Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather of Reiner Garrit Anton van der Woude Jr., who married his second cousin, Lady Anne Penelope Herbert, a daughter of

Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon Henry George Alfred Marius Victor Francis Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon (7 November 1898 – 22 September 1987), was a British peer. He was the son of George, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, and Almina Wombwell. Life Styled Lord Porchester from birt ...

and the former Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell (Wendell's niece).

Selected works

* ''The Duchess Emilia: A romance'', Boston: James R. Osgood and Co., 1885.
''Cotton Mather, the Puritan priest''
New York, Dodd, Mead and Co., 1891. * ''English composition: Eight lectures given at the Lowell Institute'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1891. * ''Some neglected characteristics of the New England Puritans'', 1892 * ''William Shakespeare, a study in Elizabethan literature'', New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1894. * ''Rankell’s remains: An American novel'', New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1896. * ''A literary history of America'', New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1901. * ''Ralegh in Guiana, Rosamond, and a Christmas Masque'', New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1902 (Boston: Merrymount Press) * ''The France of today'', New York: C. Scribner, 1907. * ''The privileged classes'', New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1908. * ''The mystery of education, and other academic performances'', New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1909. * ''The traditions of European literature, from Homer to Dante'', New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1920.

References

External links

*
Barrett Wendell genealogy chart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendell, Barrett 1855 births 1921 deaths Members of the Harvard Board of Overseers University of Paris faculty Academics of the University of Cambridge The Harvard Lampoon alumni Harvard University faculty Harvard Crimson baseball coaches Harvard Crimson baseball players American academics of English literature