Arthur F. Kinney 1933-2021

1933 - 2021

Arthur F. Kinney 1933-2021

Amherst, MA — Arthur Frederick Kinney, Jr., born on September 5, 1933 to Arthur Kinney, a life-long steel worker, and Gladys (Mudge), a local second grade teacher, died on December 25, 2021.

After graduating from Cortland Junior-Senior High School as class salutatorian in 1951, he entered Syracuse University as an English major, with the aid of a New York Regents scholarship. To earn money for college he worked weekends but set aside early morning hours for writing fiction. During his college years, he served on the editorial staff of The Daily Orange, the school newspaper, and the student organization of Hendricks Chapel. Never having siblings, he thought it wise to join a fraternity: the Epsilon Phi chapter of Alpha Tau Omega. He graduated from Syracuse University magna cum laude in May 1955 and was admitted to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. This one-year intensive degree was supported by financial aid, weekend employment at The New York Times (which included hourly runs of changing headlines on Times Tower), and by waiting tables weekdays at the Columbia Men's Faculty Club. In 1956, he was offered three jobs: an assistant editor of The Saturday Evening Post, public relations for Eastman Kodak, and staff member of The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. He chose the newspaper but his employment ended abruptly when he was drafted into the US Army. During basic training his poor eyesight redirected him to clerk school and the Army eventually shuffled him to the Air Force chaplain corps.

In the summer of 1958, Arthur applied to the University of Michigan because of its famous Hopwood Award in writing. He began his literary pursuits with an eye to becoming a fiction writer. However, it was for a collection of eight critical essays that he won the Hopwood Award. He graduated with his PhD during a blizzard in 1963.

His first teaching job was at Yale University. He taught Daily Themes, Great Books, and advanced seminars in fiction writing. Three years later he moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for what became a half-century of teaching and administration. He taught Renaissance literature, directed dissertations in Renaissance studies, lectured in American literature from an historical perspective, and offered creative writing workshops. He served for four decades on the Faculty Senate. Arthur received the Samuel F. Conti Research Award, the campus-wide Outstanding Teaching Award, the Chancellor's medal, and the Renaissance Center medal. Beyond UMass, he taught Faulkner at Oxford University and held teaching posts at Clark University, New York University, and the University of Leiden. He offered lectures at 160 colleges and universities across four continents.

His passion was to promote interdisciplinary learning and scholarly engagement. Along with a team of Renaissance English professors, he was the founding editor of English Literary Renaissance, a tri-quarterly scholarly journal which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. He founded a unique Bachelor's Degree in Individual Concentration which allowed hundreds of undergraduates to plan their own programs by combining courses across labs, studios, and departments. In 1967 he founded the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, which was later established on the Dakin property in Amherst. The Center was renamed in Arthur's honor in 2017: the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies. It features a rare book library of over 1,000 books printed before 1700 and a research library of 35,000 books. The acreage features a stage and Renaissance gardens that complement a year-round program of lectures, courses, exhibits, and performances. All events are free and open to the public.

Arthur felt an abiding commitment to the town of Amherst. He was a member of Town Meeting, a board member of Arcadia Players, President of the Amherst Club, and President of the Amherst Museum and Historical Society where he established two local traditions to celebrate Founders Day: the Conch Shell Award named for the shell at the Museum that called the town to meetings and worship; and the Mabel Loomis Todd Lecture honoring the town's early celebrity who saw Emily Dickinson's poetry into print. In 2017, Arthur was awarded the Samuel Minot Jones Award by The Jones Library for his contributions to Amherst's literary culture.

Arthur retired as the lauded Thomas W. Copeland Professor of Literary History. He was extremely fortunate to call Amherst and its state university his intellectual home.

He is survived by several first, second, and third cousins. A private burial has been arranged in Cortland, New York. A memorial service will be held in the spring to celebrate Arthur's life. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst: http://minutefund.umass.edu/renaissance