1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Adler, Felix

ADLER, FELIX (1851–), American educationalist, was born at Alzey, Germany, on the 13th of August 1851. His father, a Jewish rabbi, emigrated to the United States in 1857, and the son graduated at Columbia College in 1870. After completing his studies at Berlin and Heidelberg, he became, in 1874, professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature at Cornell University. In 1876 he established in New York City the Society for Ethical Culture, to the development and extension of which he devoted a great deal of time and energy, and before which he delivered a regular Sunday lecture. In 1902 he became professor of political and social ethics at Columbia University. He also acted as one of the editors of the International Journal of Ethics. Under his direction the Society for Ethical Culture became an important factor in educational reform in New York City, exercising through its technical training school and kindergarten (established in January 1878) a wide influence. Dr Adler also took a prominent part in philanthropic and social reform movements, such as the establishment of a system of district nursing, the erection of model tenement houses, and tenement house reform. He published Creed and Deed (1877), The Moral Instruction of Children (1892), Life and Destiny (1903), Marriage and Divorce (1905), and The Religion of Duty (1905).