Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 1995

Frank Aydelotte: AT&T's First Writing Consultant, 1917–1918

Michael G. Moran

Abstract

In 1917 Frank Aydelotte, an English professor at MIT, became AT&T's first outside writing consultant. Because many of its older, better-educated male employees had been mobilized to fight World War I, the company found itself with numerous young, poorly-educated employees. Drawing on the humanistic approach to writing instruction that he had developed at MIT in his book English and Engineering, Aydelotte created a year-long program at AT&T that taught employees to think and write about issues important to their work. The course is important for two reasons: first, it offers insight into the kinds of early consulting work that English professors did, and, second, it shows that Aydelotte's humanistic approach to technical communication worked as well in business as it did in academic settings.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1995-07-01
DOI
10.2190/k5ug-n9p7-3ktf-qlu5
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy technical communication multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Moran et al. (2012)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Todd (2003)
    Teaching the History of Technical Communication: A Lesson with Franklin and Hoover
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Moran (1993)
    The road not taken: Frank Aydelotte and the thought approach to engineering writing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Moran (1990)
    John White: Renaissance England's First Important Ethnographic Illustrator
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Moran (1984)
    Joseph Priestley, William Duncan and Analytic Arrangement in 18th-Century Scien…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Also cites 1 work outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1177/108056998404700211
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 4 View in citation network →

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