Overview
George Lyman Kittredge (1860-1941) received an AB from Harvard in 1882 and taught English literature at Harvard from 1888 to 1936. Kittredge studied and taught courses on Shakespeare, Chaucer, Germanic mythology, linguistics, poetry, Icelandic, Old Norse, Germanic and Celtic religions, witchcraft, and folklore. The collection contains scrapbooks, correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and journals documenting Kittredge’s professional work, as well as personal correspondence, journals, and photographs.
Dates
- Creation: 1869 - 1941
Creator
- Kittredge, George Lyman, 1860-1941 (Person)
Researcher Access
Open for research; some access restrictions may apply. Requires review by archivist.
Extent
27.91 cubic feet (42 legal document boxes, 18 document boxes, 6 half document boxes, 6 volumes, 4 pamphlet folders, 4 flat boxes, 4 accordion folders, 1 legal half document boxes, and 1 folder)The collection contains Kittredge’s professional and personal papers. The collection is primarily composed of scrapbooks containing correspondence, clippings, manuscripts, and notes on topics such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, ballads and songs, folklore, witchcraft, and others, as well as personal documents. Correspondence relates to Kittredge’s work as chair of the Division of Modern Languages, family matters, and other subjects. Includes several books interleaved with manuscript notes by Kittredge, as well as other manuscripts, notes, and lectures. Also contains journals and photographs.
Biographical Note on George Lyman Kittredge
George Lyman Kittredge received an AB from Harvard in 1882 and taught English literature at Harvard from 1888 to 1936. Kittredge was born on February 28, 1860 in Boston. While a student at Harvard, Kittredge won five Bowdoin Prizes, was involved in many clubs including writing for the Harvard Advocate, and was chosen as Ivy Orator for Class Day 1882. He married Frances Gordon on June 29, 1886. Kittredge taught Latin at Phillips Exeter Academy from 1883 to 1888. He began teaching at Harvard in 1888 and became full professor in 1895, succeeding Francis James Child as the Harvard Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory. Kittredge was also Harvard's first Gurney Professor of English from 1917 to 1936. Kittredge's Harvard administrative activities included serving as chair of the Division of Modern Languages 1894-1898 and 1899-1924 and as chair of the Department of Comparative Literature 1917-1936. At Harvard, Kittredge was most well-known for his courses on Shakespeare (English 2), Chaucer, and Germanic mythology. He also taught courses in literature, linguistics, poetry, Icelandic, Old Norse, and Germanic and Celtic religions. Kittredge studied witchcraft and witch trials in England and New England. He also wrote extensively on the folklore of New England and collected folk tales and songs. Professionally, Kittredge was involved with the American Folklore Society, serving as President in 1904, Vice President 1911-1918, and assisting with publication of the Journal of American Folklore 1909-1940. Kittredge died on July 23, 1941 in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in 24 series. The collection follows the arrangement of call numbers given to series upon receipt at the Harvard University Archives.
• General folder (HUG 4486)
• Photographs (HUG 4486.2)
• Journal, Feb. 28, 1869-Dec. 18, 1869 (HUG 4486.5)
• Journal, July 1886 (HUG 4486.8)
• Scrapbooks (HUG 4486.10)
• Correspondence, 1886-1941 (HUG 4486.12)
• Notebook of secretary to G. L. Kittredge, Feb.-May 1930 (HUG 4486.13)
• Letters to Caleb T. Winchester about the Athenaeum Press series of English authors, 1892-1899 (HUG 4486.14)
• Anniversary papers by colleagues [and pupils of George Lyman Kittredge] index by H. R. Shipherd (HUG 4486.15.2)
• Pamphlets given to G. L. Kittredge by the authors thereof, with authors' letters or comments enclosed (HUG 4486.20)
• Aristotelis Ethice [Ethica] Nacomachea [Nicomachea]. Berolini, 1861 (HUG 4486.24)
• Andreas: A Legend of St. Andrew, ed. by W. H. Baskerville (HUG 4486.25)
• Beowulf, ed. by M. Heyne. Paderborn, 1879 (HUG 4486.26)
• Beowulf, ed. by J. A. Harrison and R. Sharp. Boston, 1888 (HUG 4486.27)
• Beowulf, ed. by A. J. Wyatt. Cambridge (Eng) 1898 (HUG 4486.28)
• Shakespeare notes (HUG 4486.30)
• Notes on witchcraft, including newspaper clippings of reviews of Witchcraft in Old and New England (HUG 4486.31)
• Notes on George Stirk Starkey and Alchemy (HUG 4486.32)
• Notes for Words and Their Ways in English Speech (HUG 4486.33)
• Chaucer's Troylus and Cryseyde [Troilus and Criseyde], books II-V [compared with] Boccaccio's Filostrato, books II-V (HUG 4486.34)
• Notes on Edwin Drood (HUG 4486.35)
• Germanic religion lectures (HUG 4486.36)
• Miscellaneous notes (HUG 4486.40)
• Research and writing materials, 1887-1941 and undated (HUG 4486.50)
Acquisition
- Gift of Wesleyan University Library, received 1967-12.
- Gift of Mrs. Gertrude L. Eaton Kittredge, received 1974.
- Transferred from the Harvard University Department of English, received 2015-01-29, accession 2016.024.
- Gift of Mrs. Kittredge.
- Purchased from the estate of G. L. Kittredge-Child Fund.
- Unknown source.
Inventory update
This document last updated 2022 April 22.
Processing Information
The finding aid was created by Erin Clauss in February-March 2021. Information in this finding aid was assembled from legacy paper inventories and container management data. Titles are transcribed. The collection was not re-examined.
Creator
- Kittredge, George Lyman, 1860-1941 (Person)
- Title
- Kittredge, George Lyman, 1860-1941. Papers of George Lyman Kittredge, 1869-1941 : an inventory
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua07021
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
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Cambridge MA 02138 USA
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archives_reference@harvard.edu