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Theodore Hornberger Papers

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center [Contact Us]3401 Market Street, Suite 210, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

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Theodore Hornberger was a Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania 1960-1974. He was born in Northville, Michigan on January 13, 1906. He earned B.S. (1927), M.A. (1929) and Ph.D. (1934) degrees all from the University of Michigan, where he also served as an Instructor of English, 1928-1936, and Assistant Professor of English, 1936-1937. Hornberger was also a Professor of English at the University of Texas, 1937-1946 and a Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, 1946-1960, where he was also chair of the English department, 1950-1958. Additionally, he served as a visiting lecturer at Harvard University (1938), Northwestern University (1940), Duke University (1941, 1942, and 1950), Ohio State University (1945), and the University of Brazil (1952).

Dr. Hornberger joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1960 as a Professor of English. He served as chair of the graduate group in English, 1965-1967 and acting chair of the Department of English, 1968-1969. He was appointed John Welsh Centennial Professor of History and English Literature in 1968 and upon his retirement in 1974 became John Welsh Centennial Professor Emeritus of History and English Literature.

He was the author of Scientific Thought in the American Colleges, 1638-1800 (1945) and many scholarly journal articles. He was editor of Mark Twain's Letters to Will Bowen (1941), William Cullen Bryant and Isaac Henderson (1950), and Literature of the United States (1966).

Dr. Hornberger was a member of the Modern Language Association (chair of its American literature group in 1956), the National Council of Teachers of English (chair of its College Section 1951-1952), the History of Science Society, the College English Association, the American Historical Association, the American Dialect Society, and the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

Theodore Hornberger died on March 14, 1975 in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he was a visiting Professor of English at the University of Minnesota. He was survived by his wife, Marian Welles Hornberger, and two daughters, Jean Alice (Mrs. Roland Cleveland) and Katharine Watson (Mrs. Allen Denenberg).

The Theodore Hornberger papers contain diaries, correspondence, teaching materials pertaining to courses and seminars he taught, unfinished manuscripts, and reprints of some of his published works.

The Theodore Hornberger papers are organized into two series – Personal File and Professional File – which are both arranged alphabetically.

The Theodore Hornberger papers were donated or transferred to the University Archives in May 1976 (accession number 18-76).

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center
Finding Aid Author
Timothy H. Horning
Finding Aid Date
March 2014
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Access to collections is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Center.

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Autobiographical Sketch, ca. 1970.
Box 1 Folder 1
Correspondence, 1929-1960.
Box 1 Folder 2
Diary, August 1941 - October 1941.
Box 1 Folder 3
Diary, April 1943 - September 1943.
Box 1 Folder 4
Diary, April 1970 - February 1971.
Box 1 Folder 5
Diary, December 1972 - May 1973.
Box 1 Folder 6

English 682: American Literature to 1810, 1972.
Box 1 Folder 7
English 683: American Literature, 1810-1860, 1971.
Box 1 Folder 8
English 684: American Literature, 1860-1915, 1969.
Box 1 Folder 9
English 686: American Drama to 1890, 1969, n.d.
Box 1 Folder 10
English 686: American Drama to 1890, n.d.
Box 1 Folder 11
English 784: Seminar in American Literature, 1860-1910, 1961, 1969.
Box 1 Folder 12
English 791: Seminar in Major American Authors: Thoreau, 1970.
Box 1 Folder 13
John Welsh Centennial Emeritus Professor of History and English Literature certificate, 1974.
Box 1 Folder 14
Miscellaneous syllabi, 1945-1950.
Box 1 Folder 15
Reprints of articles written or edited by Hornberger, 1941-1967.
Box 1 Folder 16
Unfinished Manuscript, n.d.
Box 1 Folder 17
Unfinished Manuscript [The Prose of the American Revolution?], n.d.
Box 1 Folder 18
Unfinished Manuscript [Scientific Thought in the American Colleges, 1638-1800?], n.d.
Box 1 Folder 19
Visiting Professorship, University of Brazil, 1951-1952.
Box 1 Folder 20

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