Varner, John Grier

American educator and scholar.

From the description of Papers, 1798-1978 (bulk 1931-39). (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 122472880

Alumnus and instructor in English at the University of Virginia, 1930-1940.

From the description of Papers of John Grier Varner, Jr. [manuscript], 1978. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647914670

Assistant professor of English and Director of Musical Activities, Washington and Lee University, 1938-1943; later professor of English, University of Texas at Austin.

From the description of Papers, 1926-1978. (Washington & Lee University). WorldCat record id: 11412739

John Grier Varner was born in 1905 in Mount Pleasant, Texas and was raised in Denton. In 1926 he received a B.A. from Austin College. He taught for four years at boys preporatory schools in Mississippi and Tennessee before studying American Literature in graduate school at the University of Virginia. This is where Varner met his future wife Jeannette Johnson, a Montgomery, Alabama native. Jeannette had received her B.A. and M.A. in Romanic Languages and English at the University of Alabama and was pursuing her Ph.D in Spanish and French at the Univerity of Virginia. The Varners were married and John received his master's and doctorate degrees and took a position as Assistant Professor of English and Director of Musical Activities at Washington and Lee University in 1938. Jeannette received her Ph.D. and taught Spanish at Fairfax Hall Junior College for Women in Waynesboro, Virginia.

During World War II John Varner joined the State Department and was sent to Venezuela because of his knowledge of Spanish. From 1944-1947 he was director of the Centro Venezolano-Americano in Caracas. Jeannette taught English and Spanish there and served as the librarian for the center, and the couple also spent these three years touring and lecturing all over the area. Together they published Inglés Moderno, grammar books for students of English. In 1947 John was hired to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and also joined the staff of the University of Texas at Austin as Visiting Associate Professor of English and Director of English for Foreign Students.

The Varners settled in Austin a few years later where John continued his professorship with the Department of English and Jeannette became head reference librarian with the Austin Public Library. They spent their free time doing historical and literary research, and they began to publish a number of works about the conquest and settlement of Latin America. Their first book, The Florida of the Inca (1951), was an edited translation of Garcilaso de la Vega's account of the DeSoto expedition. Notably, it was the first publication of the Universtiy of Texas Press and received much scholarly acclaim. In 1954 the Varners traveled to Spain to conduct research for a biography on Garcilaso de la Vega. It was eventually published in 1968 by the University of Texas Press as El Inca: the Life and Times of Garcilaso de la Vega . John Varner retired from teaching in 1972 due to health concerns but continued his scholarly projects at home with his wife. They worked extensively on a book about the Spaniards' use of canines to conquer the Indian empires of America and had finished the draft when John Varned passed away in 1978. Jeannette Varner completed the project and Dogs of the Conquest was published in 1983 by the University of Oklahoma Press.

From the guide to the John G. and Jeannette J. Varner Papers 1984-16. 6906603344., 1934-1992, (Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin)

John Grier Varner was born March 30, 1905, in Mount Pleasant, Texas. He grew up in Denton, and received his B.A. from Austin College in 1926. After teaching in Mississippi and Tennessee for four years, Varner entered the University of Virginia as a graduate student. He received an M.A. and finished his Ph.D. coursework before accepting a position as Assistant Professor of English and Director of Musical Activities at Washington and Lee University in 1938. Two years later, he completed his dissertation, a biography of the poet and spiritualist Sarah Helen Whitman, and received his Ph.D.

Varner's earliest scholarly interest was Edgar Allan Poe. His first contribution to the literary community was Edgar Allan Poe and The Philadelphia Saturday Courier, published in 1933. Varner edited five of Poe's earliest published short stories in this book. The women associated with Poe, like Sarah Helen Whitman, Frances Sargent Osgood, and Maria Gowen Brooks, also intrigued Varner, and he studied them as well.

World War II cut short Varner's research of 19th-century literature. In 1943, he joined the State Department and was sent to Latin America because of his proficiency in Spanish. Based in Venezuela, Varner and his wife Jeannette travelled and lectured all over the area for the next 3 years. In 1947, the U.S. embassy offered him a position as cultural attach, and he also joined the staff of the University of Texas as Visiting Associated Professor of English and Director of English for Foreign Students.

Returning to Austin a few years later, Varner and his wife began to publish books about Latin America. The first of these was The Florida of the Inca (1951), which translated and edited Garcilaso de la Vega's account of the DeSoto expedition. The book received scholarly and popular acclaim.

Three years later, Varner and his wife travelled to Spain to begin work on a biography of de la Vega. Varner continued to work on this massive project for the next 14 years, completing and publishing El Inca: The Life and Times of Garcilaso de Vega in 1968. Poor health soon forced him to retire, but Varner continued to find new projects, and was finishing the draft of another book, The Dogs of Conquest, when he died on September 13, 1978.

From the guide to the John Grier Varner Papers TXRC93-A0., 1798-1978, (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin)