Addison Hibbard (1887–1945)

Clarence Addison Hibbard was born in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Daniel Osmer and Ida Brightman Hibbard, on August 29, 1887. He obtained his A.B. (1909) and his A.M. (1919) from the University of Wisconsin.

From 1909 to 1914 Hibbard taught in Japan at several government middle schools and at the Imperial College of Commerce in Nagasaki and was a newspaper correspondent. Returning to the United States, Hibbard taught high school, was an instructor in English at the University of Wisconsin, 1916-17 and was assistant professor of English at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, 1917-18. He served in the U.S. Navy in 1918. He then went to the University of North Carolina in 1919 where he taught English and served as Acting Dean (1925-1926) and Dean (1926-1930) of the College of Liberal Arts.

In 1930 Hibbard came to Northwestern University as professor of English and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, where he remained until his death on May 17, 1945, at his home in Evanston.

Hibbard was co-author (with William F. Thrall) of Handbook to Literature (1936), which went through several editions, and editor of The Lyric South (1929), The Book of Poe (1930), Stories of the South (1931), and Writers of the Western World (1942). He also wrote professional articles, short stories, accounts of his trips, and poems. For several years he wrote a syndicated newspaper column, "The Literary Lantern," under the name of "Telfair, Jr." He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Delta.

On June 29, 1918, Hibbard married Ruth Barr; the couple had four children: John Barr, Ruth Margaret (Hilker), Jean Scott (Teevan), and Sarah Brightman (Wylie).