Calvin Thomas (October 28, 1854 near

Lapeer, Michigan Lapeer ( ') is a City (Michigan), city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Lapeer County, Michigan, Lapeer County. As of the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census, the city population was 8,841. Most of the city was incorporat ...

– November 4, 1919 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) was an American scholar who served as professor of Germanic languages and literature at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Biography

Thomas graduated from the University of Michigan in 1874 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

. He taught Latin and Greek at the

Grand Rapids High School Grand Rapids High School is a four-year public high school located in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, United States, on 800 Conifer Drive. GRHS offers a wide range of extracurricular activities, and has one of the few competitive field show marching band ...

for a while, after which he studied philology at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

in Germany in 1877/1878. His studies ended abruptly when he responded to a request from the University of Michigan to return and teach German. In 1886, he became professor of Germanic languages at Michigan. In 1896, he moved to fill the same chair at

. Professor Thomas did much to introduce the study of German into US public schools. He was president of the

Modern Language Association of America The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

from 1896 to 1897, and of the

American Dialect Society The American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society ...

from 1912 to 1913. He was also involved in the simplified spelling movement and was chair of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Simplified Spelling Board The Simplified Spelling Board was an American organization created in 1906 to reform the spelling of the English language, making it simpler and easier to learn, and eliminating many of what were considered to be its inconsistencies. The board oper ...

. The University of Michigan gave him an

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

in 1904. In addition, he was an editor and contributing editor, along with

Frank Horace Vizetelly Francis "Frank" Horace Vizetelly (2 April 1864 – 20 December 1938) was an English-American lexicographer, etymologist, and editor. Life Vizetelly was born in England, the only son of Henry Vizetelly and his second wife, Elizabeth Anne Anse ...

, of the

Funk and Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...

Encyclopedia and Dictionary in the early 20th century. After his first wife, Mary J. Sutton of Lapeer, died the year they were married (1880), he married Mary Eleanor Allen of Grand Rapids in 1884. They had two children.

Publications

* ''A Practical German Grammar'' (1895; fourth edition, revised, 1905) * ''Goethe and the Conduct of Life'' (1886) * ''The Life and Works of Schiller'' (1901) * ''A History of German Literature'' (1909) * ''An Anthology of German Literature'' (1909) * ''Report of the Committee of Twelve of the Modern Language Association of America '' (1910) * ''Goethe'' (1917) * ''Scholarship, and Other Essays'', a selection of his work published posthumously by his colleagues (1924) Thomas edited ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

'' (part i, 1892; part ii, 1897), ''

Hermann und Dorothea ''Hermann and Dorothea'' is an epic poem, an idyll, written by Germany, German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe between 1796 and 1797, and was to some extent suggested by Johann Heinrich Voss's ''Luise'', an idyll in hexameters, which was first pu ...

'' (1891), ''

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

'' (1888), and ''An Anthology of German Literature''.

Notes

References

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External links

photo of Calvin Thomas (linguist)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Calvin 1854 births 1919 deaths American book editors American biographers Columbia University faculty Columbia University Department of German faculty Professors of German in the United States People from Lapeer County, Michigan University of Michigan alumni University of Michigan faculty Presidents of the Modern Language Association