Archives West Finding Aid

Murray Wright Bundy was born July 29, 1891 to Lena M. Mallery Bundy and Charles H. Bundy in Binghamton, New York. He received his university education at Cornell, completing his undergraduate work in English and History in 1912. That same year he won the Guildford Prize for an essay entitled "The Sophists." In 1914, one year after obtaining his M.A., Bundy received the Cornell Fellowship in English. Following his acceptance of a position at the University of Illinois in 1919, Bundy, his wife, Mary Rappleye Bundy and their young daughter, Lena, moved to Urbana, so that Bundy could begin his new position while finishing his degree. In 1920, at the age of twenty-nine, Murray Wright Bundy earned his Ph.D. from Cornell. He wrote his dissertation on the Theories of Imagination in Classical and Mediaeval Thought.

Bundy taught at three institutions of higher education during his career beginning with the post in the English department at Cornell (1914-1919. He was an instructor and then an Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois, Urbana (1919-1928. In 1928, he was recommended for the Headship of the Department of English at Washington State College, a position he accepted and held until 1956 when he was retired as Professor Emeritus. Throughout his career, Bundy built a reputation as a scholar and writer. He was well known in his field of literary criticism as an expert on Shakespeare and Milton and as a specialist in the area of epic poetry. Bundy was also a highly regarded instructor and mentor, liked by his students for his thorough and interesting treatment of English Literature. Following his retirement, he continued his involvement with professional groups and fraternities and remained active in the Community Congregational Church. The WSU Department of English has named the Bundy Reading Room in Avery Hall in his honor. Bundy died at Moscow, Idaho, in Feb. 1989.