Underwood, Joseph Harding, 1874-

Joseph Harding Underwood was born in Singers Glen, Rockingham County, Virginia in 1874. His father was a minister in the United Brethren Church, and his mother won recognition as a writer of hymns. He received his B.A. from Western College and 1902, his M.A. from the State University of Iowa in 1904, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1907. He was also a student at Shenandoah Institute in Virginia; at Central College in Kansas; at Western College in Iowa; at Mt. Morris College in Illinois; at Beloit College in Wisconsin; and a graduate scholar in economics at the State University in Iowa from 1903 to 1904. He had a University Fellowship in sociology at Columbia University from 1904 to 1905 and was a student at the Chicago School of Philanthropy in 1906. He supported his educational efforts by working as a printer, editor, teacher, and preacher.

He was an instructor in English and History at Nora Springs Iowa Seminary in 1905 and 1906, and a Professor of History and Social Science at Leander Clark College in Iowa from 1906-1907.

He came to the University of Montana as a Professor of History and Economics in 1907. He was a strong proponent of faculty participation in the administration of the University. He taught classes in history, sociology, politics, economics, and business, and conducted research in inheritance taxation in the Northwest. In 1921 he became the first chairman of the Budget and Policy Committee at the University. He published The Distribution of Ownership, a book on wealth and property, in 1907. He was also a member, with Washington Jay McCormick and Jeannette Rankin, of the Political Equality Club of Missoula. Underwood enjoyed outdoor recreation, including mountain climbing.

He died in 1926 in Washington, DC, after a serious illness. In memorials to him, admirers compared him to George Bernard Shaw and Joseph Conrad and spoke of his private literary output.