Bookplates

The John Hammond Moore Book Fund

July 1, 1986

This fund was established in 1986 by John Hammond Moore, Class of 1950, with a gift to purchase books on local history, U.S. history, and Australian history, in that order of preference.

Born in Houlton, ME, John Hammond Moore first attended the University of Maine for a year before enlisting in the U.S. Navy. At the conclusion of World War II, he returned to his collegiate studies, enrolling at Hamilton. He was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and wrote for the student newspaper and humor magazine.

Following his graduation in 1949 (he retained affiliation with his original class year), he returned to Maine where he wrote for The Daily Commercial in Bangor. He went on to enroll in graduate school at the University of Virginia, where he earned a master’s in U.S. history (1953) and a Ph.D. (1961). He taught at the University of Virginia, Winthrop College, Georgia State College and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and worked as a freelance editor/writer/researcher in Washington, D.C. Over the course of his lifetime, he published dozens of books and articles, mainly focused on American history.

For his 50th Reunion yearbook, he penned the following about his alma mater: “[It] provided solid background, it seems, for almost anything, but especially if one [was] interested in the historical past and the written word. And I credit Hamilton with challenging my thinking process.”