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IN MEMORIAM
LEONIDAS WARREN PAYNE JR.
Leonidas Warren Payne Jr., retired professor
of English, died on June 16, 1945. He was 71.
Professor Payne was born on July 12,
1873, in Auburn, Alabama. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees
from Auburn University in 1892 and 1893, respectively. He received a
PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1904.
Dr. Payne taught at the University of
Pennsylvania and Louisiana State University. He joined the faculty of
The University of Texas at Austin in 1906 and was retired to half-time
service in 1943. Professor Payne taught some of the first classes in
American literature offered at the University. He was a lifelong friend
to American writers Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, and Carl
Sandburg. He was one of the first scholars who recognized the genius
of poet E. E. Cummings.
Professor Payne published the first
anthology of Texas writing, A Survey of Texas Literature, in
1928. He published History of American Literature and Texas
Poems in 1919 and 1936, respectively. Professor Payne also promoted
the work of J. Frank Dobie and Stark Young, two Texas authors. He was
a cofounder and the first president of the Texas Folklore Society, the
second oldest continuously operating folklore society in the nation.
"When the Woods Were Burnt," a memorial
honoring Professor Payne, was published by the Texas Folklore Society
in 1946.
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
Biographical sketch prepared by Teresa Palomo Acosta
and posted on the Faculty Council web site on January 18, 2001.
Additional biographical sources can be found in the Barker Texas
History Center and the New
Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association,
1996: Link to the Texas Folklore Society in the New
Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association,
1996.
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