author

John Rothwell Slater

1872–1965

A longtime University of Rochester professor, he wrote about literature, religion, printing, and the life of the mind with the clarity of a teacher. His work also stretched beyond the classroom, shaping campus traditions and preserving the story of books themselves.

1 Audiobook

Printing and the Renaissance A paper read before the Fortnightly Club of Rochester, New York

Printing and the Renaissance A paper read before the Fortnightly Club of Rochester, New York

by John Rothwell Slater

About the author

Born in Marion, Virginia, on March 14, 1872, John Rothwell Slater studied at Harvard, then at Newton Theological Institute, and later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He joined the University of Rochester in 1905 and became head of its English department in 1908, remaining a central figure there until his retirement in 1942.

Slater was a scholar, essayist, and teacher whose books ranged across literary and religious subjects. His published work includes Living for the Future: A Study in the Ethics of Immortality, The Sources of Tyndale's Version of the Pentateuch, and Printing and the Renaissance, showing the breadth of his interests from theology and biblical scholarship to book history.

At Rochester, he was known for more than his writing. He composed the inscriptions for Rush Rhees Library and served as the university's first bellman, regularly playing the Hopeman Memorial Chimes. He died in 1965, remembered as a longtime professor whose intellectual curiosity left a lasting mark on the university and its cultural life.