Louis B. Wright served as executive secretary of the American Historical Association from 1964–65. He was the second director of the Folger Shakespeare Library from 1948–68. He earned his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1926 with a dissertation in English literature. Wright passed away February 26, 1984.
In Memoriam
From Perspectives, April 1984
Louis B. Wright, executive secretary of the American Historical Association in 1964–65 and director of the Folger Shakespeare Library from 1948 to 1968, died on February 26, 1984, of cardiovascular disease in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He was eighty-four years old.
Dr. Wright, a South Carolinian, took leave from the University of North Carolina, where he taught English, to become a visiting scholar at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California in 1931. He stayed on for seventeen years as an administrator and scholar of the English Renaissance and American Colonial periods. In 1947, the trustees of Amherst College appointed him director of the Folger Library.
In his twenty years as director, Dr. Wright sought to broaden the appeal of Shakespeare and bridge the gap between the scholar and the layman. After his retirement, Dr. Wright joined the National Geographical Society as a historical consultant.
He is survived by his wife, Frances Marion Black; a son, Louis Christopher; a brother, Thomas; and a sister, Margaret.
See Folgerpedia for more details.