DawgNotes

Methodology: Historicism. I will contextualize Perrin's work and influences for the twenty-first century composition scholar/practitioner.

Method: Primarily archival research, including primary texts authored or edited by Perrin, introductory material by co-authors in later editions of Perrin's texts, and Perrin's papers at Colgate University and the University of Washington.

Initial Goal (for this course): Read the dissertation, review other materials, begin compiling footnotes for the dissertation text, draft a preliminary introduction, an outline of the overall project and a plan for its completion.

Research Questions:
- What would a twenty-first century student or practitioner in the field of composition need to know to understand Perrin's dissertation and its relevance?
- Porter Perrin is a white male academic working in the middle of the twentieth century. At a time when recovery work focuses on underrepresented groups, what can be gained by a better understanding of Perrin's work?

Some supporting questions:
- What does the reader need to know about the author's life? (This is the biographical part.)
- What allusions, literary, social, or otherwise, shape the meaning of the text?
- With whom was Perrin working/studying at the University of Chicago? How, if at all, do the values or theories of those people influence the text?
- How much of Perrin's dissertation work is revealed, followed, or departed from in his later work?
- How widely used were Porter's Writer's Guide, Reference Handbook, Index, and Guide used?
- Besides Kitzhaber, what other dissertations did Perrin direct, if any, and what other working relationships did he have the influenced the field of composition and rhetoric?
- What other information about Perrin's work in the field is important and relevant?

Working Bibliography:
Sources readily available:
Brown, Leonard Stanley, and Porter G. Perrin. A Quarto of Modern Literature. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935.*

Gage, John T., intro. Rhetoric in American Colleges, 1850-1900. By Albert R. Kitzhaber. Dallas: Southern Methodist UP, 1990. vii-xxii.

Perrin, Porter G. "Freshman Composition and the Tradition of Rhetoric." Perspectives on English: Essays to Honor W. Wilbur Hatfield. Ed. Robert C. Pooley. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts; National Council of Teachers of English, 1960. 119-132.

Perrin, Porter G. An Index to English. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1939.*

Perrin, Porter G. "Maximum Essentials in Composition." College English 8.7 (1947): 352-360.

Perrin, Porter G. "For a Responsible Rhetoric." College English 10.4 (1949): 222-223.

Perrin, Porter G., with Karl W. Dykema. Writer's Guide and Index to English. 3rd ed. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1959.*

*These are the editions available at Bird Library. I would like to try to obtain different editions of these works from ILLIAD, or through campus visits.

Other potential works (final ones to be included will be based on availability as well as content):

Perrin, Porter G., George H. Smith, and Jim W. Corder. Handbook of Current English. 3rd ed. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1968.

Perrin, Porter G., and William Kelley Wright. The History of Modern Philosophy. Hanover, NH, 1917.

Perrin, Porter G. "Notes on Lectures by Porter G. Perrin." Transcribed by Emily Ann Beatty. Publication of the Fifth Workshop in Basic Communication, University of Denver, 1947. Ed. Thelma R. Sherman. U Denver P, 1947. 6-30.

Perrin, Porter G., and George H. Smith. The Perrin-Smith Handbook of Current English. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1955.

Perrin, Porter G. "A Realistic Philosophy for Teachers of English." College English 9.5 (1948): 256-264.

Perrin, Porter G. Reference Handbook of Grammar and Usage. New York: Morrow, 1972.

Perrin, Porter G. "Text and Reference Books in Rhetoric before 1750." Chicago, 1940.

Platt, Harrison Gray, and Porter G. Perrin. Current Expressions of Fact and Opinion. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1941.

Warnock, Robert, Porter G. Perrin, Frank Earl Ward, and Harrison Gray Platt. Using Good English: A Textbook and Workbook in Writing, Reading, and Speaking. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1944.