All Scholars
DRISLER, Henry
- Date of Birth: December 27, 1818
- Born City: Staten Island
- Born State/Country: NY
- Parents: Henry & Catherine D
- Date of Death: November 30, 1897
- Death City: New York
- Death State/Country: NY
- Education:
A.B. Columbia Coll., 1839.
- Professional Experience:
Class. master, Columbia Grammar School, 1839-43; tutor Gk. & Lat. Columbia, 1843-5, adj. prof. Lat., 1845-57; prof. Lat., 1857-67; Jay Prof. Gk., 1867-94; dean Columbia Coll., 1890-4; acting. pres., 1878-9, 1888-90; trustee ASCSA, vice pres. AIA, 1886-9.
- Publications:
Bible View of Slavery or Bishop Hopkins Reviewed (New York, 1863); Sir William Smith, Principia Latina, Part I, rev. Drisler (New York, 1863); Part II (New York, 1869); Charles Anthon: A Commemorative Discourse (New York, 1868); assoc. ed., Johnson's New Universal Cyclopedia, 1875-8; Charles Anthon, Latin-English Dictionary for the Use of Schools, ed. Drisler (New York, 1876); H. G. Liddell & R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon rev. & augmented by Drisler, 8th ed. (New York, 1897); E. A. Sophocles, A Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (from B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100) (ed.) (New York, 1900).
- Notes:
Henry Drisler, whose most important contribution to the field was his work as joint editor of Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, was one of Columbia University's preeminent classicists. A rigorous and exacting scholar, he was among the first to appreciate the value of the German scientific approach to classical philology. The ablest student of Charles Anthon, he remained at Columbia the rest of his career. He held the first chair of Latin at Columbia and succeeded Anthon as Jay Professor. Nicholas Murray Butler described Drisler in class as "dry-as-dust." He was the first dean of the College at Columbia, and twice acting president of the university. Active in public works, Drisler was a trustee of the Astor Library and the New York Public Library, as well as of the American School at Athens. The Henry Drisler Fellowship in Classical Philology, which is still active, was established in his honor, as was also the Henry Drisler Classical Fund. At his retirement, Columbia alumni gave him a public reception, a volume of essays, and a gold medal struck in his honor.
- Sources:
Catalogue of the Library of the Late . . . Henry Drisler, Part II (New York, 1900); Classical Studies in Honour of Henry Drisler (New York, 1894); DAB 5:458-59; NatCAB 4:254; H. T. Peck, “Henry Drisler,” Harper's Weekly (9 June 1894); J. Howard Van Amringe, ibid. (11 Dec. 1897); Sandys 466-67; WhAmHS 226; Nicholas Murray Butler, Across the Busy Years (new York, 1939) 65-66. .
- Author: Meyer Reinhold
