Teacher, engineer, historian, educational theorist, and student of psychology and sociology, Harold Rugg (1886-1960) was one of the most versatile educators associated with the progressive education movement.

Harold Ordway Rugg, son of Edward and Merion Abbie (Davidson) Rugg, was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1886. His father was a carpenter. Following his graduation from high school in Fitchburg, Rugg worked for two years in a textile mill before he enrolled in Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth he earned his B.S. degree in 1908 and a graduate degree in civil engineering in 1909.

Upon leaving Dartmouth, Rugg worked briefly for the Missouri Pacific Railroad and then taught civil engineering for about a year at James Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. In 1911 he entered the University of Illinois, where he taught engineering and did graduate work in education and sociology under the direction of William C. Bagley. On September 4, 1912, Rugg married Bertha...