Robert Keith Leavitt - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Robert Keith Leavitt was a Harvard-educated

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

advertising copywriter who turned to non-fiction writing. He was the author of many books, including a history of Webster's Dictionary

Webster's Dictionary

Webster's Dictionary refers to the line of dictionaries first developed by Noah Webster in the early 19th century, and also to numerous unrelated dictionaries that added Webster's name just to share his prestige. The term is a genericized trademark in the U.S.A...

and "The Chip on Grandma's Shoulder" (1954.) 'Bob' Leavitt was also the longtime historian of the original Baker Street Irregulars

Baker Street Irregulars

The Baker Street Irregulars are any of several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories in which they are a gang of young street children whom Holmes often employs to aid his cases.- Original :...

, devoted to all things Holmesian

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

, about which he wrote in his "The Origins of 221B Worship

221B Baker Street

221B Baker Street is the London address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the United Kingdom, postal addresses with a number followed by a letter may indicate a separate address within a larger, often residential building...

Background

Leavitt was born on August 20, 1895 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

to Dr. Robert Greenleaf Leavitt

Robert Greenleaf Leavitt

Dr. Robert Greenleaf Leavitt , born at Parsonsfield, Maine, was an early American Harvard-educated botanist and widely-published author in the field of botany, as well as an early college and high school educator in the natural sciences. Leavitt also worked for nine years as a botanical researcher...

, a Harvard-trained botanist, researcher, author and later college and high school teacher, and his wife Janet. Dubbed "the fiscal Holmes" by another member of the Baker Street Irregulars, Robert Keith Leavitt showed an early aptitude for ferreting out information. He attended the State Model School in Trenton, New Jersey

Trenton, New Jersey

Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...

, where his father was teaching, and graduated from Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

in 1917. Shortly afterwards, Leavitt joined the armed forces as 2nd Lieutenant in the 302nd Infantry, where he commanded the Prisoners of War Escort Company 223, with custody of 425 German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

prisoners.

After the war Leavitt returned home, and found work writing copy for a New York City

New York City

advertising agency

Advertising agency

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...

. He spent 13 years in advertising, including a stint as Secretary-Treasurer of the Association of National Advertisers

Association of National Advertisers

The Association of National Advertisers is a representative body for the marketing community in the United States of America. ANA’s membership includes over 400 companies with 9,000 brands that collectively spend over one hundred billion dollars in marketing communications and advertising....

, before turning to a career as a freelance

Freelancer

A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...

writer. From the beginning Leavitt focused on historical, offbeat subjects. He wrote for a range of publications, including a 1933 article for Business Week – during the height of the Depression – on What we shall sell when the upturn comes – and to whom? Leavitt sold articles to many publications, including Forum and Century, Advertising and Selling, The American Magazine, Forbes and others. In 1946 he wrote a 66-page booklet entitled Your Pay Envelope – and how it gets that way. To make ends meet, Leavitt wrote corporate histories, including that of the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company, and he wrote for publications of the Great Northern Railway. The former copywriter also continued to dabble in advertising and public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

.

The corporate biographies Leavitt wrote to garner a paycheck included titles like Prologue to Tomorrow: A History of the First Hundred Years in the Life of the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company (1950); Goods Roads about the General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

Overseas operations (1949); Foundation for the Future: History of the Stanley Works for Stanley Tools (1951); and 1954's Life at Tung-Sol 1904–1954: An Informal Story of the First Half-century of Tung-Sol Electric Inc. Leavitt also found time to produce books on lighter subjects, notably The Chip on Grandma's Shoulder, a memoir about his Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

grandmother Susan C. (Blazo) Keith, published by J. B. Lippincott in 1954, and Common Sense About Fund Raising (Stratford Press, 1949).

But the book for which Leavitt is remembered is Noah's Ark, New England Yankees, and the Endless Quest: A Short History of the Original Webster Dictionaries, with Particular Reference to Their First Hundred Years as Publications of G. & C. Merriam Company. Although a corporate history -- published by G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts

Springfield, Massachusetts

Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

in 1947 -- Noah's Ark explores the history of Noah Webster

Noah Webster

Noah Webster was an American educator, lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author...

and his competitor Joseph Emerson Worcester

Joseph Emerson Worcester

Joseph Emerson Worcester was an American lexicographer and chief competitor of Webster's Dictionary in the mid-nineteenth-century. Their rivalry became known as the "dictionary wars". Worcester's dictionaries focused on traditional pronunciation and spelling, unlike Noah Webster's attempts to...

. The book's first half examines Webster's life and lexicography

Lexicography

Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....

; the second half etches the "War of the Dictionaries", the struggle for supremacy between Webster's and his competitor Worcester's dictionaries. Leavitt laid out the history of Webster's publishing house after its eponymous title was sold to the Merriam family (today's Merriam-Webster

Merriam-Webster

Merriam–Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language .Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a...

).

In Noah's Ark Leavitt plumbed the shoals of international lexicography

Lexicography

Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....

and usage. "In considering the influence of Webster's American Dictionary outside the United States", writes David Micklethwait in Noah Webster and the American Dictionary, "Leavitt says that Webster was 'increasingly the arbiter of definitions in British life', until the appearance of John Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary

Imperial Dictionary

The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language: A Complete Encyclopedic Lexicon, Literary, Scientific, and Technological, edited by Rev. John Ogilvie , was an expansion of the 1841 second edition of Noah Webster's American Dictionary. It was published by W. G...

in 1850, 'itself largely indebted to the American source.'" Leavitt's work remains the definitive history of Noah Webster and his legacy.

