Irving Stoddard Kull Papers, 1918-1960

Dr. Irving Stoddard Kull was born in Genoa City, Wisconsin on April 12, 1884. He died of a respitory ailment in West Dover, Vermont (at his summer home) on July 25, 1961. He was 77 years old at the time of his death.

Dr. Kull married Nellie May Myers on August 6, 1912. They had three children, Mr. Blaisdell Kull, Mrs. Norman Walple, and Mr. Robert I. Kull. Robert Kull died before his father at the age of 39. He was stricken with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Dr. Kull received his early education at schools in Genoa City and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was the first person from his hometown to pursue a higher education. He received a four year fellowship and worked his way through college. His undergraduate degree is from Beloit College. He received his master's degree at the University of Indiana and his doctorate at the University of Chicago.

In 1902, Dr. Kull secured his first teaching position at a country school in Wisconsin. He then taught at Beloit Prepartory School (1909 10) and became a fellow in history at the University of Indiana, and eventually an instructor of history at Denison University in Ohio. He served as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago for four years before becoming a faculty member at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 1918.

Dr. Kull's teaching career at Rutgers University began in 1918. In 1926, he became a full professor and the head of the History Department. In 1932, he was appointed to the Voorhees Professorship of History. In his first fifteen years at the university, Dr. Kull also headed the department of history at Douglass College, which was called New Jersey College for Women at the time.

Dr. Kull's publications include "New Jersey, A History," which was published in 1930 by the American Historical Society of NY. The publication covers important phases in New Jersey history.

In 1937, Dr. Kull was approached by the United States Constitution Sequicentennial Commission to participate in completing a history of the Constitution of New Jersey. However, Dr. Kull's research resulted in an unpublished manuscript because the Commission ran out of funding and could not afford to publish the manuscript. This research is supposedly one of the only research projects on New Jersey's constitution.

Another publication that was completed with his wife, Nellie Kull, is "A Short Chronology of American History," published onApril 25, 1952. This publication covers 10,000 American events and spans over four and a half centuries of American history. This took Dr. Kull and his wife seven years to complete. The work opens with the date August 3, 1492 the date Christopher Columbus set sail and ends with December 30, 1950 the date Secretary of State Dean Acheson issued a year end statement declaring the intention of the United States to continue its policy of creating "unity and security for the free world." Presumably, this date was selected because of Dr. Kull's relentless interest in world peace. The purpose for completing this work was to develop patterns in history by placing events in chronological relationship to each other.

As a historian, Dr. Kull's interest included 19th century American history. Over the course of his life, he gave many talks on the world wars, peace and revolution. He was a promoter of world peace and often made statements that the United States' isolationist attitude caused peace treaty problems in 1919, after World War I. He believed that peace should be planned while the war is still on going.

As an antagonist of war measures, Dr. Kull served as members on various committees and organizations working towards world peace. He was an active trustee member in the League of Nations of New Jersey. He was also a member of the New Jersey Branch, American Assocation of United Nations and the New Jersey Joint Counsel on Foreign Relations. His other memberships included the American Historical Association, the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, the New Jersey Historical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Kappa Epsilon, an honorary historical fraternity, the Southern Historical Association, the Church History Society, Foreign Policy Association, Southern Vermont Artists and Plainfield Art Association.

Dr. Kull was an amateur painter for 35 years. His work was displayed at various shows over the course of his life. Specifically, after his retirement, 49 of his paintings were displayed at the Guest House of the New Brunswick Art Center. Included in his works were landscapes of Vermont, the midwest, and European scenes.

Dr. Kull retired from Rutgers University on July 1, 1954 after 36 years of teaching at Rutgers. He was 70 years old at the time of his retirement.