Background
He was born in Eureka, Illinois May 16, 1894, one of four children.
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Levette Davidson
Edit Profilechancellor head Tenth Infantry
Education
He chose teaching and was awarded his Bachelor of Arts from Eureka in 1915. At the end of the war, Davidson simultaneously taught and studied at the University of Michigan where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in languages and literatures in 1922.
Career
A year later he received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Illinois where he received Phi Beta Kappa honors. In 1917 he earned his Master of Arts in social science and history at Harvard University. __During World War I, he served with the Tenth Infantry of the Forty-Sixth Division and also served as an army sergeant in Intelligence.
He arrived in Denver later that year and began teaching at the University of Denver.
Before arriving in Colorado, his academic specialty was eighteenth century England. Once in Denver, he realized that Western literature and folklore would be his life work.
Davidson taught at the University of Denver until his death in 1957. His course topics ranged from studies of Shakespeare and other English literature, to folklore in the West.
He began teaching news writing and eventually founded the journalism department at the University as well as the board of publications and the press club
He was the first faculty member elected to serve as president of the University Senate. In 1940 he became head of the English Department and from March to August 1953 he served as interim Chancellor. At the time of assuming his post, he remarked: There is hardly an organization on campus that I have not been connected with at one time or another.
Davidson was named University Lecturer for 1956.
Davidson was a director of the Colorado State Historical Society, the Modern Languages Association, the American Folklore Society, and the American Dialect Society. In spare moments, Davidson conducted research, wrote outlines for plays, and authored a large number of articles
He contributed to a wide range of magazines from Western American to Shakespeare Quarterly. Additionally, Davidson authored several books on folklore.
The most widely recognized is Rocky Mountain Tales, which presents regional folklore as well as true accounts of early events in the area.
Levette Davidson died May 14, 1957.
Membership
He was a charter member of the Denver Posse of the Westerners, an organization devoted to western folklore.
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Born
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Died
1957 (aged 62) -
Nationality
United States