James Morgan Hart (November 2, 1839 – April 18, 1916) was an American academic, philologist and translator.

Biography

Childhood and early education

Hart was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on November 2, 1839, to

John Seely Hart John Hart (January 28, 1810 – March 26, 1877) was an American author and educator. Biography Childhood Hart was born in Old Stockbridge, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on January 28, 1810. When he was two years old, his father, with a num ...

, a noted educator and literary figure, and Amelia Caroline. Shortly after his birth his father was appointed Principal of

Central High School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Central High School is a public high school in the Logan"." Philadelphia City Planning Commission. May 2002. 1 (document page 3). Retrieved on August 2, 2011. "The neighborhood is generally defined as including the area from Wingohocking Street ...

, and the family moved to Philadelphia. Hart attended Philadelphia public schools and graduated from the Central High School in 1857. He received a B.A. degree from

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 ...

in 1860.

Residence in Europe

After graduating from Princeton, Hart completed his education in Europe, traveling first to Geneva, and then matriculating at Göttingen University in 1861. After spending some semesters at the University of Berlin, he graduated from Göttingen with a Doctorate in Law. He returned to the United States in 1865 and spent two years practicing law in New York City. In 1867, he joined the faculty of the newly founded

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

as Assistant Professor of French and German. He left Cornell in 1872 to return to Germany to study philology, principally Anglo-Saxon, at the University of Leipzig. He returned to New York and wrote ''German Universities: A Narrative of Personal Experience,'' the first major description of the German university system to appear in the United States.

Academic career

Hart was Professor of Modern Languages and English Literature at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

from 1876 until 1890, when he returned to Cornell to join the English faculty, where he taught until his retirement in 1907. He is credited with improving the standards of graduate education at Cornell and with helping to raise the prestige of the English department there. He was elected President of the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

in 1895, and was a prolific contributor to ''Modern Language Notes'' and ''The Nation'', in addition to a number of other magazines. Much of his writing attempted to describe the ideal of the research university to a popular audience in the United States.Axtell, James. ''Wisdom's Workshop: The Rise of the Modern University''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016, p. 255 He died at the age of 76.

Selected works

Translations: * Goethe, ''Faust (Part One)'', (New York: Putnam, 1878). * Ibid., ''Hermann and Dorothea'', (New York: Putnam, 1875). * Ibid., ''Prosa'', (New York: Putnam, 1876). * Schiller, ''Piccolomini'' (New York: Putnam, 1875). Original works: * ''German Universities: A Narrative of Personal Experience'' (New York: Putnam, 1874). * ''Syllabus of Anglos Saxon Literature'' (Cincinnati: Robert Clark & Co., 1881). * ''Handbook of English Composition'' (Philadelphia: Eldredge, 1895). * ''Essentials of Prose Composition'' (Ibid., 1902). * ''The Development of Standard English Speech'' (New York: Holt, 1907).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, James Morgan 1839 births 1916 deaths Cornell University faculty Presidents of the Modern Language Association