Franklin Carter

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Franklin Carter (September 30, 1837 – November 22, 1919) was an American language scholar and the President of Williams College from 1881 to 1901. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, the son of Deacon Preserve Wood Carter and Ruth Holmes Carter. After attending Phillips Academy Andover, he went to Yale College in 1855 but fell ill and moved to Florida. He later entered Williams College in 1860 and graduated in 1862. In 1863 he married Sarah Leavenworth Kingsbury. After time in Europe, he returned to teach at Williams in 1865, became head of the Latin department in 1868, and was named Professor of German at Yale College in 1873. He also led the Modern Languages Association. In 1881 he became president of Williams College, the first president who was also a scholar. During his tenure, he doubled the size of the faculty and oversaw the construction of eight buildings. He retired in 1901, and his friend John Haskell Hewitt served as acting president afterward. Carter died in 1919 in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Waterbury, Connecticut.