Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Imlah, Albert Henry, 1901-1989
| Albert Henry Imlah (1901-1989) was Dickson Professor of English and American History in the Department of History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as well as adjunct professor of diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His book, Economic Elements of the Pax Britannica, was a standard text in the field. | |
Albert Henry Imlah was born January 30, 1901 in British Columbia into a Scotch-Canadian family. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1922, and received a master's degree from Clark University in Massachusetts. After teaching History at the University of Maine he joined Tufts in 1927, where he remained for the rest of his career. In 1931, he completed his doctorate at Harvard. The thesis was published by Harvard University Press in 1939, and his Economic Elements of the Pax Britannica appeared in 1958. He became professor in 1935, adjunct professor of diplomatic history at the Fletcher School in 1944, and received an honorary degree in 1981, to honor his many years of excellence in teaching, impeccable scholarship, and leadership in academic affairs. He served as chair of the Department of History from 1956 to 1965. | |
He worked actively within the American Association of University Professors for the increase of faculty salaries. In 1954, having just become a widower, he was visited by a representative of the Ford Foundation to discuss faculty salary data. As the discussion reached the supper hour Imlah, hungry yet eager to continue the conversation, invited the visitor home for supper, but found only some leftover meatloaf and very woody carrots from the back garden. There has been speculation that this supper rather than the salary data persuaded the foundation to begin a funding program for faculty salaries. | |
Imlah died on July 8, 1989, in Falls Church, Virginia. | |
Source: 100H | |
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