“Chaucer in Chicago: Manly and Rickert”
Sylvia Tomasch, Sealy Ann Gilles

For over 40 years, John M. Manly and Edith Rickert were close colleagues at the University of Chicago, where they collaborated on a number of foundational Chaucer projects including The Life Records and the eight-volume Text of the Canterbury Tales. Associated with the early years of the University of Chicago (and its English Department), the Modern Language Association (president in 1920), and the Medieval Academy of America (president in 1929-30), Manly was in many ways a “founding father,” posthumously recognized as such by the awarding of the Haskins Medal for his work on the Chaucer manuscripts. In many ways Rickert’s career paralleled Manly’s, but it also reveals some crucial differences inhering in the life of a female scholar (including the lack of such posthumous recognition). Through their varied work and interests, both played crucial roles in the early stages of the professionalization of American universities, English literary studies, medieval studies in this country, and, perhaps surprisingly, United States military intelligence.