22 Facts About George Ticknor

George Ticknor was an American academician and Hispanist, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature.

George Ticknor is known for his scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literature.

In 1805, George Ticknor entered the junior class at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1807.

In 1810, George Ticknor began the study of law, and he was admitted to the bar in 1813.

George Ticknor opened an office in Boston, but practiced for only one year, satisfying himself that his vocation, or at least his taste, lay in the direction of letters rather than of law.

George Ticknor's father helped finance his studies, and Ticknor traveled to Europe in 1815, studying for nearly two years at the University of Gottingen.

George Ticknor attended the lectures of the university and devoted himself to philological studies, especially to the ancient classics.

In 1817, while still in Europe, George Ticknor was selected as Smith professor of French and Spanish languages and literature, and professor of belles-lettres at Harvard University.

George Ticknor continued to add to this, and in time, it became one of the largest private collections in the country.

George Ticknor was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1821.

George Ticknor suggested improvements in the system of discipline, influenced by his studies of German universities.

George Ticknor greatly extended the range of intellectual culture among the students at the university, where literary instruction had been confined to the classics.

George Ticknor gave long, elaborate courses of lectures on French and Spanish literature.

George Ticknor entered into a critical analysis of such writers as Dante, Goethe, Milton, and Shakespeare.

George Ticknor's lectures were attended by people from outside the college, who were attracted by their interest and by Ticknor's reputation as a speaker known for his diction and delivery.

George Ticknor moved into half of the home built by Thomas Amory at the corner of Beacon and Park Streets in 1829; it became known as the Amory-George Ticknor House.

George Ticknor developed in his college lectures the scheme of his more permanent work, which he published as the History of Spanish Literature.

George Ticknor had succeeded his father as a member of the Primary School Board in 1822, and held this position until 1825.

George Ticknor was a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum from 1823 to 1832, and was vice-president in 1833.

George Ticknor was especially active in the establishment of the Boston Public Library, and served on its board from 1852 to 1866 and as its president in 1865.

George Ticknor spent fifteen months abroad from 1856 to 1857 at his own expense to collect books for the library, and gave the library both money and books.

George Ticknor left his collection of Spanish and Portuguese books and manuscripts to the Boston Public Library, after the manuscripts were famously turned down by Harvard University.