Guide to the George Taylor Files Papers, 1894-1967

George Taylor Files was born in Portland, Maine on September 23, 1866. He graduated from Portland High School in 1885, from Bowdoin in 1889, and then studied at Johns Hopkins for a year before receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Leipsic in Germany in 1893. In 1904, he married Edith Davis, with whom he had one daughter, Helen Louise. Professor Files worked at Bowdoin as a tutor and instructor until he became a full professor of German at Bowdoin in 1904. He held this position until his death. Professor Files was also active in the local community, and became known as an expert on roads and road construction in Maine. His column "Good Roads" described local roads, road building, and his personal roadtrips. He was one of the founders and, at the time of his death, the head of the Maine Automobile Association. Files was also one of the organizers and the first president of the Brunswick Dramatic Club as well as the president of the Village Improvement Society. From 1897 to 1905, Professor Files worked as the registrar of the College. Throughout his tenure as a Bowdoin Professor Files also made several academic trips abroad. In early 1918, Professor Files joined the ranks of the Y.M.C.A. in France as the educational director (head of the Foyer du Soldat) of the French Tenth army. Files returned to the United States in November of 1897 and intended to return to France, but his health did not permit him. He died on April 23, 1919 in a hospital in Boston.

The collection includes newspaper clippings about and by George T. Files as well as the October 1919 Bowdoin College Bulletin dedicated to Files (which contains the May 1919 Chapel memorial address by President Sills) and miscellaneous papers related to the College, which include invitations to College Presidents' inaugurations and Phi Beta Kappa and Psi Upsilon business. Among the clippings are Files's "Good Roads" column from 1909 to 1917, clippings concerning the Maine road construction debate and Files's involvement (1915-1917), and his 1913-1914 series "Motor Rambles in Europe" detailing his European roadtrips. The collection also includes clippings about the formation of the Brunswick Dramatic Club and full house 1912 theater debut as well as clippings concerining Prof. Files's war efforts and announcing his appointment in a Y.M.C.A. war post in France (1917-1918). Additionally, the collection includes numerous obituaries of Professor Files (1919).