Dates

• Existence: 1910-1996

Biography

William Osgood Aydelotte was born September 1, 1910, in Bloomington, Indiana. His parents were Marie Jeannette Osgood and Frank Aydelotte, who were Quakers. William O. Aydelotte graduated from Harvard University, with a major in classics in 1931. He took his Ph.D. in history at the University of Cambridge, England, in 1934. He then worked for two years at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, D.C. Dr. Aydelotte held an appointment at the University of Minnesota during the summer of 1937. Over the next ten years, he taught at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut; Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts; and Princeton University. Dr. Aydelotte joined the faculty at the University of Iowa Department of History in fall 1947 as assistant professor. He and others immediately began work to reform the department. Dr. Aydelotte served as chairman of this committee, replacing Professor Winfred Root, who died December 9, 1947. One result of this reform was the involvement of the entire department in the appointment process. Dr. Aydelotte was promoted to full professor in 1950, with his area of research being political behavior. His studies during the 1950s of the British Parliament of the 1840s garnered him the honor of the Order of the British Empire, received in 1961. He served as Carver Professor of History, 1976 to 1978, and retired from the University in June 1978. In June 1956, Dr. Aydelotte married Dr. Myrtle Kitchell, who became the first director of the College of Nursing in September 1949. They had two daughters, Marie and Jeannette. William O. Aydelotte died January 17, 1996.

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