Dates

• Existence: 1892-1952

Biography

Harrison John Thornton was born July 8, 1892, in Liverpool, England. During his early life, Thornton spent time in England and South Africa. He attended school in Liverpool, and continued his education at the Transvaal School of Mines and at Johannesburg Commercial College. He came to the United States just before World War I during which he served in the Canadian army. He attended Grinnell College and received B.A. and M.A. degrees. Thornton also received an M.A. degree from Harvard, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He taught at Grinnell College as an instructor from 1925-1927, at Harvard as an exchange assistant in 1927-1928, and at The University of Iowa as an assistant professor in 1929. Thornton became an associate professor for The University of Iowa in 1936, and was promoted to full professor in 1939. Thornton was best known for being a scholar of the Quaker Oats Company, the history of The University of Iowa, and the history of the Chautauqua Association, among other topics. Along with numerous other publications, Thornton published one of ten biographical sketches of outstanding builders of The University of Iowa, which have been published in a series called Centennial Memories. Thornton also published numerous written essays dealing with the history of the Chautauqua movement. Thornton intended to write a two volume work on Chautauqua, the first to deal with the New York institution and the second on the Chautauqua circuits. He finished the first volume, Chautauqua: Adventure in Popular Education, before his death. The manuscript currently resides at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Thornton died suddenly at the age of sixty in Iowa City on September 22, 1952, during his twenty-third year as a member of The University of Iowa faculty.

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