When not writing articles and books, Leavitt indulged his passion for Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

, helping found, with his friend Christopher Morley

Christopher Morley

Christopher Morley was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.-Biography:Christopher Morley was born in Haverford, Pennsylvania...

, the Baker Street Irregulars

Baker Street Irregulars

, an informal group of Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

devotees. Records do not reflect when the author's affinity for Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

began, but his works show he was a close reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

's oeuvre. It was in Leavitt's writings as historian of the Irregulars that he seemed most at home, his imagination prowling Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

's intricate plots, sniffing for clues about the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

-born author and his fictional sleuth. In an article entitled Annie Oakley in Baker Street, for instance, Leavitt examined Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

's choice of handgun: Leavitt theorized from Doyle's description that Holmes's sidearm was a Webley

Webley

Webley Inc. is a company providing speech-driven unified communications solutions.Webley is privately held and headquartered in Bannockburn, IL....

Metropolitan Police Model, with 2½-inch barrel – the smallest handgun

Handgun

A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....

available, and subject to concealment without a holster.

The voracious Leavitt mined Holmes's adventures for monographs

Monograph

A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...

of his own. He authored The Curious Matter of the Anonymous Latin Epitaph, The Cardboard Box and others. In an essay in The Baker Street Journal, the Baker Street Irregulars's periodical, Leavitt thought fit to question the marksmanship of the revered detective. In Annie Oakley in Baker Street, Leavitt claimed that Dr. Watson's revolver shot had toppled the villain Tonga from the deck of the Aurora into the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

, and not Holmes's. In another piece Leavitt explored the hazy question of whether Dr. Arthur Watson had remarried. Leavitt was a frequent contributor to The Baker Street Journal, published by Ben Abramson, proprietor of Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

's Argus Book Shop and a Holmes aficionado

Fan (person)

A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...

, who published musings of the best-known Sherlockians.

Within the close-knit Irregulars, Leavitt was known for his expertise in ballistics

Ballistics

Ballistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.A ballistic body is a body which is...

, optics and finances, sometimes combining them to examine the deeds of Conan Doyle's legendary hero.

When not writing about Holmes, Leavitt chose the company of friends like fellow Baker Street Irregulars Christopher Morley and Elmer Davis

Elmer Davis

Elmer Davis was a well-known news reporter, author, the Director of the United States Office of War Information during World War II and a Peabody Award recipient.-Education and early career:...

, as well as other writers, reporters, advertising men and artists of the day.

Leavitt had an only brother, Russell Greenleaf Leavitt, who graduated from Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

in 1917, and who subsequently received a deferment from the military for poor eyesight. But Russell Leavitt joined the U.S. Navy and eventually wangled an assignment driving an ambulance for the U.S. Army Ambulance Corps during the First World War. Russell Leavitt drove his ambulance on the front lines for 11 months, piloting his vehicle at Verdun

Verdun

Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...

and Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, and eventually serving in the Chemical Warfare

Chemical warfare

Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...

Service Laboratory at Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

In a piece called The Christmas Miracle, Bob Leavitt recalled tramping through the small Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

town of Stoughton

Stoughton, Massachusetts

Stoughton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,962 at the 2010 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, and from Cape Cod.-History:...

on Christmas Eve at age six with his father Robert and brother Russell, searching for a Christmas tree. Leavitt's father stopped periodically and cut several tiny balsam seedlings. "Our father was a botanist Ph.D., given to plucking all manner of specimens wherever we walked, with the offhand explanation, A fine Tsuga canadensis, or whatever it was," Leavitt wrote. 'By nightfall we had forgotten all about the walk." At home that evening, wondering about their tree, the two boys were shown a jar of earth devoid of plant life. If they sang 'O Little Town of Bethlehem

O Little Town of Bethlehem

"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a popular Christmas carol. The text was written by Phillips Brooks , an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. He was inspired by visiting the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his...

' particularly well, their mother told them, the trees might grow.

The youngsters left the room, and began to sing. When they looked again, the seedlings had grown a foot. They repaired to the other room and sang some more. When they came back, the trees had grown again. "We went out and tried harder on that song," wrote Leavitt, "and when we re-entered the sitting room, the Tree had grown to perhaps a foot or so in height.... We went out and tried harder on that song. And sure enough this Time the tree was taller than either boy.... To this day I cannot hear 'O Little Town of Bethlehem,' from however cracked a curbside organ, without hearing through and beyond it the clear, true voice of my mother."

Bob Leavitt died at Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...

, in 1967. He was 72. His botanist father had died in 1942 while walking in Parsonsfield, Maine

Parsonsfield, Maine

Parsonsfield is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,584 at the 2000 census. Parsonsfield includes the villages of Kezar Falls, Parsonsfield, and North, East and South Parsonsfield...

. His mother, Janet (Shumway) Leavitt, died of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

in 1902 when Leavitt was seven.

Quotes

"People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts."

—Robert Keith Leavitt, Voyages and Discoveries, 1939

External links

Winners of the Morley-Montgomery Award, 1961, Robert Keith Leavitt, The Origin of 221B Worship, The Baker Street Journal, An Irregular Quarterly of Sherlockiana

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Background

Quotes

Further reading

External links