Rand, Frank Prentice, 1889-

Frank Prentice Rand, professor, playwright, poet, and historian, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 8, 1889. He attended school at Monson Academy and Cushing Academy, and graduated from Williams College in 1912. After graduation he taught English at the University of Maine for one year. In the fall of 1914 he came to the Massachusetts Agricultural College. In 1915 he received the M.A. in English from Amherst College. Rand remained at Massachusetts Agricultural College for 46 years, the only interruption being a year in the U.S. Army during World War I.

From 1914 to 1929 Rand served as editor of The Signet of Phi Sigma Kappa, and for three years was national secretary of that fraternity. In 1920 he became director of the Roister Doisters, a student theater group, and continued in that role until 1947. From 1933 until 1955 Rand was Chairman of the English Department, and from 1948 to 1955 he served as Acting Dean of the School of Liberal Arts. He also served as the Director of the College English Association, and was a trustee of Cushing Academy, Amherst Academy, and the Jones Library. Rand received two honorary doctorates, one from the University of Massachusetts in 1955 and the other from Williams College in 1956. He retired from the University of Massachusetts in 1960 and died in 1971.

Rand was the author of the following books and plays (published books except where indicated otherwise):

From the guide to the Frank Prentice Rand Papers FS 83., 1905-1976, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)