E. Merton Coulter - Professional Career

Professional Career

After teaching briefly at Marietta College in Ohio, Coulter was hired by Georgia's flagship University of Georgia, where he was a professor for six decades. In 1940 he was selected as chair of the History Department, a position he held for 18 years. As a professor and writer, he influenced generations of historians.

In addition, Coulter was editor of the Georgia Historical Quarterly for 50 years. A founding member of the Southern Historical Association, he served as its first president in 1934. In both writing and teaching, he was influential. The Library of Congress lists 50 different books written or edited by Dr. Coulter. He published more than 125 articles, and wrote what for decades was the standard textbook for Georgia history.

According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, "Coulter emerged as a leader of that generation of white southern historians who viewed the South's past with pride and defended its racist policies and practices. He framed his literary corpus to praise the Old South, glorify Confederate heroes, vilify northerners, and denigrate southern blacks."