Adler, Cyrus, 1863-1940

Variant names

Hide Profile

Cyrus Adler graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1883. He later received the first American Ph.D. in Semitics from Johns Hopkins University. He taught Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins from 1884 to 1893.

In 1877 he was appointed assistant curator of the section of Oriental antiquities in the United States National Museum, and had charge of an exhibit of biblical archaeology at the centennial exposition of the Ohio valley in 1888. He was a commissioner for the world's Columbian exposition to the Orient in 1890, and he passed sixteen months in Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco securing exhibits. For a number of years he was employed by the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, with a focus on archaeology and Semitics. In 1895, after years of searching, he located the Jefferson Bible and purchased it for the Smithsonian Institution from the great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson.

He was made lecturer on biblical archaeology in the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He was president of Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning from 1908 to 1940 and Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Archival Resources
Bibliographic and Digital Archival Resources

Person

Birth 1863-09-13

Death 1940-04-07

Americans

English

Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jj4c0c

Ark ID: w6jj4c0c

SNAC ID: 86718498