Born: August 27, 1911
Died: December 22, 1998
Ohio connection: Resident
Yellow Springs
Louis Filler, son of Pit and Sara (Kutcher) Filler, was born in Odessa, Russia, in 1911. Filler, whose family emigrated to the United States in 1914, was reared in Philadelphia, PA. Filler received a B.A. from Temple University in 1934 and then an M.A. (1941) and Ph.D. (1943) from Columbia University. Filler worked as a historian for the American Council of Learned Societies from 1942 until 1944 and as a research historian for the Office of the Quartermaster General in Washington, D.C. from 1944 until 1946. Teaching at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Filler was first a professor of American civilization from 1953 until 1976, and then as the Distinguished University Professor of American Culture and Society beginning in 1976.
Filler was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Erlangen in Germany from 1979 until 1980. A leading scholar on the study of American social reform movements, Filler was widely published as author, editor, and essayist. His books include The Crusade Against Slavery, 1830-1860 (1960); A Dictionary of American Social Reform (1963); Appointment at Armageddon: Muckraking and Progressivism in American Life (1976); Voice of the Democracy: A Critical Biography of David Graham Phillips (1978); Dictionary of American Conservatism (1987); and Distinguished Shades: Americans Whose Lives Live On (1992).
Louis Filler lived in Ovid, Michigan, and died on December 22, 1998, in Austin, Texas.
Awards
Fellow, Social Science Research Council and American Council of Learned Societies (1953-54); 1961 Ohioana Book Award in nonfiction for Crusade Against Slavery, 1830-1860.
Books
Additional Resources
Wikipedia: Louis Filler