Finding Aid for Harris F. Fletcher Papers, 1926-70 | University of Illinois Archives

Title: Harris F. Fletcher Papers, 1926-70

ID: 15/7/25

Primary Creator: Fletcher, Harris Francis (1892-1979)

Extent: 2.7 cubic feet

Arrangement: By type of record and chronologically thereunder.

Subjects: Eastern Michigan University, English Literature, Faculty Papers, Higher Education, Library, Milton, John, Phi Beta Kappa

Formats/Genres: Papers

Languages: English

Papers of Harris Francis Fletcher (1892-1979), professor of English (1926-62), including correspondence, publications, manuscripts and research materials relating to John Milton studies, seventeenth century English literature, publications, awards and honors, speeches and reports, students and university committee projects. Correspondence include Denis Saurat, Bror Danielsson, James M. Osborn. J. Milton French, Don Allen, H. S. Bennett, Gunnar Qvarnstrom, Frank A. Patterson, Jacques Barzun, T. O. Mabbott, Carl W. Ackerman and University officials. The series includes class record books (1927-61).

For correspondence as associate dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences (1931-38), see records series 15/1/1.

The series includes typed copy, editor's notes and galley and page proofs for The Intellectual Development of John Milton (two volumes, 1956, 1961).

Harris Francis Fletcher (1892-1979) joined the faculty of the English Department at the University of Illinois (UI) in 1926 and retired in 1963. During his long career, he was associate dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences (1931-38), professor of English (1938-63), and professor emeritus (1963-79). Fletcher was a renowned scholar of the English poet John Milton (1608-74) and is known at UI for his spearheading the creation of the John Milton Collection at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Fletcher was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1892, to parents Elizabeth Larubie Fletcher and Azro Fletcher. He earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State Normal College (1912) and a PhD from the University of Michigan in 1925. Over the course of his career, he specialized in the works of Milton, and he published extensively, including three monographs on Milton's Semitic studies and Biblical references, a bibliography of Milton's works, a textbook on Milton's poetry, a four-volume critical facsimile of Milton's poetry, and a two-volume work The Intellectual Development of John Milton (1956). Fletcher also wrote around twenty-five journal articles on Milton in addition to creating an unpublished index of the author's prose. At the UI, he contributed as educator, administrator, and editor-in-chief of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature. Fletcher initiated and led the UI library's acquisition of first-edition Milton publications as well as extensive seventeenth-century contextual materials (e.g., works of literature, history, theology, science, and geography contemporary to Milton). His efforts ultimately led to the creation of the library's Rare Book Room in 1943.

Fletcher was recognized by the Milton Society of America in 1960 for his publication Milton's Complete Poetical Works (1943-48) and in 1961 as Scholar of the Year. He received an honorary doctorate from UI in 1962.

Fletcher married Dorothy Bacon in 1921, and they had three daughters. He retired in 1963 and died in 1979.

Sources:

"Harris Fletcher," News Gazette, July 18, 1979.

Marvin T. Herrick, "Harris Francis Fletcher," The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 60, no. 4 (October 1961): pp. 609â??613. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27713918.

"Milton and the Book Arts," Rare Book and Manuscript Library UIUC, accessed June 3, 2020, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2c7f/6cccdc222b454e0aaca4b5aac67424476a2d.pdf.

Wikipedia, s.v. "Harris Fletcher," accessed June 3, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Fletcher

Eastern Michigan University
English Literature
Faculty Papers
Higher Education
Library
Milton, John
Phi Beta Kappa

Repository: University of Illinois Archives

Accruals: 1/1966; 8/24/67; 6/5/69; 4/16/71; 2/12/81

Other Note: 3 Pages

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1507025UPDATED.pdf

PDF finding aid for Harris F. Fletcher Papers (15/7/25)