Allen Sinclair Will

Background

Allen Sinclair Will was born on July 28, 1868 at Antioch, Va. , the son of William R. and Mildred Florence (Sinclair) Will.

Education

He received his early education in Baltimore, attended St. John's College, Annapolis, Md. , for several years.

Career

He became principal of a public school in Virginia. Later he taught in a private classical school in Baltimore. He entered newspaper work in 1888 as a reporter for the Baltimore Morning Herald. The following year he joined the Baltimore Sun, which he served as assistant city editor (1893 - 96), telegraph editor (1896 - 1905), and city editor (1905 - 12). Leaving the Sun in 1912, he was successively associate editor and editorial writer of the Baltimore News (1912 - 14) and news editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger (1914 - 16). From 1917 to 1924 he wrote special articles for the New York Times and was assistant editor. From 1923 until the time of his death he wrote book reviews for the Times as an authority on American colonial history and historical biography. He returned to teaching in 1920 when he was invited to join the staff of the Pulitzer School of Journalism at Columbia University (associate professor, 1924; professor, 1925). He conducted courses in news writing and book reviewing. In 1925 he joined the staff of Rutgers University in order to organize a department of journalism there. He was made director of the department in 1926 and remained in charge until his death. Realizing that the success of the school depended upon close cooperation with newspapers, he effected an agreement between his department and the New Jersey Press Association whereby many students were absorbed by newspapers soon after their graduation, and he became known as the only man in journalism with a waiting list for young reporters. He described the operation of that agreement and urged its more widespread application in a book which expressed the preoccupation of his later years, Education for Newspaper Life (1931). His friendship with Gibbons (who chose Will, a Protestant, as his biographer) dated back to the time when he was a young reporter on the Sun. For more than a year they spent a part of each day in companionable chat together; Will thus obtained a clear insight into the character of the Cardinal as a man, a churchman, and a political power. His other books were World-Crisis in China (1900) and Our City, State and Nation (1913). He was a contributor to the Dictionary of American Biography, and wrote several monographs on civics, American history, biography, and journalism. Those who attacked modern journalism in books and on the public platform had to meet Will's vigorous defense. He said that the articles in one of the New York dailies were the best examples of the world's journalism, "complete, accurate and skillfully expressed, the product of trained observation and orderly thinking" (Yale Daily News, January 6, 1926). He was a strict grammarian, however, and deplored widespread imitation of New York slang; crudities of speech annoyed him, and he zealously guarded standards of correct English on many copy desks. There is a portrait of him at Rutgers. He died in New York City.

Achievements

• He became known as the only man in journalism with a waiting list for young reporters. His most notable literary achievement was his Life of Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Life Of Cardinal Gibbons: Archbishop Of Baltimore; Volume 2

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • World Crisis In China, 1900 (1900)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Life Of Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Of Baltimore V2

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • World-crisis In China, 1900: A Short Account Of The Outbreak Of The War With The "boxers", And Ensuing Foreign Complications, Including Also A Sketch ... Chinese Empire In The Closing Year Of The...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Life of Cardinal Gibbons, Vol. 2: Archbishop of Baltimore (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Life of Cardinal Gibbons, Vol. 2: Archbishop...)

Personality

He was scholarly and distinguished in appearance, belying the popular picture of a newspaperman. He was tall, with grey hair and twinkling eyes, ruddy-faced and immaculate in appearance.

Connections

On Feburary 17, 1891, he was married to Allie Stuart Walter of Linden, Va. They had two daughters.

Father:

William R. Will

Mother:

Mildred Florence (Sinclair) Will

Spouse:

Allie Stuart Walter