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He was a teacher, editor, curator, translator and composer
born in Columbus, Indiana, where he and his twin brother were the youngest
of eight children. He studied
at DePauw University from 1912 and after graduation he went on to teach in
the Indiana cities of Raleigh and Rushville. His career and further education would then be put on
hold when he went into service in WWI as an artillery officer. Returning to education after the
war he took studies at The University of Berlin, Harvard, Oxford and took
his masters and doctorate at Boston University. Becoming a faculty member of Boston University in 1923
he was the winner of the May Day Poetry Tournament the first time it was
ever held and remaining there for many years he was given the position of
Dean in 1938. However, seven
years later he decided to relocate to the Southern Methodist University in Texas
and become a Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Religious Literature. For a period of 4 years between
1958 and 1962 he took up yet another new position at the Interchurch
Center, New York City, as the curator of its Treasure Room and Hymn Museum. In the world of religious music he avidly
collected and composed the words for several hymns including "Spirit of
Life, in This New Dawn" and "Are Ye Able?" and made a further translation
of the well-known carol "Angels We Have Heard on High". In the editing side of his career
he was the Associate Editor for the Kenosha Wisconsin Newspaper before he
joined Boston University and during his career there he edited an edition
of the American Student Hymnal. He would also write four books entitled Protestant
Saints, Land's Away, Chapel Windows and Cathedral and was
Indiana's Poet Laureate for 1970/1. He died at home in Winchester, Indiana, when he was 84
years old.
Sources:
- http://www.depauw.edu/library/archives/dpuinventories/marlatt_earl.htm
- http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/m/a/r/marlatt_eb.htm
- http://www.audiblefaith.com/authors/Earl+Marlatt
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