The English department curriculum grew substantially in the 1920s, from around 20 courses in the opening of the decade to well over twice that number at the end. The growing tenure track faculty made this possible and made it possible to offer a curriculum that covered the areas of study (literature, writing, public speaking) and the periods of English and American literature that came to define the core of English studies both here in Pittsburgh and around the country.
English majors were directed toward concentrations in teaching, writing, literature and language that drew from courses in the following areas:
Composition and Writing: There was a two-semester required first-year composition course. In addition, the department offered a preliminary course (“Composition Review”) and advanced courses: “Advanced Composition,” “Special English Composition” (for “advanced students,” including teachers and English Majors who had not taken English 1), and “Expository Writing” (“practice in the personal and formal essay, with wide reading”). In most composition courses, students were writing literary essays and the term “creative” was not reserved for fiction and poetry. The department continued to support a course in Short Story Writing, and this became a regular offering for Percival Hunt. In addition, there were courses in “Advanced Short Story” and in “Description and Narration” (for students “interested in the artistic side of writing”). Although courses in the writing of poetry had been taught in earlier decades, we did not find poetry courses in the catalogs of the 20s. The literature curriculum featured courses on the essay as genre—for example, a two-semester course on “Two Great Essayists” (Bacon and Ruskin). There were also pedagogy courses for future teachers.
Public Speaking: The department offered courses in “Public Speaking,” “Argument and Debate,” “Special Debate” (for students who had debating practice in high school), “Reading” and “Advanced Reading” (oral interpretation), and “Play Production.” The literature curriculum also featured courses in recent English and American drama. It appears that there was a core of junior faculty and graduate students interested in drama and active in dramatic productions on campus and in the city, including John Regis Toomey, George Crouch, and Ford Curtis.
Literature: There was a required sophomore literature course, “English Literature” (Chaucer to Kipling). The course description noted that “The work of the student is commonly presented in writing. No student succeeds in this course who cannot express his ideas clearly and correctly.” There were advanced surveys of English and American literature. There were multiple sections of courses on Shakespeare. There were courses in genre (novel, drama, poetry, essay) drawing upon both English and American traditions. There was a course in Old English, in Chaucer and Middle English, in the Renaissance (both dramatic and non-dramatic literature, taught by Hoyt Hopewell Hudson), in the 18th century, and in the British Romantic poets. The 19th century was represented primarily through genre or author courses. There was a course in “Contemporary American Literature,” with a focus on the novel. There was a course in Literary Criticism and in the History of the Language. There was a “special topics” course for supervised, independent study.