James Richard Jewett Professorship of Arabic established
Orientalism and the study of Islam 1936
James Richard Jewett Professorship of Arabic Established
The James Richard Jewett Professorship of Arabic was established through a gift from Professor Jewett's wife, Margaret Weyerhaeuser Jewett, and was the first chair of Arabic established at an American university. The chair has since been held by William Thomson, Sir Hamilton Gibb, Muhsin Mahdi, Wolfhart Heinrichs, and Khaled El-Rouayheb. Professor Jewett’s gift to the Harvard College Library also established a fund for the purchase of Arabic books and books relating to “Moslem religion and history.”