Charles Eliot Norton

Charles Eliot Norton, son of Andrews Norton, was a noted author, translator, social critic and liberal activist. He was appointed Professor of the History of Art at Harvard in 1875; this chair was created for him and he held it for 23 years until retirement. The Archaeological Institute of America chose him as its first president, and he was described as the foremost American proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement.

The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures are given annually by distinguished professors at Harvard, where Norton bequeathed the more valuable portion of his library.

“The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.”