With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Wilbur Lucius Cross
Education/Curation, Journalism/Non-Fiction
1862 – 1948
Literary critic, academic writer, governor of Connecticut.
- Biography/Description of Work
Born Mansfield, Cross graduated from Yale University (B.A. 1885) and earned a PhD in English literature in 1889. Cross spent several years as a high school principal and schoolteacher at Staples High School in Westport before being offered a job as a professor of English at Yale in 1894. Over the next 36 years, he taught at Yale, became editor of the Yale Review , Professor of English, and Dean of the Yale Graduate School. He was also a well-known literary critic, and wrote several books, including ‘Life and Times of Laurence Sterne’ (1909) and ‘The History of Henry Fielding’ (1918) and several books on the English novel. After retiring from Yale, Cross was elected governor of Connecticut as a Democrat in 1930 and served as Governor for four two-year terms, from January 7, 1931 to January 4, 1939.
- Sources view
- Clouette, Bruce, Gurleyville National Register Historic District Nomination No. 75001933, National Park Serice, 1975. Cross, Wilbur L. Connecticut Yankee, an Autobiography, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943. http://www.joshuaslandtrust.org/gristmill.html
- Associated Resource(s)