Jeremiah D. M. Ford

Jeremiah Denis Mathias Ford (1873–1958) was an American educator and author. He was the Smith Professor Emeritus of the French and Spanish Languages and Literature at Harvard University from 1907 to 1943. He was the youngest-ever to be appointed a professor at Harvard, the first Catholic faculty, and the last ever appointed as Chairman of the Department of Romance Languages from 1911 to 1943.

Biography

Ford was born 2 July 1873, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from Thorndike Grammar School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1886. From 1886 to 1887, he attended the North Monastery Christian Brothers School in Cork, Ireland.

He then attended the Science and Art Department in South Kensington, London, England, from 1887 to 1888. In 1888, he was awarded Distinction in Chemistry and Math in the Science and Art Department Examinations.

He was awarded First Scholar & Gold Medal in English in the Junior Grade, in 1888, and the Silver Medal for German, in 1889, from the Intermediate Education Board, Dublin, Ireland.

He attended Harvard Law School from 1891 to 1892, attaining honors his first year. He then transferred, and attended Harvard College, receiving an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, in 1894; A.M., he was appointed Instructor in French and Italian in 1895, Harvard Harris Fellow in Romance Philology, Instructor-in-Residence to l'Universitê de Paris, from 1897 to 1898, Instructor in French and Spanish in 1898, Instructor in Romance Languages, in 1899, and Assistant Professor of Romance Languages at Harvard University.

Then, the youngest professor ever at Harvard, he was appointed Smith Professor of the French & Spanish Languages & Literature at Harvard, in 1907, a chair that had been vacant since 1886. He held that Chair until his retirement in 1943, when he became Smith Professor Emeritus.

Notable student's of Fords included Chandler Rathfon Post.

On January 1, 1902, he married Anna Winifred Fearns, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They had four children. He died at his home in Cambridge on November 13, 1958.

Languages

Courses taught at Harvard

Honorary degrees Docteur-ès-Lettres from the Université Toulouse, France, on 21 Mar 1922. Doctor of Letters from the National University of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, on 28 Oct 1932. Degree of Doctor of Letters from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, on 05 Jul 1934. Doctor of Letters from Bowdoin University, Brunswick, Maine, in 1935. Doctor of Humane Letters from Fordham University, New York, in 1940. Doctor of Letters from Harvard University, Massachusetts, on 11 Jun 1942.

Medals awarded

Founder Catholic Club of Harvard University, in May 1893. Medieval Academy of America, in 1925. Harvard Council on Hispano-American Studies, in 1929.

President Dante Society of America, Massachusetts, from 1927 to 1940. Italian Historical Society of Massachusetts, from 1930 to 1940. American Academy of Arts & Sciences, from 1931 to 1933. The Cambridge Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1933. Membership is limited to 100. American Catholic Historical Association, in 1935. Medieval Academy of America, from 1939 to 1942. Humanities Research Association of England, in 1937.

Vice-President Modern Language Association of America, from 1910 to 1911. Hispanic Society of America, in 1917. Modern Language Association of America, from 1927 to 1928. American Academy of Arts & Sciences, from 1930 to 1931. Hispanic Society of America, from 1937.

Elected Corresponding Member of Hispanic Society of America in 1907. Correspondiente de la Real Academia Española, in 1911. Cambridge School Board member in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1915 to 1916. Correspondiente de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, Spain, in 1913. Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, before 1919. Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, in 1927. Membre Correspondant de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de l'Institut de France, in 1944.

Memberships

Other Italian & Spanish Editor of the New International Encyclopedia, from 1901 to 1904. Chief Examiner in Spanish for the College Entrance Examination Board, from 1908 to 1921. In charge of Spanish & French acquisitions for Harvard University, after 1916. First Editor-in-Chief of Speculum, the journal of the Medieval Academy of America, from 1927 to 1936. Editor-in-Chief of the Henry Holt & Co. Spanish Series. Consulting editor of Hispania, the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish & Portuguese.