author
John Rothwell Slater
1872–1965
A longtime University of Rochester professor, he wrote with equal ease about language, religion, and the history of printing. His work ranges from practical textbooks to thoughtful essays and literary studies, showing a scholar who cared deeply about clear expression and the life of the mind.
1 Audiobook
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 worked as managing editor of The World Today in Chicago before joining the University of Rochester in 1905.
At Rochester, he became a central figure in the English department and eventually served as its chair for many years, retiring in 1942. Archival and university sources describe him as both a professor and a prolific writer, and his papers preserve articles, reviews, and other writings that he hoped to gather under the title Obiter Dicta.
His books show the range of his interests. They include Freshman Rhetoric, a classroom text on writing; Living for the Future; Printing and the Renaissance, a study of how print helped shape intellectual culture; and Rhees of Rochester. He died in 1965, leaving behind a body of work rooted in teaching, humane scholarship, and a clear love of books.