Moses Coit Tyler
Encyclopedia
Moses Coit Tyler was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author and professor of American history.

Biography

He was born in Griswold, Connecticut
Griswold, Connecticut
Griswold is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,807 at the 2000 census. Griswold contains one borough, Jewett City, and also contains the villages of Doaneville,Rixtown, Glasgo, Hopeville, and Pachaug...

. At an early age he removed with his parents to Detroit, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. He entered the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 in 1853, but in the next year went to Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...

, where he was a member of Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....

 and from which he graduated AB in 1857, and received the degree of A.M. in 1863. He studied for the Congregational ministry at the Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy...

 (1857–1858) and at the Andover Theological Seminary (1858–1859), and held a pastorate at Owego, New York
Owego (village), New York
Owego is a village in and the county seat of Tioga County, New York, USA. The population was 3,911 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, in 1859-1860 and at Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...

 in 1860-1862.

Owing to ill-health, however, and a change in his theological beliefs, he left the ministry. He became interested in physical training, and for some time (partly in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

) wrote and lectured on the subject, besides other journalistic work. He became professor of English language and literature in the university of Michigan in 1867, and held that position until 1881, except in 1873-1874 when he was literary editor of the Christian Union; from 1881 until his death at Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

, he was professor of American history at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 and chairman of the Department of History
Cornell University Department of History
|- valign="top" ! style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | College | style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | Arts and Sciences |- valign="top" ! style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | Department Chair | style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | Barry Strauss...

.

In 1881 he was ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church and in 1883 priest, but he never undertook parochial work. Most important among his works are his valuable and original History of American Literature during the Colonial Time, 1607-1765 (2 vols, 1878; revised in 1897), and Literary History of the American Revolution, 1763-1783 (2 vols, 1897). Supplementary to these two is his Three Men of Letters (1895), containing biographical and critical chapters on George Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...

, Timothy Dwight
Timothy Dwight
Timothy Dwight may refer to:*Timothy Dwight College, a residential college at Yale University*Timothy Dwight IV , President of Yale University from 1795–1817*Timothy Dwight V , President of Yale University from 1886–1899...

 and Joel Barlow
Joel Barlow
Joel Barlow was an American poet, diplomat and politician. In his own time, Barlow was well-known for the epic Vision of Columbus. Modern readers may be more familiar with "The Hasty Pudding"...

.

In addition he published:
  • The Brawnville Papers (1869), a series of essays on physical culture
  • a revision of Henry Morley
    Henry Morley
    Henry Forster Morley was a writer on English literature and one of the earliest Professors of English Literature.-Life:...

    's Manual of English Literature (1879)
  • In Memoriam: Edgar Kelsey Apgar (1886), privately printed
  • Patrick Henry
    Patrick Henry
    Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...

    (1887), an excellent biography, in the "American Statesmen" series
  • Glimpses of England; Social, Political, Literary (1898), a selection from his sketches written while abroad.


See "Moses Coit Tyler," by Professor William P. Trent, in The Forum (Aug. 1901), and an article by Professor George L Burr, in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1901 (vol. i.).

External links

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