Joseph M. (Joseph Morris) Bachelor

Joseph Morris Bachelor, who also wrote as Joseph Morris, was an American author, poet, editor, and educator born in 1889 in Ohio and educated at Miami University and Harvard. He taught English at Cornell College, later worked in New York as a definitions editor for The New Century Dictionary, and eventually returned to Miami University, where he remained on the faculty until his death in 1947.

His writing life was varied and approachable. He helped create English textbooks such as The Century Vocabulary Builder and edited poetry collections including It Can Be Done, bringing together work meant to encourage, instruct, and widen readers' command of language. That blend of literary feeling and practical teaching runs through much of his work.

Bachelor also left a lasting mark beyond the page. Miami University preserves land he gave to the school as the Bachelor Wildlife and Game Reserve, and the campus building Bachelor Hall bears his name. Together, those memorials suggest the kind of figure he was remembered as: a serious teacher, a lover of words, and someone who invested in the life of his university community.