Rudolph Altrocchi (October 31, 1882 – May 13, 1953) was a scholar of

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and a university professor.

Life and work

Rudolph Altrocchi was born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Altrocchi's family emigrated to the

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when he was a child. He attended

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 ...

, earning his

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in 1914. Between 1910 and 1928, he taught at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, and

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. From 1928 to his retirement in 1947, he served as chairman of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

department at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. He married in 1920. His wife, Julia Cooley Altrocchi, published a large number of children's books. They had two sons, John and Paul. Paul Hemenway Altrocchi became a renowned neurologist. Altrocchi served in the

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during

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, managing propaganda and liaison functions in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Lyon, France Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Active in academic organisations, Altrocchi served as president of the American Association of Teachers of Italian and the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast. Altrocchi's 1944 book ''Sleuthing in the Stacks'' was a collection of irreverent essays in which Altrocchi deftly dissected such varied topics as forged marginal notes in an obscure

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text, the literary and mythical predecessors of

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, and the image of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

in a minor painting in a church in

. He died in

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Bibliography

* ''Deceptive Cognates: Italian-English and English-Italian'' (1935) * ''Sleuthing in the Stacks'' (1944)

References

Rudolph Altrocchi Papers at the University of Chicago Library

Guide to Rudolph Altrocchi papers
a
Houghton Library
Harvard University {{DEFAULTSORT:Altrocchi 1882 births 1953 deaths Italian emigrants to the United States Harvard University alumni Columbia University faculty Harvard University faculty University of Chicago faculty Brown University faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty