Henry Adams Bellows (September 22, 1885 – December 29, 1939) was a newspaper editor and radio executive who was an early member of the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

. He is also known for his translation of the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

'' for

The American-Scandinavian Foundation The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swe ...

Life and career

Born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, Bellows graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1906, and then taught English as an assistant there for three years. He received his Ph.D. in 1910 for a dissertation in

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

entitled ''The Relations between Prose and Metrical Composition in Old Norse Literature'' and then became an assistant professor of rhetoric at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

.William M. Emery, ''The Howland Heirs: Being the Story of a Family and a Fortune and the Inheritance of a Trust Established for Mrs. Hetty H.R. Green'', Bedford, Massachusetts: Anthony, 1919
p. 333
From 1912 to 1919 he was managing editor of ''The Bellman'', a Minneapolis literary magazine, vice president of the Bellman Company, and a director of the Miller Publishing Company; from 1914 to 1925 he was managing editor of ''The Northwestern Miller''.Gerald V. Flannery and Peggy Voorhies, "Bellows, Henry, 1927 – 1928", in Gerald V. Flannery, ed., ''Commissioners of the FCC, 1927–1994'', Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1985,
n.p.
He also worked for the Minnesota Orchestra,"Henry Adams Bellows (1885–1939)", in Robert I. Hedin, ''Where One Voice Ends Another Begins: 150 Years of Minnesota Poetry'', St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 2007,
p. 17
in 1921–23 was music critic for the ''Minneapolis Daily News'', and in 1925 was the manager of WCCO, one of the top radio stations in the country. He was also a major in the Minnesota Home Guard during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1927 Bellows was appointed as one of the first members of the Federal Radio Commission, predecessor of the Federal Communications Commission. He was technical adviser to the first International Radio Telegraph Conference that year. To forestall greater government interference in broadcasting, he advocated stations' programming individually to meet their listeners' needs; he left the FRC 18 months into his three-year term. From 1928 to 1935, he was a director of the

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...

; he was manager of Northwestern Broadcasting from 1929 to 1934 and a vice president of the Columbia Broadcasting System, forerunner of CBS, from 1930 to 1934. In 1930 he set up a transatlantic exchange for radio programs. His final position was as director of public relations for

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

, where he founded the department. He died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

on December 29, 1939, in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

.James Gray, ''Business Without Boundary: The Story of General Mills'', Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1954,
p. 282

Personal life

He married Mary Sanger, the daughter of Harvard chemistry professor Charles Robert Sanger, in 1911; they had two children. After her death in 1935, he married a second time in 1936 to Alice Eels.

Publications

Bellows is also known for translating the ''

'' for

and Peter Abélard's '' Historia Calamitatum''. The range of his four other books indicates the breadth of his interests: ''Manual for Local Defense'', ''A Treatise on Riot Duty for National Guards'', ''Highland Light, and Other Poems'' and ''A Short History of Flour Milling''.Henry Adams Bellows, ''A Short History of Flour Milling'', Minneapolis: Miller, 1924,

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellows, Henry Adams 1885 births 1939 deaths Businesspeople from Portland, Maine Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty University of Minnesota faculty Members of the Federal Communications Commission 20th-century American translators Translators of the Poetic Edda Deaths from lung cancer in Minnesota 20th-century American businesspeople