Williams, Talcott, 1849-1928

American journalist and educator; editor of the Philadelphia Press for 30 years. First director of the School of Journalism at Columbia.

American journalist, first director of the Columbia School of Journalism.

Williams was born in Abeih, Syria on July 20, 1849 to William Frederic and Sarah Ameilia (Pond) Williams. He attended Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass. and graduated from Amherst College in 1873. He was a reporter for the New York World, 1873-1877, Washington correspondent for the New York Sun, 1877-1879, and editorial writer for the Springfield Republican, 1879-1881 and the Philadelphia Press, 1881-1912. From 1912 to 1919 he was the Director of the Pulitzer School of Journalism, Columbia University. He died in 1928.

Talcott Williams, journalist and educator, was born in Abeih, Turkey, on July 20, 1849.

Talcott Williams, journalist and educator, was born in Abeih, Turkey, on July 20, 1849. He was the son of William Frederic Williams, a Congregational missionary, who helped to create both Robert College in Constantinople and the American College in Beruit. Talcott Williams' uncle, Samuel Wells Williams (1812–1884), was a prominent Sinologist, missionary, and expert in Chinese language and literature. With this background, Talcott Williams grew up with a strong knowledge of Eastern languages and cultures.

Williams traveled to New York in 1865, at the age of 15. The next year, he enrolled in Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and then in 1869, he began his studies at Amherst College. After graduating in 1873, he got a job as an Albany legislative correspondent for the New York World . During his four year stint with the paper, Williams worked his way up to the position of night editor. At the end of 1876, the World transferred him to Washington D.C., where he became a political reporter. From 1877 to 1879, he was the Washington correspondent for the New York Sun . In 1879, he married Sophia Wells Royce, and that same year, he became an editorial writer for the Springfield Republican, where he remained until 1881.

After leaving the Republican, Williams began what would be a thirty-one year career, writing and editing for the Philadelphia Press . By the time he left the press in 1912, he had become the paper's associate editor. His interests and abilities were widespread; in addition to editorials, he also wrote reviews of art, literature, and theatre, as well as a weekly business column. Williams also traveled to Morocco twice, in 1889 and 1897, collecting artifacts and botanical specimens for the Smithsonian Institute and the University of Pennsylvania Archeological Museum.

In 1912, Williams left his longtime position at the Press and, after thirty-nine years of newspaper experience, became the first director of the Columbia University Pulitzer School of Journalism. His theories of education combined the practice of standard journalistic skills with courses designed to deepen his students' cultural knowledge. He is also credited with teaching and promoting the reporting of scientific news. In addition, he was able to create, by 1900 a collection of over 1,400,000 newspaper clippings for the school. Williams became professor emeritus in 1919 and remained so until his death. In addition to his work at Columbia, Williams was also a trustee of Amherst College from 1909 to 1919, and of the Constantinople College for Women. Between 1895 and 1915, he received at least eleven honorary doctorates, from such institutions as the University of Pennsylvania, Rochester University, and Brown College. He was also a member of numerous organizations throughout his career, including the American Philosophical Society and the American Oriental Society.

During the later years of his life, Williams published numerous articles, pamphlets, and lectures, including works on the Arabic language and a forward to an 1898 edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam . He co-edited the second edition of the New International Encyclopedia in 1917, and contributed to the 10th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica . He also wrote two books: Turkey, A World Problem of Today (1921) and The Newspaper Man (1922). Talcott Williams died on January 24, 1928.

Dunbar, Elizabeth. Talcott Williams, Gentleman of the Fourth Estate. New York: G.E. Stechert and Co., 1936 "Talcott Williams." Dictionary of American Biography, Volume 10. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1958-1964. pp 291-292.