Frank Luther Mott

Background

Frank Mott was born on April 4, 1886, in What Cheer, Iowa, United States. He was the son of newspaper publisher David Charles Mott and Mary E. (Tipton) Mott.

Education

As a young man, Frank Mott imbibed nearly every facet of the newspaper business by spending almost every waking hour in his father’s newspapers.

Frank Mott did the first three years of his college education at Simpson College and then completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Chicago. He attended Columbia University starting in 1917, earning his Master of Arts in 1919. Frank Mott earned his Doctor of Philosophy in 1928 from the University of Iowa while a professor there.

Career

During his 30-year career as dean of the schools of journalism at the state universities of Iowa and Missouri, Frank Mott did more than any other individual to raise such programs to a level comparable to that of other professional schools. In 1942 he became dean of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where he built the graduate program and raised the academic requirements for both students and faculty.

Frank Mott often used historical accounts to demonstrate the operation of journalistic principles. His graduate seminar met informally once a week in his own home. As chief of the journalism section of the army’s American University of Biarritz, France, after World War II, he participated in a specialized training program for journalists in the U.S. military. He also served as an adviser to General Douglas MacArthur’s staff, aiding Japanese leaders in establishing schools for journalism education.

In 1929 Frank Mott became the first elected president of the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism, and, teaming with public opinion pioneer George Gallup, founded Quill and Scroll, the high school honor society in journalism.

Over the course of his career, Frank Mott wrote more than a dozen books and 100 articles in scholarly journals and popular periodicals. Although he began as a writer of fiction and short stories, Frank Mott achieved recognition for his comprehensive histories of American newspapers and magazines. Frank Mott is also celebrated as one of the founders of journalism education for his texts, teaching methods, and administrative acumen.

Works

More photos

• book

  • American journalism

    (The author focuses on news media as interpreters of event...)

    1962
  • Missouri Reader

    (Mott finished The Missouri Reader just before his death a...)

    1964
  • Golden Multitudes

    (The story of best sellers in the United States.)

    1947
  • The News In America 1952
  • A history of American magazines 1941
  • Rewards of reading 1926
  • Jefferson and the Press

Personality

As a classroom teacher, Frank Mott enjoyed almost legendary status among his students, entertaining them with his rhetorical and dramatic skills.

Connections

In 1910 Frank Mott married Vera H. Ingram, with whom he had one daughter.

Father:

David Charles Mott

Mother:

Mary E. (Tipton) Mott

Spouse:

Vera H. Ingram

Daughter:

Mildred Mott (Wedel)

colleague:

Grant Wood

In 1935 collaborated with famed Iowa artist Grant Wood on Revolt against the City.

References

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