Theodore Whitefield Hunt

Background

Hunt was born at Metuchen, N. J. in 1844. He was the son of the Rev. Holloway Whitefield and Henriette (Mundy) Hunt. He was descended from Thomas Hunt who resided in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1650.

Education

After preparing at the Irving Institute, Tarrytown, N. Y. , he graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) at the head of his class in 1865. On the day of his arrival at Princeton he saw the members of the class of 1861 bidding farewell to each other, some to join the Confederate army, others the Union. The year after his graduation he taught in the Edgehill School, Princeton, and after attending Union and Princeton Theological seminaries was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Elizabeth.

Appointed by McCosh in 1868 as tutor in English at the College of New Jersey, he won in the following year the Boudinot fellowship in belles-lettres and philosophy, the first university fellowship established there. Deciding definitely upon an academic career, he pursued studies chiefly in Old English at the University of Berlin from 1871 to 1873.

Career

On his return after a period of study in Berlin he became adjunct professor of rhetoric and English literature at the college, and in 1881 full professor. He was the first chairman of the department of English, holding this position until his retirement in 1918, after fifty years of service under the administrations of Maclean, McCosh, Patton, Wilson, and Hibben.

The last twelve years of his life he spent as professor emeritus in Princeton, still actively interested in all the affairs of the university. With Marsh of Lafayette, Hunt was among the pioneers in the introduction of Old English studies into the curriculum of the American college. In 1883 he edited Caedmon's Exodus and Daniel as Volume II of Ginn's Library of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, on the basis of Grein's text, which went into several editions and was widely used.

His interests were by no means confined to the older period of the language as evidenced by the long list of his publications ranging from Caedmon to Swinburne. His critical writings were cast in the formal molds of a somewhat abstract rhetoric, but whenever he touched upon ethical values in literature, his own rich humanity enlivened the formalism of his style. One of his best pieces of criticism is his Ethical Teachings in Old English Literature (1892). His publications include: The Principles of Written Discourse (1884); Representative English Prose and Prose Writers (1887); Studies in Literature and Style (1890); American Meditative Lyrics (1896); Literature, Its Principles and Problems (1906); English Literary Miscellany (1914); Timely Topics (1921); besides numerous reviews and articles, and papers read before the Modern Language Association.

His long life was spent almost entirely in Princeton, and he was held in affectionate regard by the graduates of Old Nassau as a link between the old and the new Princeton. Recognized in his youth by McCosh as a valuable lieutenant in his task of renovating the College of New Jersey after the war, Hunt later did much to make the preceptorial system introduced by Woodrow Wilson a signal success in his own department, by rallying under his wise and kindly leadership the group of younger English scholars brought by Wilson to the university.

Achievements

• He is remembered as a professor of English at Princeton.

Works

More photos

• book

  • American Meditative Lyrics (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from American Meditative Lyrics AS indicated by ...)

  • Caedmon's Exodus and Daniel: Edited From Grein (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Caedmon's Exodus and Daniel: Edited From Gre...)

  • Timely Topics ... 1921

    (Originally published in 1921. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • English literary miscellany

Connections

In 1882 Hunt married Sarah Cooper Reeves of Camden, N. J. She died in 1906.

Father:

Rev. Holloway Whitefield Hunt

Mother:

Henriette (Mundy) Hunt

Spouse:

Sarah Cooper Reeves

References

• Who's Who in America 1928 - 1929 - Vol. 15: A Biographical Dictionary Of Notable Living Men And Women In The United States