Papers of James R. Jewett

James Richard Jewett (1862-1943), Harvard College Class of 1884, was Professor of Arabic at Harvard University from 1911 to 1933.

Born in Westport, Maine in 1862 to Capt. George W. and Anna (Greenleaf) Jewett, Jewett entered Harvard College in 1880, graduating in 1884. Following his studies, Jewett held a fellowship from Harvard which allowed him to study in the Middle East, chiefly in Syria and Egypt, from 1884 to 1887. Upon his return, Jewett served as Instructor in Semitic languages at Harvard from 1887 to 1888, when he began his doctoral studies at the University of Strasburg, Germany. With his studies culminating in his dissertation, "Arabic Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," Jewett received his PhD from the institution in 1890.

Returning to the United States, Jewett taught at Brown University from 1890 to 1895, first as Instructor and later becoming Associate Professor of Semitic Languages and Oriental History. Jewett left Brown University in 1895 to become Professor of Semitic Languages and History, a position he held until 1902, when he accepted the Professorship of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. Jewett returned to Harvard in 1911 as Professor of Arabic; he held this position until his retirement in 1933, becoming emeritus.

Jewett married Margaret Weyerhauser in 1894. Jewett died in 1943. The James Richard Jewett Professorship of Arabic and Islamic Intellectual History at Harvard University is named in his honor. Also an amateur astronomer, the James Richard Jewett Observatory at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington was named in his honor by his son, George Frederick Jewett.