Edward Kennard Rand FBA (December 20, 1871 – October 28, 1945), known widely as E.K. Rand or to his peers as EKR,^[1][2] was an American classical scholar and medievalist. He served as the Pope Professor of Latin at Harvard University from 1901 until 1942, during which period he was also the Sather Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, for two terms. Rand is best known for his 1928 work, Founders of the Middle Ages.^[3][4]

Quick Facts E. K. RandFBA, Born ...

E. K. Rand FBA
Born	(1871-12-20)December 20, 1871 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	October 28, 1945(1945-10-28) (aged 73) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouse	Belle Brent Palmer ​ (m. 1901)​
Awards	Legion of Honour Order of the Crown of Italy
Academic background
Education	Harvard University University of Chicago University of Munich
Thesis	Der dem Boethius zugeschriebene Traktat de fide catholica (1901)
Doctoral advisor	Ludwig Traube
Influences	Santayana Gregory Wölfflin Christ Müller Traube
Academic work
Discipline	Medieval studies
Institutions	Harvard University Dumbarton Oaks University of Chicago University of California, Berkeley Medieval Academy of America Society for Classical Studies Classical Association of New England
Notable works	Founders of the Middle Ages (1928) The Building of Eternal Rome (1943)
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Rand founded the Mediaeval Academy of America, its journal Speculum, and, in addition, served as the president of the American Philological Association (now the Society for Classical Studies) and the Classical Association of New England. At the end of his career, he was a senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks.

Born in South Boston on December 20, 1871, Rand was the only son of an established New England family that otherwise consisted of four daughters.^[5] He was educated in Watertown, Massachusetts, and, being an overachiever, graduated first in his class among students who had no intention to attend college. Having been in a tight financial situation, he was encouraged by his friends to apply to Harvard and did so by ringing the doorbell of Charles William Eliot, then the president of the university, seeking financial aid.^[6] To the "bemused" president, Rand asked, "I would like to go to Harvard; do you have any money?"^[7] Upon hearing his request, Eliot personally saw to Rand's admission into Harvard College, where Rand would go on to graduate as class secretary with an A.B., summa cum laude, and with further honors in the classics, philosophy, Greek, and Latin.^[6][8]

After graduating from Harvard in 1894 and earning his master's degree from the university a year later, Rand sought to follow his father's footsteps in becoming a theologian, enrolling at Harvard Divinity School where he was taught by the philosopher George Santayana. Aimless, he spent three years tutoring fellow students and teaching at a summer school in Maine before finally being invited to join the Classics faculty as a resident scholar at the University of Chicago, where he was allowed to lecture on topics concerning the Middle Ages.^[6] During his second year at the university, Rand was given a leave of absence to study at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upon returning to the University of Chicago, he enrolled in a palaeography course taught by Caspar René Gregory, during which time he resolved to attain a Ph.D. at the University of Munich and enter academia.^[6]

After traveling through Europe and arriving to study at Munich in 1898, it was there that Rand came under the influence of a number of prominent professors—most notably Ludwig Traube, the granduncle of Eduard Fraenkel—that shaped his postgraduate education.^[9][10] In November 1900, he completed his dissertation, Der dem Boethius zugeschriebene Traktat de fide catholica (The treatise ascribed to Boethius, De Fide Catholica), under Traube's supervision.^[11] In the spring of next year, he married Belle Brent Palmer—a native of Kentucky—and later returned to Harvard to assume a position as a Latin instructor.^[9]

Beginning with his position as a Latin instructor, Rand would become an active professor and academic until the end of his life. He often traveled abroad to assume momentary teaching positions, lecturing at various institutions such as the University of Toronto and the University of Paris.^[12][13]

From 1919 until 1920, Rand served two terms as the Sather Professor of Classical Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, delivering lectures on "The History of Classical Culture during the Middle Ages" and "The History of Pastoral Literature".^[14] He would, however, spend most of his years teaching at Harvard, where, from 1931 until 1942, he was its Pope Professor of Latin.^[15]

When Rand finally retired from teaching in 1942, he spent his last years as a senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks.^[16] By his death, he had been an accomplished scholar who founded the Medieval Academy of America, the journal Speculum, Harvard's Servius,^[17] and was the president of both the American Philological Association and Classical Association of New England; he had been the author of numerous books and approximately 200 publications,^[12] of which more than 100 were articles.^[4]

Rand had been a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Academy in Rome, and the Dante Society; as well as a fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Inscriptions, and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, among others.^[21][22] The Medieval Academy of America established the "Edward Kennard Rand Prize in Medieval Studies" in his honor, awarding a sum of 200 dollars as part of an essay competition in 1928, 1929, and 1930.^[23]

During his life, Rand received honorary degrees from multiple universities—including his alma mater, Harvard. The universities of Manchester, Case Western Reserve, and Trinity College Dublin all granted him a Doctor of Letters (Litt. D.), and the University of Glasgow and the University of Pennsylvania awarded him the degree of Legum Doctor (LL.D.).^[12] Following his death, the University of Paris awarded him its first post-war honorary doctorate (rentrée solennelle) for his work as a scholar.^[1]

In 1939, Rand and his wife were made Chevaliers of the French Legion of Honour.^[24] Prior to this, he had also been awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy.^[25]