• Date of Birth: December 05, 1891
  • Born City: Windsor
  • Born State/Country: NY
  • Parents: Robert and Anna Decker A.
  • Date of Death: May 15, 1944
  • Death City: Philadelphia
  • Death State/Country: PA
  • Married: Wilda Jane North, 29 Dec. 1920.
  • Education:

    A.B. Colgate, 1913; M.A. Syracuse, 1922; study at U. Chicago; Ph.D. U. Pennsylvania, 1930.

  • Dissertation:

    "L. Iuni Moderati Columellae Rei Rusticae Liber Decimus: De Cultu Hortorum: Text, Critical Apparatus, Translation, and Commentary" (Pennsylvania, 1930).

  • Professional Experience:

    Tchr. at U. Chicago HS and high schools in Wheeeling, WV, Schenectady, NY, Asheville, NC; Kansas City, MO; instr. to asso. prof. Lat. U. Pennsylvania, 1924-44.

  • Publications:

    Cato and Varro On Agriculture (trans, with W. D. Hooper), LCL (Cambridge & London, 1934); "Supplementary Fodder for Cattle, Modern and Ancient," CW 28 (1934-5) 103-4; "Some Superstitious Beliefs of the Ancient Roman Poultrymen," American Poultry Journal (Apr., 1937); rev. of R. Till, Die Sprache Catos, CP 32 (1937) 378-80; Columella De Re Rustica Books I-IV (trans.), LCL (Cambridge & London, 1941).

  • Notes:

    Harrison Boyd Ash was the leading American expert on Roman agriculture of his day. Shortly after completing his dissertation, he revised the translation and rewrote much of the commentary to Hooper's translation of Cato and Varro for the Loeb series, adding a glossary, introduction, bibliography, and index. He then devoted nearly ten years to his translation of Columella I-IV. He was also known for his work in palaeography, which held great promise for the maturity of his career, but he died suddenly at age 52 while attending a faculty meeting of the Penn classics department.

  • Sources:

    Colgate U. archives; Isis 39 (1948) 68; NYTimes (16 May 1944)21.

  • Author: Ward W. Briggs, Jr.