John Martin Crawford (scholar)

An inscription made by John Martin Crawford in a copy of Kalevala (1890)

John Martin Crawford (October 18, 1845 – 1916) was an American physician and scholar who translated the Finnish epic Kalevala into English based on a previous German translation by Franz Anton Schiefner published in 1852, to be published for the first time in 1888.

He was born in Herrick, Pennsylvania and taught public school for three years prior to attending college. He enrolled in Lafayette College in 1867 and graduated in 1871. It was there he was inspired by Professor Thomas Conrad Porter to translate The Kalevala. In 1872 Crawford returned to teaching Math and Latin at the Chickering Institute in Ohio. During this time he studied Medicine, receiving three degrees from schools in Cincinnati.^[1][2]

In June 1889, Crawford was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as consul-general of the United States to Russia.^[3]

He is also credited with editing roles on a few other works:

• English translation of the 5 volume "The industries of Russia" published in 1893
• English translation of "Siberia and the Great Siberian Railway" published in 1893

References

1. Friberg, Eino; Schoolfield, George C. (1988). The Kalevala. University of Illinois Press. pp. 28–31.
2. Coffin, Selden Jennings; Owen, William Baxter. Record of the Men of Lafayette: Brief Biographical Sketches of the Alumni of Lafayette College from Its Organization to the Present Time. p. 81.
3. Friberg, Eino; Schoolfield, George C. (1988). The Kalevala. University of Illinois Press. pp. 28–31.

External links

• Works written by or about John Martin Crawford (scholar) at Wikisource
• Works by John Martin Crawford at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Martin Crawford at Internet Archive
• Works by John Martin Crawford at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)