Awards

Honorary Degree - 1928

LL.D.

Doctor of Laws

Bloomington, Indiana

Presenter: William Lowe Bryan

About George Ade

Hoosier-born humorist, author, syndicated newspaper columnist, librettist, playwright and philanthropist, George Ade found fame, fortune, and national notoriety in the early days of the 20th century. Ade grew up in Kentland, Indiana. His books, short stories, stage plays, and scripts for motion pictures placed him in the high company with Booth Tarkington, Meredith Nicholson, and James Whitcomb Riley, authors who created Indiana’s Golden Age of Literature. Ade’s use of everyday language and street slang made his writings popular with the public. Ade is probably best remembered for his fables in slang, which began as columns in 1897 and then were published as books beginning with Fables in Slang in 1899 and ending with Hand-Made Fables in 1920. Ade wrote several musical comedies, notably the comic operetta, The Sultan of Sulu, and fourteen equally popular, lightweight plays for Broadway; The Sho-Gun, The Country Chairman and The College Widow.

Ade was a very close friend of James Whitcomb Riley. He and Riley were friends, so much so that Riley’s publisher, William Conrad Bobbs, turned to Ade when Riley was in the last years of his life, to work with the poet to dictate his work to him, which produced five final poems. Ade was one of the active pallbearers at Riley’s funeral in July 1916. He went on to become one of the 21 Incorporators for the James Whitcomb Riley Memorial Association in 1921 (today the Riley Children’s Foundation) that raised the funds to build the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children that opened in 1924. When Riley Hospital was dedicated in Indianapolis on October 7, 1924, Ade was one of the principal speakers that day.

Ade co-founded the Indiana Society of Chicago in 1905. They continue today to celebrate and support Indiana’s contributions and history. He supported his alma mater, Purdue University throughout his life, serving on the board of trustees and giving generously; he and David E. Ross were the principal benefactors for Purdue’s Ross-Ade stadium, dedicated in 1924. Ade was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1910. Other honors came from Purdue University, L.H.D., 1926; and in 1928, Indiana University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws.