Harold Clarke Goddard

Who was Harold Clarke Goddard?

Harold Clarke Goddard was a professor in the English Department of Swarthmore College.

Born in 1878 in Worcester, Massachusetts he attended Amherst College, graduating in 1900. He then taught mathematics there for two years. An interest in literature led him to Columbia University, where he received a PhD. in English and Comparative Literature in 1909. He taught at Northwestern University from 1904 to 1909. From 1909 to his retirement in 1946, he was head of the English Department at Swarthmore College. He died in 1950. Although often believed to be a Quaker, Goddard was never a full member.

He was married to Fanny Whiting Goddard, and they had two daughters, Eleanor Goddard Worthen and Margaret Goddard Holt. The entire family was involved in teaching:

Dr. Goddard's peculiar genius lay in the fact that, whatever the book he laid before us, it presently became apparent that we were in fact studying and expanding all our range of possible understanding. Through the medium of literature he taught philosophy, psychology, and always the pursuit of meaning and the zest for life that great art is. The whole Goddard family joined in this.