The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of
on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest
learned societies
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership may ...
in
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship.
The Society encourages basic research in the languages and literatures of the Near East and Asia and covers subjects such as philology, literary criticism, textual criticism, paleography, epigraphy, linguistics, biography, archaeology, and the history of the intellectual and imaginative aspects of Eastern civilizations, especially of philosophy, religion, folklore and art.
It is closely associated with
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, which is the site of its library. The society publishes a journal quarterly, the ''
Journal of the American Oriental Society'', the most important American serial publication in the historical languages of Asia. Former presidents include
Theodore Dwight Woolsey
Theodore Dwight Woolsey (31 October 1801 – 1 July 1889) was an American academic, author and President of Yale College from 1846 through 1871.
Biography
Theodore Dwight Woolsey was born 31 October 1801 in New York City. His mother was Elizabe ...
,
,
William Dwight Whitney
William Dwight Whitney (February 9, 1827June 7, 1894) was an American linguist, philologist, and lexicographer known for his work on Sanskrit grammar and Vedic philology as well as his influential view of language as a social institution. He was ...
,
,
William H. Ward
Captain William H. Ward (December 9, 1840 – April 11, 1927), American Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army. He received the Medal of Honor for heroism at Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 3, 1863.
William Ward is buried at ...
,
Crawford H. Toy,
Morris Jastrow, Jr.,
Harold H. Bender and
Ludo Rocher Ludo Rocher (1926–2016) was an eminent Sanskrit scholar, and the W. Norman Brown Professor Emeritus of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Biography
Ludo Rocher was born in Hemiksem in the province of Antwerp, Belgium on 25 Apri ...
.
References
External links
*
Oriental Society, American
Ancient Near East organizations
Oriental Society, American
Oriental Society, American
1842 establishments in Massachusetts
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