Tyler, Moses Coit (1835-1900), became the first great authority on early American literature. His chief books were A History of American Literature During the Colonial Time, 1607-1765 (1878) and The Literary History of the American Revolution, 1763-1783 (1897). In 1881, at Cornell University, he became the first professor of American history in the United States. He was born on Aug. 2, 1835, in Griswold, Connecticut. He died on Dec. 28, 1900.
