Chester Noyes Greenough (June 29, 1874 – February 27, 1938) was a Professor of English and Dean at Harvard University.

Biography

Chester Noyes Greenough was born in

Wakefield, Massachusetts Wakefield is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, incorporated in 1812 and located about north-northwest of Downtown Boston. Wakefield's population was 27,090 at the 2020 census. Wakefield offers ...

, U.S., on June 29, 1874. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1898, received his master's degree in 1899 and his doctorate in 1904, both from Harvard University. He taught at Harvard briefly before becoming head of the English Department at the University of Illinois in 1907. He returned to Harvard as Assistant Professor of English in 1910 and became Professor of English in 1915. While serving a two-year term as Acting Dean of Harvard College from 1919 to 1921, he played a principal role in Harvard's purge of homosexuals known as the

Secret Court of 1920 The Secret Court of 1920 was an ''ad hoc'' disciplinary tribunal of five administrators at Harvard University formed to investigate charges of homosexual activity among the student population. During two weeks in May and June 1920, "the court", h ...

. He held the post of Dean from 1921 to 1927. He became the first Master of

Dunster House Dunster House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. Built in 1930, it is one of the first two dormitories at Harvard University constructed under President Abbott Lawrence Lowell's House Plan and one of the sev ...

, a Harvard student residence, serving from 1930 to 1934. One of his publications, ''History of Literature in America'', which he authored with Barrett Wendell, became a popular textbook.Chester Noyes Greenough, ''History of Literature in America'' (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904), authored with Barrett Wendell He married twice. His first wife, Marietta McPherson, died in 1925. He married Ruth Hornblower Atkins, who survived him, in 1931. He died in

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It is a western suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, United States; and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's population stood at 27,295 ...

, on February 27, 1938. Greenough Hall, a Harvard dormitory, is named for him.''The New York Times''
"C. N. Greenough, 64, Ex-Harvard Dean"
p. 15, February 28, 1938], accessed December 18, 2009

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenough, Chester Noyes 1874 births 1938 deaths University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Harvard University faculty People from Wakefield, Massachusetts Harvard College alumni