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William Andrus Alcott (August 6, 1798 – March 29, 1859), also known as William Alexander Alcott, was an American educator, educational reformer, physician, vegetarian and author of many books. His works, which include a wide range of topics including educational reform, physical education, One-room school design, family life, and diet, are still widely cited today.
Alcott lived in Dedham, Massachusetts, where he was the superintendent of the Sunday School at the Allin Congregational Church. He was known to walk barefoot on summer mornings from his home in the village up to Federal Hill to obtain a bucket of milk.
In his book, Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine, Andrew F. Smith attributed Alcott's Vegetable Diet as being "America's first vegetarian cookbook." In 2020, journalist Avery Yale Kamila wrote: "The book is considered a seminal work in the cannon of American Vegetarianism literature." The book contains letters written by physicians, including Horace A. Barrows, about vegetarian diets. The book is still in print.
The book is included in the American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection. In 2012, the book was republished by Andrews McMeel publishing with an introduction by Anna Thomas.
Alcott opposed the consumption of alcohol, coffee, meat, spices, and tea.Smith, Andrew F. (2013). Food and Drink in American History, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 16. He argued against the use of , which were "stimulating" substances. He rejected the use of ginger, fennel, cardamom, mace, nutmeg, and coriander. He believed that garlic, horseradish, molasses, and were disgusting and indecent "drugs".
Alcott wrote The Physiology of Marriage in 1856. He deplored free courtship manners. He specifically deplored "conversation which is too excitable", "presence of exciting books", "unnecessary heat", and many other courtship practices prevalent in 18th century America but steadily going out of fashion by 1856. He warned young people of the dangers of courtship. He is criticized by modern-day feminists for his "rigidity".
In Boston, Alcott edited the Moral Reformer (1835–1839), a journal dedicated to eliminating intemperance, gluttony, and licentiousness.Fletcher, Robert Samuel. (1971). A History of Oberlin College: From its Foundation Through the Civil War, Volume 1. Arno Press. p. 319Numbers, Ronald L. (2008). Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 105. He was the editor of the vegetarian Library of Health journal.Shprintzen, Adam D. (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921. University of North Carolina Press. p. 37. In 1840, the Moral Reformer and The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity were merged in the Library of Health.
Alcott and Sylvester Graham founded the American Physiological Society (ASP) in 1837, with the purpose of “integrating a Grahamite lifestyle into a larger physiologically focused ideology.”Adam D. Shprintzen, The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), p. 40. The ASP sought to make the study of health access to all citizens and promoted a vegetarian diet.Shprintzen, Vegetarian Crusade, p. 40. On May 15, 1850, Alcott, Sylvester Graham, and William Metcalfe founded the American Vegetarian Society, with Alcott serving as the first president.Shprintzen, Vegetarian Crusade, pp. 60-63.
Teaching and medical education
At the age of 18 Alcott began teaching in a school located just a few yards from his father's house. With brief interruptions, he would continue to teach for the next nine years. His experiences as a student country school teacher would later become the subject of many of his later publications. He observed that the benches used by students were often painful and, at his own expense built backs onto the benches; these became the ancestors of the later school desks. He campaigned for better heating and ventilation in schools. He labored to improve the intellectual content of classrooms. While he was successful as a teacher,"Dr. William A. Alcott", Memoirs of Teachers, Educators and Promoters of Education Literature and Science, edited by Henry Bernard; New York Brownell, 1859a, pp. 249-267. in the summer of 1824 he suffered an attack of the disfiguring, dangerous skin infection erysipelas,Orcott 1873, p. 268 and about this time was beginning to suffer from tuberculosis. He would suffer symptoms of both for the remainder of his life."Dr. William Alcott," Historical Magazine, June 1859b, p. 193 He began studying medicine, with the thought that the extra knowledge would aid his teaching. His formal study of medicine was brief. In the winter of 1825–26 he attended "a regular course of medical studies" in New Haven, Connecticut. In March 1826 he was granted a license to practice medicine. In addition to teaching, he practiced medicine at least until 1829."Dr. William A. Alcott, 1859a, p. 257.
William Channing Woodbridge and early writing
In the spring of 1830 he met William Channing Woodbridge. Woodbridge had just returned from Europe and was in the process of revising his second geography. Alcott at first worked as an assistant to Woodbridge for which he was paid twelve dollars a month to check facts and improve maps. The two became close friends. In 1831, Woodbridge purchased the American Journal of Education and renamed it American Annals of Education And Instruction. The two men then moved to Boston. Alcott wrote many articles for the journal, especially those dealing with school design and physical education. Even after Woodbridge lost control of the Journal in 1836 and became its foreign editor, Alcott became its Editor in 1837."Dr. William A. Alcott", 1859a, pp. 163-164. He would later publish a poignant memoir of Woodbridge's life.Alcott, William A. "William C. Woodbridge," Memoirs of Teachers, Educators and Promoters of Education Literature and Science, edited by Henry Bernard, New York: Brownell, 1859, p. 51–64. While still teaching he had begun to contribute articles to newspapers and started work on the book that would become The Young Man's Guide."Dr. William A. Alcott, 1859a, p. 266.
Later life
On June 14, 1836, he married Phebe Lewis Bronson (June 14, 1812 – November 9, 1907). They had three children. For a time they shared a house, Cottage Place, with the family of his old friend and cousin Amos Bronson Alcott. In the 1840s William moved to the town of Newton, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. Eventually he would settle into a house in Auburndale in the town of Newton. He died here of a lung infection. He worked until the day before he died. William Alcott is buried in Newton Cemetery.Orcutt 1873, p. 267
"Vegetable Diet"
Alcott published Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages in 1838. It is his best known work and is significant to the medical literature about a vegetarian diet. A second edition was published in 1849 "with an added cookbook and medical testimonies supporting what today would be called a vegan diet."
Ideas, diet and morals
Alcott became one of the most prolific authors in early American history. He wrote frequently on the topics of education and health. In 1836, he wrote a letter defending Grahamism to the editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, published on May 4, 1836. Alcott titled the letter “The Graham System” and signed the article with the name “M.D.”M.D., “The Graham System,” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14, no. 13 (May 4, 1836), pp. 199-201. DOI: 10.1056/NEJM183605040141302 In 1850, Alcott wrote three letters on vegetarianism for the New York Daily Tribune (one published on April 14 and the other two on November 6).Alcott, W. A. “Letters on Vegetarianism: I. The Name,” New York Daily Tribune, April 14, 1850, p. 1 (originally written on July 18, 1850).Alcott, W. A. “Letters on Vegetarianism: II. The Argument from Anatomical Structure,” New York Daily Tribune, November 6, 1850, p. 3 (originally written on July 30, 1850).Alcott, W. A. “Letters on Vegetarianism: III. The Argument for Philosophy,” New York Daily Tribune, November 6, 1850, p. 3 (originally written on August 2, 1850).
Books
In all, he wrote about one hundred books, which were influential in reforming educational methods and improving people's physical and moral well-being.
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Categories: 1798 Births, 1859 Deaths, 19th-century American Educators, 19th-century American Male Writers, 19th-century American Non-fiction Writers, 19th-century American Medical Doctors, American Children's Writers, American Male Non-fiction Writers, American Vegetarianism Activists, People Associated With Physical Culture, Opponents Of Tea Drinking, American Magazine Editors, Writers From Dedham, Massachusetts, William, American Organization Founders, Founders Of Vegetarian Organizations
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