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Charles R. Sleeth, Professor, Typescript Autobiography of Life in West Virginia

 Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3693

Overview

Typescript of 563 pages by Charles R. Sleeth regarding his childhood and youth in West Virginia in the 1920s, including stories about Summersville in Nicholas County.

Dates

  • Creation: undated

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Special access restriction applies.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Biographical / Historical

Charles R. Sleeth (1915-1997) was born in Barrackville, West Virginia. He attended West Virginia University where he studied Old English and German. At the University, Sleeth served as President of Delta Phi Alpha and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In the 1930s he was accepted at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and majored in Old and Middle English. During World War II he served in the United States Army.



Charles Sleeth attended Princeton University and received his Doctorate in Oriental Languages and Literatures with a specialty in etymology. Thereafter, he got a position with the Merriam-Webster Company and spent eleven years working on a new dictionary for the Company. Dr. Charles Sleeth taught at Greensboro College, University of Oklahoma, Princeton University, and in 1962 he joined the staff at Brooklyn College's English Department as assistant professor. Twenty-four years later he retired as professor emeritus at the age of seventy.



Dr. Sleeth's published works include a book, "Studies in Christ and Satan" [an Anglo-Saxon poem of 730 lines], numerous articles [mostly on Old and Middle English topics], and a number of published reviews. Dr. Sleeth's unpublished material includes a 563-page typescript titled "A Watercourse Between Near Fences", and 19 handwritten notebooks (diaries) that he kept between 1961 and 1989.



Charles Sleeth served in the U.S. Army in World War II. He became very involved in the Fourth World Movement, founded in 1957 to combat poverty worldwide, serving as one of its U.S. Presidents.



Charles Sleeth died in 1997.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet (Summary: 1 1/4 in. (3 folders))

Physical Location

West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/

Title
Charles R. Sleeth, Professor, Typescript Autobiography of Life in West Virginia, undated
Author
Staff of the West Virginia & Regional History Center
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository

Contact:
1549 University Ave.
P.O. Box 6069
Morgantown WV 26506-6069 US
304-293-3536