Henry Nash Smith (September 29, 1906 – June 6, 1986) was a scholar of American culture and literature. He was co-founder of the academic discipline "

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory. Sch ...

". He was also a noted

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

scholar, and the curator of the Mark Twain Papers. The ''Handbook of Texas'' reported that an uncle encouraged Smith to read at an early age, and that the boy developed an interest in the works of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, Robert L. Stevenson and Mark Twain.Gossett, Thomas F. "Smith, Henry Nash (1906-1986)."
''Handbook of Texas''. December 1, 1995.

Life

Smith was born in Dallas, Texas to a father, an accountant who was a native of Kentucky, and a mother who was a native of Alabama. In 1922, he enrolled in

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

(SMU), where he studied under John Hathaway McGinnis. In 1926, Smith received his Bachelor's degree at SMU, then enrolled at Harvard University, where he earned the Master of Fine Arts degree. He returned to SMU in 1927, where he began teaching in the English Department. He was also appointed as editor of the ''

Southwest Review The ''Southwest Review'' is a literary journal published quarterly, based on the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, Texas. It is the third oldest literary quarterly in the United States. The current editor-in-chief is Greg Browndervi ...

'', a position he held until 1937. He left SMU again in 1941 to begin teaching as a Professor of English and history at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas (UT-A), where he became a friend with

J. Frank Dobie James Frank Dobie (September 26, 1888 – September 18, 1964) was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for his many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open rang ...

. Smith was reportedly happy with his work, his colleagues and his students. However, turmoil embroiled UT in the years following the end of World War II in 1945. He wrote a paper entitled, "The Controversy at the University of Texas, 1939–1945," which he presented to the student committee on academic freedom on August 13, 1945.Gossett, Thomas F. "Smith, Henry Nash (1906–1986)." Handbook of Texas Online. December 1, 1995.
/ref> Smith accepted a position as professor of English at the University of Minnesota (UMinn) in 1947, where he joined the American Studies program. Gossett wrote that while still employed by UMinn, Smith took an active role in protests defending academic freedom at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. This became the basis for publishing an essay titled "Legislatures, Communists and State Universities, in 1949, arguing against firing faculty members who had become members of the communist party. The Smith family left Minneapolis in 1953, when Henry accepted a position at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(UCB). He served as chairman of the UCB English Department from 1957 to 1961, and also served a term as national president of the Modern Language Association in 1969. A decade after he moved to Berkeley, Smith immersed himself in a series of political actions, including the Free Speech movement and the anti-Vietnam war protests. He retired from UCB in 1974, and was classified as President Emeritus. Smith taught at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, at

, and, from 1953 to 1960, at the

, later becoming professor emeritus. His ''Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth'', published in (1950) gave its name to the Myth and Symbol School, and in academia was the basis of the

paradigm In science and philosophy, a paradigm () is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. Etymology ''Paradigm'' comes f ...

of American Studies until the 1980s. Since it was based on his Ph.D. thesis and was the basis of a History of American Civilization course at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, its publication has been seen as the birth of that field. The book's topic was the collective perception of the 19th-century

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. Smith used sources such as

dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...

s and other items of popular culture. He was associated with Leo Marx and John William Ward. In his 1957 essay "Can American Studies Develop a Method?" (''American Quarterly''), frequently anthologized, Smith advocated influential objectives and methodological views for the Myth and Symbol School. Smith married Elinor Lucas in 1956. They had three children: Harriet Elinor Smith, Janet Carol Smith, and Mayne Smith. Smith died at the age of 79 on June 6, 1986, following an automobile accident on May 30, 1986, near

Elko, Nevada Elko (Shoshoni: Natakkoa, "Rocks Piled on One Another") is the largest city in and county seat of Elko County, Nevada, United States. With a 2020 population of 20,564, Elko is currently growing at a rate of 0.31% annually and its population has i ...

Awards and honors

* 1981 elected member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

* 1974 Guggenheim Fellowship - Awarded to individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.] * 1961 elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

* 1951

Bancroft Prize The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948, with a bequest from Frederic Bancroft, in his memory and that of his brother, ...

* 1950

John H. Dunning prize The John H. Dunning Prize is a biennial book prize awarded by the American Historical Association for the best book in history related to the United States. The prize was established in 1929, and is regarded as one of the most prestigious national h ...

- Prize established in 1929 by the American Historical Association for the best book in history related to the United States. Smith was the 12th author to receive this biennial award.

Works

* ''Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth'', 1950 (reprint Vintage Books, 1957; Harvard University Press, 1970, ) * ''Mark Twain of the Enterprise'', 1957 * ''Mark Twain: The Development of a Writer'', Belknap Press, 1962 * ''Mark Twain's Fable of Progress: Political and Economic Ideas in A Connecticut Yankee'', Rutgers University Press, 1964 * ''Popular Culture and Industrialism, 1865-1890'', 1967 * ''Democracy and the Novel'', 1978

Notes

Additional reading

* John William Ward 1955. ''Andrew Jackson, Symbol for an Age''. New York: Oxford University Press. * John William Ward. 1969 ''Red, White, and Blue: Men, Books, and Ideas in American Culture'' . New York: Oxford University Press *Marx, Leo (1964). The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America. New York: Oxford University Press. *Marx, Leo (1989). The Pilot and the Passenger: Essays on Literature, Technology, and Culture in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press *Ward, David C. 2004 ''Charles Willson Peale: Art and Selfhood in the Early Republic Berkley'', California : University of California Press ( John William Ward son's book, who went on to become Senior Historian at the National Portrait Gallery) *Lewis, R. W. B. 1955. ''The American Adam; Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century''. hicago University of Chicago Press. *Matthiessen, F. O. 1949. ''American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman''. Harvard, Boston *Meyers, Marvin 1957 ''The Jacksonian Persuasion: Politics and Belief Stanford Press'', California *Hofstadter, Richard. 1955. ''The Age of Reform: from Bryan to F.D.R.''

References

External links

etext of ''Virgin Land''

* ''American literature, culture, and ideology: essays in memory of Henry Nash Smith'', Beverly Rose Voloshin (ed), P. Lang, 1990,
Guide to the Henry Nash Smith Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...