American historian
Wallace Notestein (December 16, 1878 – February 2, 1969) was an American historian and Sterling Professor of English History at Yale University from 1928 to 1947. He was married to women's educational pioneer Ada Comstock.
He was a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace in Europe after World War I.
Early life
Notestein was born on Monday, December 16, 1878, in Wooster, Ohio, to parents Jonas O. and Margaret (née Wallace) Notestein.[1] He was born into an academic family. His father was professor of Latin Language and Literature at The College of Wooster.[2] His uncles were professors and his younger sister Lucy Lilian Notestein became a historian.[3] Notestein graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1900 from The College of Wooster. In 1903 and 1908 he received his Master of Arts degree and Ph.D., respectively, from Yale University.[2]
Career
Notestein joined the faculty of history at the University of Kansas from 1905 until 1907 when he left to teach at the University of Minnesota.[1] During his lengthy tenure in Minnesota, he published his first book titled A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718 through the American Historical Association. It was a chronological survey of Witchcraft in early modern Britain.[4] In 1919, Notestein was a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace in Europe after World War I.[5] Upon his return, he accepted the role of Professor of English History at Cornell University.[6]
Notestein stayed at Cornell for eight years, during which he was appointed the Goldwin Smith Chair of English History, before leaving to become a Sterling Professor at his alma mater, Yale.[7] During his first year at Yale, he was appointed by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald to serve on a British commission investigating materials for a history of the personnel of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.[8] Notestein was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1916.[9] He was later honored by the University of Oxford in 1958 with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.[10] Notestein also received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Yale University in 1951.[11]
Notestein died on Sunday, February 2, 1969, in New Haven, Connecticut from a heart attack.[2]
Personal life
Notestein married women's educational pioneer and former president of Radcliffe College, Ada Comstock in 1943.[12]
