RIDPATH, JOHN CLARK: 1841-1900.
Despite the fact that his amazingly voluminous output occasionally included hack work of the most obvious sort, the contribution which John Clark Ridpath made to the diffusion of knowledge in the U. S. in the Nineteenth century was of great importance.
Born on a farm in Putnam County, Ind., on Apr. 26, 1841 (some sources give 1840), he attended local schools and graduated from Indiana Asbury (now De Pauw) University in 1863. He received the A.M. from the same institution in 1866 and, in 1880, an honorary LL.D. from Syracuse University.
On Dec. 22, 1862, he married Hannah R. Smythe and, after receiving his degree the following spring, took up teaching. He taught in the Boone County page: 269[View Page 269] ( Ind. ) Academy, was superintendent of the Lawrenceburg schools for three years and, in 1869, returned to Greencastle as a member of the Asbury Institute faculty, which he continued to serve variously as professor of English literature, belles lettres, history and political science, and as vice-president, until 1885.
It was Ridpath who secured for Asbury the De Pauw endowment which put the institution on a firm financial basis and which resulted in the changing of its name.
Besides his work as an educator, administrator and writer, Ridpath spent a year (1897-98) as editor of THE ARENA, a Boston periodical, contributed largely to the press and was for some time literary director of the Jones Brothers Publishing Company. He died on July 31, 1900.
Textbooks are omitted from the list of his works.
Information from the Greencastle Public Library; Who's Who in America; De Pauw University's Alumnal Record, 1920; American Authors, 1600-1900; and Parker and Heiney–Poets and Poetry of Indiana.
- History of the U. S. Prepared Especially for
Children. Philadelphia, 1874.
- A Popular History of the United States of America.
Cincinnati, 1876.
- United States: a History of the United States of America from
the Aboriginal Times to the Present Day.
Cincinnati, 1878.
- The Life and Work of James A. Garfield.
Cincinnati, 1881.
- Alexander Hamilton: a Study of the Revolution and the
Union. Cincinnati, [1881].
- Epoch of Integration. 1883.
- History and Historical Study. 1885.
- Beyond the Sierras. 1888.
- The True Evolution. 1889.
- The Suppression of the Intellectual Life. 1892.
- Columbus and Columbia: a Pictorial History of the Man and the
Nation (withJ. G. Blaine, J. W. Buel, and B. Butterworth). 1892.
- The Citizen Soldier; His Part in War and Peace.
Cincinnati, 1892.
- The Man in History: an Oration for the Columbian Year,
Delivered under the Auspices of the Indiana Historical Society, at
Indianapolis, Indiana, October 20, 1892.
Indianapolis, 1893.
- The Life and Work of James G. Blaine (withS. Connor and others). 1893.
- Epic of Life. New York, 1893.
- Ridpath's Universal History.
Cincinnati, 1894-99.
- Life and Memoirs of Bishop William Taylor. 1894-95.
- Napoleon Bonaparte. 1895.
- People's History of the United States.
Philadelphia, [1895].
(Reissued as Chronology of Events … Washington, D. C., 1904.)
- Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century.
New York, 1896.
- The Bond and the Dollar ….
Boston, [1896].
- A Brief Chronological History of All Nations.
- The Cry of the Poor ….
Boston, 1897.
- Democracy: Its Origins and Aspects ….
Boston, 1897.
- Prosperity; the Sham and the Reality.
Boston, 1897.
- Spurious Bimetallism. An Argument in Refutation of Double
Coinage …. Boston, 1897.
- The True Inwardness of Wall Street.
Boston, 1897.
- History of the World; being an Account of the Principal
Events in the Career of the Human Race from the Beginnings of Civilization
to the Present Time; Comprising the Development of Social Institutions and
the Story of All Nations from Recent and Authentic Resources.
Indianapolis, 1898. 4
vols.
(Reissued in 9 vols. in 1909 and as With the World's People in
1911.)
- James Otis: the Pre-Revolutionlst; a Brief Interpretation of
the Life and Work of a Patriot. Chicago, 1898.
- Life and Times of William E. Gladstone.
Cincinnati, 1898.
- A Working University in the Home Reference Library.
New York, 1898.
- Gov. Will Cumback. [Greensburg,
Ind.]
- The Standard Encyclopedia of Arts, Sciences, History,
Geography, Statistics, and General Knowledge. 1900. 10 vols.
- History of the United States. Washington,
D. C., 1900.
- History of the United States. Academic Edition.
New York, 1902.
- New Complete History of the United States of America.
New York, 1904. 15
vols.
- Battles and Commanders of the Civil War (withRossiter Johnson and others). Washington, D. C., [1907].
- The Story of South Africa (withE. S. Ellis). New York, [1909].
- History of the United States from Aboriginal Times to
Taft's Administration. New York, 1911. 4 vols.
- With the World's People.
Cincinnati, 1911. 8
vols.
(New edition of History of the World.)
- History of Texas.
