John Russell Bartlett

author

John Russell Bartlett

1805–1886

Best known for helping define early American English, this 19th-century writer and scholar also led an unusually varied life in books, public service, and exploration. His work ranges from a pioneering dictionary of American speech to vivid accounts of the U.S.–Mexico boundary survey.

1 Audiobook

The Progress of Ethnology An Account of Recent Archaeological, Philological and Geographical Researches in Various Parts of the Globe, Tending to Elucidate the Physical History of Man

The Progress of Ethnology An Account of Recent Archaeological, Philological and Geographical Researches in Various Parts of the Globe, Tending to Elucidate the Physical History of Man

by John Russell Bartlett

About the author

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 23, 1805, John Russell Bartlett spent much of his youth in Kingston, Ontario, before returning to Providence as a young man. He worked in business early on, then moved toward books and scholarship, becoming a bookseller and an active figure in literary and historical circles.

Bartlett is best remembered for Dictionary of Americanisms (1848), an influential early attempt to record words and phrases distinctive to the United States. He also served as secretary of state for Rhode Island from 1855 to 1872, and his long interest in history and rare books connected him closely with institutions such as the Providence Athenaeum and the John Carter Brown Library.

His career reached far beyond lexicography. In the early 1850s he was appointed U.S. commissioner on the boundary survey between the United States and Mexico, and he later published a detailed account of that experience. He died in Providence on May 28, 1886, leaving behind a body of work that links language, history, travel, and public life.