I earned a B.A. in English at The University
of Notre
Dame. My M.A. and Ph.D. came from The Ohio State University,
where I
specialized in medieval literature under Francis Lee Utley and
also
studied under the bibliographers Richard D. Altick and Matthew J.
Bruccoli. I have taught at Princeton University and, since 1975, at
Boston College. My publications include The Reminiscences of Alexander
Dyce (1972), God's Handiwork: Images of Women in Early Germanic
Literature (1983), Arator's On the Acts of the Apostles (De
Actibus Apostolorum) (1987), Old English Poetry and the Genealogy
of Events (1993), H. L. Mencken: A Descriptive
Bibliography
(1998), H. L. Mencken: A Documentary Volume (2000), and The
Hoosier House: Bobbs-Merrill and Its Predecessors, 1850-1985 (2004).
I was the John Witherspoon Bicentennial
Preceptor while at Princeton and
have been awarded Mellon Grants, an
NEH Summer Stipend, and the Lilly
Library's Helm Fellowship.