Origins of Composition Studies in the American College, 1875–1925

John C. Brereton is professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

With [this book] John C. Brereton does for composition studies what Gerald Graff and Michael Warner did in 1989 for literary studies: establishes a context for the discipline's institutionalization and professionalism in the academy. The anthology reprints key materials pertinent to the "origins" of composition instruction, with an emphasis on the first year course, focusing on the period in which it acquires a distinct institutional identity.