The Relation of Mentality to Race William Wells Newell and the Celtic Hypothesis

Abstract

WILLIAM WELLS NEWELL enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate in Romance Philology at Harvard University in the fall of 1895.1 It was a remarkable action. At fiftyfive years of age, he had been a minister, an instructor in philosophy at Harvard, a teacher with his own private school in New York City, and for the previous twelve years, a private scholar. In this last role, he had published several books, founded the American Folklore Society, initiated and edited its journal and memoir series, and in the process became a recognized leader in the scientific study of folklore.2 By most measures of his day, he should have been settled and satisfied; yet, instead of accepting the acknowledged respect and prestige of his position, he set out to formalize his achievements through the acquisition of a degree which for all intents and purposes would add nothing to his stature. Given these facts, it is possible to see his action as merely the private play of a private scholar with a new intellectual toy. Seen in context, however, Newell's action represented a serious attempt to institutionalize a specific folklore theory in order to attack an almost universally accepted set of assumptions. Newell entered graduate school in order to study Arthurian tradition formally. For some years previously he had been involved in the controversy over the Celtic origins of the Matter of Britain. As editor of the Journal of American Folklore, Newell had taken it upon himself to review almost all of the works dealing with Arthur and the Celtic hypothesis, and from the beginning he was skeptical about claims for the Celtic origins of Arthurian materials. In