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Teachers College Faculty and Emeriti Collections

This guide provides an overview collections generated to Teachers College faculty or to collections related to Teachers College faculty or Emeriti.

Biographical Note

Allan B. Abbott (1876-1956) was an English teacher at the Horace Mann School at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1902 to 1913, and served as head of the English department there from 1907 until 1933, when he became head of the Department of the Teaching of English. He received his A.B. from Harvard University in 1896 and completed his M.A. at Havard in 1911. In 1913, he was appointed Assistant Professor of English at Teachers College. Abbott was promoted to Associate Professor in 1921, to Full Professor in 1928, and to Emeritus Professor of English in 1942, the year of his retirement. After Professor Abbott’s retirement from Teachers College, he taught as a visiting professor at Wabash College, Indiana, and from 1944 to 1954 he served as editor of literature and textbooks on the humanities for the American Book Company.

Throughout his career, Allan Abbott advocated for English teachers to reform their pedagogy by tailoring their selection of literature to student interests. His academic accomplishment evidence how he worked to change curricula and teaching standards. His 1911 article, "The Aims of High School English," was taken almost verbatim by the committee that authored the influential 1917 report "Reorganization of English in Secondary Schools” published by the U.S. Bureau of Education. In 1917, Abbot was elected as President of the National Council of Teachers of English. He also devised new methods for testing poetic appreciation, culminating in the Abbott-Trabue test issued in 1921. Additionally, his work included substantial contributions to the New York State "Syllabus for English in Secondary Schools,” as well as edited versions of classic literary texts including Shakespeare’s Hamlet and John Milton’s “Tractate of Education.” Beyond his academic work, Professor Abbott achieved popular recognition for his satirical works published between 1932 and 1935.

 

 

Photograph of Allan Abbott wearing glasses, a suit, and a tie. From Allan Abbot Papers Box 2, folder 12.

Collection Scope and Contents

The Allan Abbott Papers primarily consist of letters to Abbott from poets, teachers, and editors of literary magazines, as well as correspondence relating to tests which were developed by Abbott for judging poetry (ca. 1920 to 1922). Correspondents include C.H. Ward, Alfred Noyes, John Erskine, Louis Untermeyer, Amy Lowell, Harriet Monroe, Herbert Vaughan Abbott, Francis Hackett, among others. The collection also contains copies of Abbott's books and pamphlets; clippings of book reviews; photographs of Abbott and others; and miscellaneous printed material. Additional materials are comprised of minutes, bibliographies, and newsletters (1952) relating to Allan Abbott Associates – an organization composed of members of the Teachers College Department of English and Foreign Languages, and devoted to professional development and fellowship, as well as printed English tests written by Amy Shaw and others and published by Teachers College in 1931. Also in the collection is a photograph of William Heard Kilpatrick on his 90th birthday (1961) and a program (1951) from a dinner held to celebrate Kilpatrick's eightieth birthday.

Teachers College Digital Collections

Portions of the Allan Abbott Papers have been digitized and are available through the Teachers College Digital Collections.

Related Collections

Collections Held at Teachers College

Collections Held at Columbia University

Collections Outside of Teachers College

Additional Notes

The Allan Abbott Papers consist of two accessions: 830722 and 830509. Both accessions were donated to the library in 1982 and 1983 by Amy I. Shaw Abbott, Allan Abbott's wife.