George Philip Krapp facts for kids

George Philip Krapp (1872–1934) was an important scholar of the English language. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He loved studying how language works and changes over time.

Krapp went to Wittenberg College and earned his first degree in 1894. Later, he got his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1899. His special research for his PhD was about an old story called the Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick.

George Philip Krapp's Career

George Philip Krapp started teaching at Columbia University in 1897. He then became a professor of English at the University of Cincinnati from 1908 to 1910. After that, he returned to Columbia and was a professor there from 1910 until he passed away in 1934.

His Big Work on Old English Poems

One of Krapp's most famous achievements was helping to create the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records. This was a huge project that collected many old English poems into six books. He started this work in 1931. After he died, his friend and fellow scholar, Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, finished the project in 1953. This collection is still very important for people who study old English poetry today.

Krapp's Ideas About Language

Krapp also wrote several interesting books about the English language.

• Modern English: Its Growth and Present Use (1909): In this book, he shared a cool idea. He believed that "good English" wasn't just about following strict grammar rules. Instead, he thought it was about how people actually used the language every day. This was a new way of thinking about language at the time.

• The English Language in America (1925): This book explored how the English language changed when it came to America. A writer named Henry Blake Fuller described it as telling "the adventures of an old language in a new country." Krapp's book showed that many of our common ideas about American English might not be entirely true.

Besides his academic books, George Philip Krapp also wrote six books for children! These books covered topics like the American Civil War, the Great Lakes, life on the frontier, and country life.

Krapp's Family

After George Philip Krapp passed away, his wife, Elisabeth Christina von Saltza, gave 500 of his books to Columbia University. Elisabeth was the daughter of a Swedish painter named Carl Frederick von Saltza. Her brother, Philip von Saltza, was also a painter. Krapp's son, Robert M. Adams, also became a literary scholar.