Theodore Baird

Theodore Baird (February 28, 1901 – December 29, 1996) was an American academic and Samuel Williston Professor of English, emeritus, at Amherst College. From 1927 to 1969 he taught students a wide range of literature, and was the creator of the English 1-2, the college's highly regarded freshman composition course.

Baird and his wife commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design their home, the Theodore Baird Residence.

Early life and education Theodor Baird, son of Silas and Emma (née Lane) Baird, was born in Warren Township, Trumbull, Ohio, on February 28, 1901. He completed his baccalaureate degree at Hobart College. In 1928 he married Frances Halliburton Titchenor, who was on the faculty of Smith College. Baird he earned a master's degree and a 1929 Ph.D. from Harvard University with his dissertation, The Life and Worlds of George Colman the Elder.

Career Before joining the Amherst faculty as an instructor, Baird taught briefly at Western Reserve University, Union College and Harvard. Central techniques included the use of assignment sequences, the use of student writing as class texts, the insistence that students write from experience, the determination to have students recognize themselves as makers of meaning and then to assume responsibility for their work—all elements of writing classes that became important in the 1970s and have endured.

Selected publications Baird, Theodore, ed. (1931). The First Years: Selections from Autobiography. Baird, Theodore (published posthumously, Fall 2002) "Try to Establish a Conversation: An Oral History" Theodore Baird, Writing on the Edge, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 97–112 (16 pages) Published By: Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Davis University Writing Program. Baird, Theodore (published posthumously, 2005) English at Amherst: a history, William H. Pritchard, ed., Amherst College Press, 2005. 288 pp. He became professor emeritus upon his retirement in 1969.