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The Critical Years: The Modern Language Journal 1916-30

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

William R. Parker
William R. Parker*
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
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Extract

The Modem Language Journal, official organ of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations, will be forty years old next month. PMLA salutes a younger brother, wishing him long life and prosperity. To commemorate this birthday we offer herewith a study of the MLJ under its first four editors. These were critical years, not only for the fledgling Journal, but for the whole profession of modern foreign language teachers. The staff of the MLA's Foreign Language Program believes firmly that study of the past can often throw light on problems of the present. It is in this spirit that we invite attention to the period 1916–30.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 71 , Issue 4-Part2 , September 1956 , pp. 3 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1956

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References

1 In the first article in the first issue (Oct. 1916), C. F. Kayser's “The Federation and the Proposed Modern Language Journal,” a single paragraph near the end (i, 8–9) gives the information promised by the title, the remainder being about the profession's need for organization. The Jan. 1941 issue (xxv, 243–267) contains a collection of brief, reminiscent pieces by William B. Snow, Adolf Busse, Charles H. Handschin, E. W. Bagster-Collins, B. Q. Morgan, Charles H. Holzwarth, Henry Grattan Doyle, and Stephen L. Pitcher. There are additional glimpses of history to be found in an April 1919 announcement by Robert H. Fife (iii, 287–289), an editorial comment of March 1921 (v, 320–323), and elsewhere.

2 April 1919 and May 1925 issues in the period under discussion (as also, later, in March 1931 and April 1933).

3 The cover pages, when they have survived, are sometimes teasingly informative.

4 See “The MLA, 1883-1953,” PMLA, LXVIII, iv, pt. 2 (1953), 3–39.

5 Before 1916, articles on modern language teaching had appeared sporadically in the School Review, Educational Review, Education, and bulletins of various state and regional organizations.

6 See the NEMLA Bulletin, v, i, 67–68; vi, i, 43; etc.

7 Among those present were Adolf Busse, Algernon Coleman, J. P. W. Craw-ford, C. H. Handschin, A. R. Hohlfeld, B. J. Vos, and B. Q. Morgan (whose memory has supplied us with these few names).

8 Now the Central States Modern Language Teachers Association.

9 Morgan's successors as editor have been Charles H. Holzwarth (Rochester Public Schools), 1930–34; Henry Grattan Doyle (George Washington Univ.), 1934–38; Edwin H. Zeydel (Univ. of Cincinnati), 1938–3; Henri C. Olinger (New York Univ.), 1943–46; Julio del Toro (Univ. of Michigan), 1947–55; and Camillo P. Merlino (Boston Univ.), 1955–.