Discipline: Literature

Ralph Hill

Discipline: Literature
Region: Burlington, VT
MacDowell Fellowships: 1958, 1959
Ralph Nading Hill (1917-1987) was best known outside of Vermont for the many books he wrote or edited. These include The Winooski (1949), a history of the state from the time of the Algonquin Indians, a book that was part of the Rivers of America series; Contrary Country: A Chronicle of Vermont (1950); and Sidewheeler Saga (1953), based on his experiences operating the sidewheel steamboat, Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain for three years. That book led to Mr. Hill's writing Robert Fulton and the Steamboat (1954). The Doctors Who Conquered Yellow Fever (1958), described the efforts of Walter Reed, William Crawford Gorgas, and Carlos Juan Finlay. Yankee Kingdom (1960), the second volume in Harper's Regions of America Series, was a study of Vermont and New Hampshire. Hill graduated in 1939 from Dartmouth College, which 25 years later awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. He edited The College on the Hill: A Dartmouth Chronicle, and co-edited two books on Vermont life.