Earle Dudley Ross

Background

Earle Dudley Ross was born on December 20, 1885, at Ross Hill, New York, the United States to John and Fanny (Coleman) Ross.

Education

Earle Ross graduated from Waverly High School in 1905 (New York), received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1909, and a Master of Philosophy degree in 1910 from Syracuse University. Finally, he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Cornell University in 1915. He also took graduate courses at the University of Wisconsin.

Career

Earle Ross interrupted his graduate work at Cornell to teach history and economics at Muhlenberg College for one year. After receiving his Doctor of Philosophy, he taught at a number of schools, including Missouri Wesleyan College, Simpson College, Illinois Wesleyan University, and North Dakota Agricultural College.

In 1923 Earle Ross accepted a position as associate professor of economic history at Iowa State College; he became a professor of economic history and college historian in 1943. In 1956 he retired from teaching but remained a part-time member of the faculty.

Earle Ross continued his scholarly pursuits well into his 80s.

Achievements

• Earle Ross was known as "the father of agricultural history", the foremost historian of the land grant movement, and the official historian of Iowa State College. He also helped bring attention and respectability to state and local history with his books on Iowa agriculture and the history of Iowa State College.
  
  In 1973 Iowa State officials named the building that housed the history, political science, English, and philosophy departments in his honor.
  
  Earle Ross published more than 50 scholarly articles in historical, social science, and educational journals. He authored five books, worked as a co-author and editor. He also contributed to The Dictionary of American Biography and The Dictionary of American History.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Liberal Republican movement 1919
  • Iowa agriculture: an historical survey 1951
  • Readings in the Economic History of American Agriculture 1925
  • A history of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 1942
  • Democracy's college: The land-grant movement in the formative stage 1942

Membership

• Agricultural History Society , United States

• Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association , United States

• Iowa State College chapter of American Association of University Professors , United States

• Mississippi Valley Historical Association , United States

Personality

Earle Ross was known as a modest, gentle, and kindly person whose keen sense of humor was not overworked. He was looked upon by his students as their "intellectual mentor and father-confessor."

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Baseball

Connections

Earle Ross married Ethel Newbecker on June 27, 1917. His wife died on February 14, 1983, in Arlington, survived by three children, five grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.

Spouse:

Ethel Eileen Newbecker Ross

While serving as a professor of English and acting head of the German Department at the former Missouri Wesleyan College in Cameron Mo., Ethel met Earle D. Ross who was a professor of history and they were married in Ord. Neb., in June 1917.

References

• Hudson, D., Bergman, M., & Horton, L. (Eds.) The biographical dictionary of Iowa
  2009