WITTKE, CARL FREDERICK (13 Nov. 1892-24 May 1971), historian, was born in Columbus, Ohio to Carl William Oswald and Caroline Kropp Wittke, received his A.B. from Ohio State University (1913), and M.A. (1914) and Ph.D. (1921) from Harvard University before becoming a history instructor (1916-21), assistant professor (1921-25), and full professor and chairman of the department at OSU (1925-37). He was professor of history and dean of Oberlin College (1937-48) before joining Western Reserve University(SEE: CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) as professor of history and dean of the Graduate School in 1948, becoming department chairman in 1952, Elbert Jay Benton Distinguished Professor of History in 1959, and vice-president of the university in 1961. He retired in 1963 as dean emeritus of the Graduate School and professor and history department chairman emeritus of the university.
Wittke presented many speeches, wrote over 80 articles, edited historical reviews, and authored over 14 books, including History of Canada (1928); We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant (1939); Against the Current: The Life of Karl Heinzen (1945); and Refugees of Revolution: The German Forty-eighters in America (1952). He edited the 6-volume History of the State of Ohio, and in 1966 wrote The First Fifty Years: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916-1966. He received many honorary degrees and civic awards. In 1916, Wittke married Lillian Bowshans; they had 1 son, Carl Francis. After Lillian's death in 1918, Wittke married Lillian Nippert in 1921.
Cramer, Clarence H. Carl Frederick Wittke (1971).