Wilbur Cortez Abbott

Born in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1869, Wilbur Cortez Abbott studied at Wabash College, continued at Cornell, and later earned a B.Litt. at Oxford. He taught at several universities in the United States before joining Yale in 1908 and then moving to Harvard in 1920, where he became Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History.

Abbott specialized in early modern European history, especially England and the wider growth of Europe’s global influence. Among his best-known works are The Expansion of Europe and studies of seventeenth-century English politics and figures such as Colonel Thomas Blood.

He was also recognized by his peers beyond the classroom, including election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Abbott died in Boston in 1947, leaving behind a body of historical writing aimed at making complex political history accessible to general readers as well as students.