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Richardson, Leon Burr, 1878-1951

 

Dates

  • Existence: 1878 - 1951

Biography

Leon Burr Richardson was born on April 14, 1878, in Lebanon, New Hampshire to Orlando and Mary (Burr) Richardson. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1900 and completed his Master’s degree in 1902. That year, he was hired by the College as a chemistry instructor. In 1906, he married Millicent Warnock, with whom he had three sons: Robert, Edward, and Stuart Richardson. He completed further graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell in 1905 and 1917, respectively. At Dartmouth, he was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1910 and to full Professor in 1919. Richardson was president of the New Hampshire Academy of Science in 1922 and served for three years on the Council of University Professors. He belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, the American Chemical Society and several scientific fraternities. Richardson was also a trustee and historian of the Mary Hitchcock Hospital and served on the local board of education for six years. In 1924, he undertook an investigation of college and university programs in the United States, Canada, England, and Scotland. That work culminated in his report “A Study of the Liberal College,” which became the basis for the modern Dartmouth curriculum. In 1932, he published a two-volume book on the history of Dartmouth College. Other publications include two chemistry books and a biography of William E. Chandler. He also edited the letters and diaries of Samson Occom in the 1933 volume "An Indian Preacher in England." That same year, Dartmouth conferred upon Richardson the honorary Doctorate of Letters, in recognition of his various written works and contributions to the College. In 1944, Governor Blood named him to the New Hampshire War Records Committee. He retired from Dartmouth in 1948 after teaching for forty-six years, where his “dry, unsmiling wit” in the classroom earned him the nickname “Cheerless.” Richardson died in Dick’s House, in Hanover, on October 25, 1951, after being hospitalized with a heart condition.

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