William Hailey Willis

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William Hailey Willis (April 29, 1916, Meridian, Mississippi – July 13, 2000, Durham, North Carolina)[1] was an American classicist and a leading twentieth century papyrologist.[2]

Early life[edit]

Willis was the son of William W. Willis and Clara B. (Hailey) Willis. He married Rachel E. (Hamilton) Willis on December 20, 1943, in Meridian, MS.

Scholarly career[edit]

Willis was educated at Mississippi College (B.A.), Columbia University (M.A.), and Yale University (Ph.D.).[3] Willis was a professor of Classics at the University of Mississippi from 1946 until 1963, when he relocated to Duke University.[4] Willis' decision to change institutions in 1963 was related, in part, to the strife that surrounded racial integration at the University of Mississippi, a cause that he had both supported and advanced.[3] In 1973 Willis served as president of the American Philological Association.[5] He was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1980.[6][7][8]

Willis' scholarly career included extensive work on papyrology and he published numerous papers dealing with ancient papyri.[9][10][11]

He was instrumental in building the papyrus collection now housed at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University and in advancing the efforts of the papyrus research center, then called the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri,[12][13] He was credited with producing an electronic edition of the Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri that was disseminated on CD-ROM by the Packard Humanities Institute.[13] At Duke Willis also served as editor of the journal Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies.[14]

Scholarship[edit]

  • (with Klaus Maresch) 1988. “The Encounter of Alexander with the Brahmans: New Fragments of the Cynic Diatribe P.Genev.inv. 271,” ZPE 74:59–83.
  • 1988. “Oxyrhynchite Documents among the Robinson Papyri,” BASP 25:99–127.
  • 1990. “A New Fragment of the Bodmer Aspis,” Recherches et rencontres 2:167–171.
  • 1990. “The Letter of Peter (1 Peter): Coptic text, translation, notes and variant readings,” in J. E. Goehring et al., The Crosby-Schøyen Codex (= CSCO 521, Subsidia 85 [Louvain 1990]) 135–215.
  • 1990. “The Robinson-Cologne Papyrus of Achilles Tatius,” GRBS 31:73–102.
  • 1991. “Comoedia Dukiana,” GRBS 32:331–353.
  • (with Klaus Maresch) 1997. The Archive of Ammon Scholasticus of Panopolis: The Legacy of Harpocration(=Pap.Colon. 26.1 [Opladen 1997].

Necrology[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ James David Tillman (1963). Tillman & Hamilton Family Records: With Their Many Ancestral Lineages.
  2. ^ Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists Volume 22, Issue 1-4: Classical Studies Presented to William Hailey Willis on the Occasion of his Retirement from Duke University, pp. vii Permalink hdl.handle.net
  3. ^ a b Box 1848, The University of Mississippi P. O.; University; Usa915-7211, Ms 38677. "Mid-20th Century". Department of Classics.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Classical studies presented to William Hailey Willis: on the occasion of his retirement from Duke University. American Society of Papyrologists. 1985.
  5. ^ Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. Association. 1973.
  6. ^ "William H. Willis - Awards & Nominations". awardsandwinners.com.
  7. ^ List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1980
  8. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation: WILLIAM H. WILLIS Fellow: Awarded 1980 Field of Study: Classics Competition: US & Canada gf.org
  9. ^ William Hailey Willis (1968). A Census of the Literary Papyri from Egypt.
  10. ^ William Hailey Willis (1958). Greek Literary Papyri from Egypt and the Classical Canon. Harvard University Library.
  11. ^ William Hailey Willis (1961). The New Collections of Papyri at the University of Mississippi. Stephen Austin & Sons.
  12. ^ "Papyri.info". papyri.info.
  13. ^ a b Adam Bülow-Jacobsen (1 January 1994). Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Papyrologists, Copenhagen, 23-29 August, 1992. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 628–. ISBN 978-87-7289-264-1.
  14. ^ "Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies". grbs.library.duke.edu.

External links[edit]

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