William Milligan Sloane

Born in Richmond, Ohio, in 1850, William Milligan Sloane became an American historian and educator whose career moved between scholarship, teaching, and public life. He graduated from Columbia College, studied in Berlin and Leipzig, and spent part of his time in Germany working with the historian and diplomat George Bancroft.

Sloane taught at Princeton before joining Columbia University, where he led the history department and taught for many years. He wrote on European history, with his best-known work being a major biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, and he was also active in the American Historical Association.

Outside the classroom, he played an important role in the early modern Olympics. He served as the United States’ first member of the International Olympic Committee and helped found and lead the American Olympic organization in its early years. He died in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1928.