Henry Meade Bland - Mission Hills, CA - Dead Poets' Society Memorials on Waymarking.com

The Museum at Mission San Fernando displays this memorial to four Poet Laureates of California including Henry Meade Bland which it depicts and informs us:

"Henry Meade Bland, born April 21, 1863,
Fairfield, Solano County, California; teacher
of English at State College, San Jose for 32 years;
one of principal works, A SONG OF THE ULTIMATE
WEST, 1926, Recognized and given title, THE
LAUREL CROWNED POET OF CALIFORNIA,
March 29, 1929, which title he held until his
death, April 29, 1931.
California Statutes (1929) Chapter 23"

This website (visit link) adds:

"Dr. Henry Meade Bland came to the State Normal School at San Jose in 1899 to teach in the English Department. When he arrived, he was the only teacher with a Ph.D. on the faculty other than the university president. He did a lot to help develop a love of reading and creative writing in the students of the Normal School by assisting with student publications and formation of literary societies. In 1899, he worked with students to form the Browning Literary Club to allow for further study of the works of Robert Browning and add to the social life of the school. The club met regularly and had a celebration every May 7, the birthday of Mr. Browning. In the notes about this club in the Normal Pennant of June 1900, a student notes that Dr. Bland "made the work so interesting that the membership increased to over sixty students." The description of this club in the 1931 La Torre yearbook refers to Dr. Bland as the "father of Browning."

Dr. Bland also helped students form the Short Story Club soon after he arrived. The Club later became a branch of the California organization known as the Pacific Short Story Club. A student article in the Normal Pennant of June 1908 referred to Dr. Bland as having "all the qualities of a born leader" who "has so shaped [literary instruction] and led on to a wider literary field the hundreds of those literary bent who have come within the range of his personal inspiration." The Short Story Club provided opportunities for students not only to write, but to also meet many writers of "literary prominence" which per The Pennant of June 1909 included poets Charles Keeler and Herbert Bashford. The Club members also visited poet Joaquin Miller at his home with 75 students taking the train to Fruitvale for the visit.

In 1922, Dr. Bland had an exchange professorship with Mr. Outcalt of the Teachers' College at San Diego; he returned in the fall of that year. An article in the State College Times (October 6, 1922, pg. 4) stated: "Dr. Bland is more than pleased to return to San Jose, because it has been the scene of his life's work. We are glad to welcome such a worthy faculty member back to our fold. Some of the most famous California men of letters are friends of Dr. Bland. Edwin Markham and Joaquin Miller were often his visitors during the old Normal days. Dr. Bland is author of a very excellent birthday book.""

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/31/2015 Metro2 visited it