George E. (George Ellsworth) Howard

Born in 1849 and active during a period of big change in American scholarship, George Elliott Howard was an educator, historian, and author whose research ranged from constitutional history to the history of family life. He taught at the University of Nebraska, later at Stanford, and also served as a professorial lecturer at the University of Chicago.

Howard is especially remembered for major works such as An Introduction to the Local Constitutional History of the United States and the multi-volume A History of Matrimonial Institutions. His writing combined legal, historical, and sociological interests, which made his work stand out at a time when those fields were often kept separate.

He died in 1928, but his reputation lasted well beyond his lifetime. Howard also served as president of the American Sociological Society, reflecting the influence he had on early American sociology as well as history.