Chester Noyes Greenough (June 29, 1874 – February 27, 1938) was a Professor of English and Dean at Harvard University.

Biography

Chester Noyes Greenough was born in

Wakefield, Massachusetts Wakefield is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston, greater Boston metropolitan area, municipal corporation, incorporated in 1812 in the United States, 1812 and located about north-nor ...

, U.S., on June 29, 1874. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1898, received his master's degree in 1899 and his doctorate in 1904, both from Harvard University. He taught at Harvard briefly before becoming head of the English Department at the University of Illinois in 1907. He returned to Harvard as Assistant Professor of English in 1910 and became Professor of English in 1915. While serving a two-year term as acting Dean of Harvard College from 1919 to 1921, he played a principal role in Harvard's purge of homosexuals known as the Secret Court of 1920. He held the post of Dean from 1921 to 1927. He became the first Master of

Dunster House Dunster House is one of 12 undergraduate residential houses at Harvard University. Built in 1930, it is one of the first two Harvard dormitories constructed under President Abbott Lawrence Lowell's House Plan and one of the seven Houses given to ...

, a Harvard student residence, serving from 1930 to 1934. One of his publications, ''History of Literature in America'', which he authored with Barrett Wendell, became a popular textbook.Chester Noyes Greenough, ''History of Literature in America'' (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904), authored with Barrett Wendell He married twice. His first wife, Marietta McPherson, died in 1925. He married Ruth Hornblower Atkins, who survived him, in 1931. He died in

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010. H ...

, on February 27, 1938. Greenough Hall, a Harvard dormitory, is named for him.''The New York Times''
"C. N. Greenough, 64, Ex-Harvard Dean"
p. 15, February 28, 1938], accessed December 18, 2009

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenough, Chester Noyes 1874 births 1938 deaths University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Harvard University faculty People from Wakefield, Massachusetts Harvard College alumni