J. De Lancey (John De Lancey) Ferguson

Born in Scottsville, New York, in 1888, Ferguson built a long career as a writer, teacher, and literary scholar. He studied at Rutgers University, went on to earn a PhD from Columbia University, and later taught at Heidelberg College, Ohio Wesleyan, Western Reserve University, and Brooklyn College.

He is best remembered for his work on Robert Burns. Ferguson edited important Burns collections, including The Letters of Robert Burns and The Poems of Robert Burns, and wrote Pride and Passion: Robert Burns, 1759–1796. His reputation as a Burns scholar was strong enough that he was named an honorary member of the Irvine Burns Club in 1962.

His interests reached beyond Scottish literature. He also wrote on American literature and published Mark Twain, Man and Legend, showing the same clear, careful approach that shaped his work as a teacher and critic. No suitable verified portrait was found from the sources checked here, so no profile image is included.