Bennett, Edward Earl

Edward Earl Bennett was born October 29, 1892 in Stafford, Kansas. He received a B.A. from the University of Kansas in 1916, and an M.A. (1923) and Ph.D (1925) from the University of Wisconsin. For five years he taught political science and history in Sterling, Kansas, high school; he was then principal of high schools in St. John and Hutchinson, Kansas. From 1922 to 1924 he was an assistant in history at the University of Wisconsin, specializing in American colonial history, but also worked on the history of the western United States. While a fellow at the Wisconsin Historical Society, he prepared a calendar of the Draper collection. In 1928, he did research at the Pennsylvania Historical Society library on Parliament in the American colonies.

He came to the University of Montana as an instructor in 1925 and retired as a professor in 1961 due to poor health. He taught both American and European history and for many years taught courses in Montana history and government. After retirement, he contined to teach U.S. history through the university's correpondence course program. His publications included The Congregational Church in Missoula, 1891-1966; a chronological sketch, prepared for the congregation's seventy-fifth anniversary; and One hundred years of Masonic history, 1868-1968 . He also wrote and regularly updated the article on the state of Montana for the Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year . He was a member of the American and Wisconsin Historical Societies, Phi Delta Kappa national education fraternity, Theta Chi social fraternity, Kiwanis, and the University Congregational Church. He was a master of Missoula Masonic Lodge 13. He also collected maps.

In 1921, he was married to Linda McCoy, a 1915 graduate of the Colorado College who taught in high schools before coming to Montana. They had one son, Hal. Bennett died June 16, 1970.

From the guide to the Edward Earl Bennett Papers, 1900-1970, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)