John H. Collins (November 14, 1902 – January 8, 1981) was an American

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. Born in Anaconda, Montana, he attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, and in 1952 received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in classical history from

Goethe University Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

in Frankfurt-am-Main where he studied under Professor

Matthias Gelzer Matthias Gelzer (19 December 1886, Liestal – 23 July 1974, Frankfurt am Main) was a Swiss-German classical historian, known for his studies of the Roman Republic in regard to its politics and society. He was the author of highly regarded biog ...

, then a leading authority on

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

history, and prepared his doctoral dissertation on "Psychology and Propaganda in Caesar's Writings." He was a frequent contributor to '' Historia'', ''

The Classical Journal ''The Classical Journal'' (CJ) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of classical studies published by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. Print edition The journal currently has about 2300 subscribers, including app ...

'', and '' Gnomon'', and achieved world recognition as an expert on

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

. In 1958 he edited with Dero A. Saunders a noted edition of

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centu ...

's ''

History of Rome The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...

''. Fluent in six languages, Collins taught at the overseas division of the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, 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 ...

, and

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

at DeKalb where, in 1967, he received the NIU Excellence in Teaching award. In 1971, he received an

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

mandatory retirement notice. Not ready to retire, he sought the aid of a former student, and protégé W.R.S., who was in a position to discuss the matter with then Illinois Governor

Richard Ogilvie Richard Buell Ogilvie (February 22, 1923 – May 10, 1988) was the List of Governors of Illinois, 35th governor of Illinois and served from 1969 to 1973. A wounded combat veteran of World War II, he became known as the American Mafia, mafia-fi ...

. Mr. S. explained to the Governor that such an eminent Professor as John H. Collins was too highly respected in both American and European intellectual circles to fall victim to the state's arbitrary mandatory retirement system. Moreover, such an arbitrary decision pursuant to these select intellectual circles would bode ill for the State of Illinois' university system. Subsequently, the decision was made to retain Dr. Collins on a different contract. Upon Collins' retirement in 1978, a Northern Illinois University lecture hall was dedicated in his honor. He remained active in scholarly pursuits until his death in 1981.

References

p. 46 {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, John H. 1902 births 1981 deaths American classical scholars Cornell University alumni Northern Illinois University faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Classical scholars of the University of California, Berkeley Historians of ancient Rome 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers People from Anaconda, Montana American male non-fiction writers Historians from California