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Birth:          2 Apr 1873 Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Mass.
Death:          5 May 1952 Berkeley, Alameda Co.. Cal.

Notes
1880 in Clinton, Worcester Co., Mass.
1910 in Berkeley, Cal. university professor
1920 in Berkeley, Cal. univ prof
1930 in Berkeley, Cal. univ prof
no child on any of the census records
noyes.rootsweb.com/wga70.html
Graduated at Harvard, 1894; A.M., 1895; Ph.B., 1898. Asst. Prof. English, University 
of Wisconsin; Instructor in English and Russian, University of California. 

George Rapall Noyes, Slavic Languages: Berkeley 
1873-1952 
Professor Emeritus 


George Rapall Noyes, Professor of Slavic Languages, Emeritus, died at Alta Bates 
Hospital in Berkeley on May 5, 1952. 
Like most other American Slavicists of his generation, George Noyes was a self-made 
man in his chosen field. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 2, 1873, he 
attended Harvard University and graduated in 1894 as top scholar of his class. In 
1895 he received the M.A. degree. In 1898 he completed his dissertation, “Dryden as 
Critic,” and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Although his formal 
schooling thus had been in English literature, George Noyes nevertheless had been 
developing a growing interest in the language and literature of Russia, and had, at 
Harvard, entered upon the study of Russian under the general direction of Professor 
Leo Wiener. Upon completing his graduate work, Dr. Noyes was awarded the John 
Harvard Fellowship and went abroad to spend the next two years pursuing his study of 
Slavic philology at St. Petersburg University. 
On his return to the United States in 1900, Dr. Noyes was appointed Assistant 
Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin. In the fall of 1901, however, he 
accepted President Wheeler's invitation to join the faculty at Berkeley as Instructor in 
English and Russian, and thus to launch a program of Slavic Studies at the University 
of California. In 1902 he married Florence Augusta Paine, a native Bostonian, with 
whom he shared a long and productive life. 
During the course of the next dozen years, George R. Noyes introduced courses in 
Old Church Slavic, in Polish, in Bohemian, and in Serbo-Croatian. From 1902 to 1907 
he served as Assistant Professor of English and Slavic Philology; and after 1907 he 
devoted his entire energy to the teaching of Slavic. Consequently, from 1907 to 1911 
his post was that of Assistant Professor of Slavic; from 1911 to 1919, that of 
Associate Professor of Slavic Languages; and in 1919 he became Professor of Slavic 
Languages, in which capacity he served until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 
1943. 
Professor Noyes' numerous and varied publications reflect the breadth of his interests. 
They are devoted to questions of Slavic literature and of Slavic linguistics as well as 
to problems of English literature. A complete list of his works would include more than 
forty individual volumes written, edited, or translated by him. His monograph 
Tolstoy (1918), in the series, Master Spirits of World Literature, edited 
by Walter Morris Hart and George R. Noyes, established his reputation as one of the 
leading authorities on Tolstoy in the English-speaking world. His editions of the works 
of Dryden, Poetical Works of Dryden (1909; second revised edition, 1949) and 
Selected Dramas of John Dryden (1910), established him as an authority in 
English literature. His greatest achievement, however, lay in the field of translation 
from the Slavic languages. In fact, he founded one of the most important schools of 
translation from the Slavic languages in the English-speaking world. Professor Noyes' 
excellent command of literary English, combined with his fine knowledge of Russian 
and Polish, of Czech and Serbo-Croatian, enabled him to achieve a fine balance 
between literary accuracy and good English style. He always maintained that a good 
translation should preserve the flavor of the original and yet so read as to remove any 
suspicion that it had been written originally in another language. His translations range 
from a volume of Heroic Ballads of Servia (1913) to a volume of Poems by 
Adam Mickiewicz (1944). They also include such titles as Plays of Alexander 
Ostrovsky (1917), Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz (1917), The 
Religion of Ancient Greece by Thaddeus Zielinski (1926), Poems by Jan 
Kochanowski (1928), Juliusz Slowacki: Anhelli (1930), and Masterpieces 
of Russian Drama (1933). Most of these publications included an introduction and 
critical notes by Professor Noyes. His last work and perhaps one of his finest 
achievements in translation combined with research is The Life and Adventures of 
Dimitrije Obradovic, published posthumously in 1953. 
During his career Professor Noyes was a member of numerous scientific and literary 
organizations and had many honors accorded him. He was a member of Phi Beta 
Kappa; he served as President of the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast 
(1928); he was Chairman of the Slavic Section of the M.L.A. (1937); he was elected 
first President of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European 
Languages (1942). He served as Corresponding Member of the School of Slavonic 
Studies, King's College, University of London; he was Collaborator of the Literary 
Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Cracow; he was elected 
Corresponding Member of the Philological Section of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 
Cracow; he served as Corresponding Member of the Slavonic Institute of Prague; he 
was chosen Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston; and was a 
member of the Warsaw Scientific Society. In October, 1929, Professor Noyes was 
awarded the degree of Litterarum Doctor (honoris causa) by the University of 
Wilno, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of its founding; in 1930, he received 
the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and in 1945 its Commander's 
Cross; in 1938, the Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature of Wilno was 
bestowed on him. In 1945, George R. Noyes, Professor of Slavic Languages, 
Emeritus, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of California. 
Slavic studies in America owe much of their growth during the past half century to the 
efforts and the personality of George Rapall Noyes. He played a significant role in 
establishing Berkeley as one of the major centers of Slavic studies in this country. 
Strict in his demands upon the quality of scholarship of his students and colleagues 
alike, Professor Noyes was regarded by many as a severe, yet honest and consistent, 
critic. In his own work, moreover, he was as critical of himself as he was of others. No 
characterization of George R. Noyes would be complete without mention of his “New 
England conscience,” of his trenchant humor, and of his modesty--traits that endeared 
him to those who knew him. 
With the passing of George R. Noyes, his colleagues lost a respected friend and a 
distinguished scholar. 


Parents
NOYES Charles B. (26 Oct 1835 - 1916)
HYDE Mary L. (1834 - )

Siblings
NOYES Mary E. (6 Dec 1860 - 1892)
NOYES Edith R. (14 Aug 1862 - )
NOYES George Rapall (2 Apr 1873 - 5 May 1952)

Marriage To PAINE Florence A. (1873 - )
    m. 1902 

Notes

Parents
PAINE ----- ()
----- Viola C. ()

Children by PAINE Florence A. 1873 - 
NOYES ----- (ABT 1909 - )

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