John Henry Wright

John Henry Wright
Died	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Occupation	Educator, classical scholar, author

John Henry Wright (February 4, 1852 – November 25, 1908) was an American classical scholar, born at Urumiah, Persia. He was the son of missionary and oriental scholar Austin Hazen Wright, the brother of classical archaeologist Lucy Wright Mitchell, the husband of author Mary Tappan Wright and the father of legal scholar and utopian novelist Austin Tappan Wright and geographer John Kirtland Wright.

Life and family

Wright was born in Urumiah, Persia. He married, April 2, 1879 in Gambier, Ohio, Mary Tappan. The couple had three children, Elizabeth Tappan Wright (who died young), Austin Tappan Wright, and John Kirtland Wright. They lived successively in Hanover, New Hampshire, Baltimore, Maryland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, with their residency in the last interrupted by a period in Athens, Greece. Wright died November 25, 1908 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife and sons.

Education and career

He took his A.E. degree in 1873 and his A.M. in 1876, both at Dartmouth College, following which he was briefly assistant professor of ancient languages at Ohio State University. Afterward he studied for two years (1876–78) at Leipzig, returning to the United States in the latter year to take the position of associate professor of Greek at Dartmouth. In 1886, he was appointed professor of classical philology and dean of the Collegiate Board of Johns Hopkins, and a year later was called to be professor of Greek at Harvard, where in 1895 he was made dean of the Graduate School. In 1894, he was president of the American Philological Association. He received LL.D.s from foth Dartmouth and from Western Reserve University in 1901. He was a professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens from 1906–07. He was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Scholarly works

He edited Collignon's Manual of Greek Archæology (English translation, 1886) and A History of All Nations (24 volumes, 1902). He was associate editor (1888–1906) of the Classical Review, editor-in-chief (1897–1906) of the American Journal of Archæology, and associate editor (1907–08) of the Classical Quarterly.

Relationship with Vivekananda

Indian Sage Vivekananda journey to America took him through China, Japan, Canada and he arrived at Chicago in July 1893.[69] But to his disappointment he learnt that no one without credentials from a bona fide organization would be accepted as a delegate. He came in contact with Professor John Henry Wright of Harvard University.[70] After inviting him to speak at Harvard and on learning of his not having credential to speak at the Parliament, Wright is quoted as having said, "To ask for your credentials is like asking the sun to state its right to shine in the heavens." Wright then addressed a letter to the Chairman in charge of delegates writing, "Here is a man who is more learned than all of our learned professors put together." On the Professor Vivekananda himself writes, "He urged upon me the necessity of going to the Parliament of Religions, which he thought would give an introduction to the nation."[71] Wright remained a friend of the guru throughout his life.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)