Moses Coit Tyler (1835-1900), American historian, pioneered in the development of American intellectual history.

Moses Coit Tyler was born in Griswold, Conn., on Aug. 2, 1835. His family later moved to Detroit, where Tyler grew up. After a year as a book agent, he enrolled at the University of Michigan at the age of 16, transferring to Yale University a year later. Following graduation he became an independent student for a year at Andover Theological Seminary.

In 1859 Tyler was ordained as a Congregational minister, took a pastorate at Oswego, N.Y., and married Jeannette Hull Gilbert. In 1860 he received a call to a larger congregation in Poughkeepsie. While there he wrote an essay, "Our Solace and Our Duty in This Crisis" (1861), designed to provide guidance at the beginning of the Civil War. Poor health forced him to resign his pulpit in 1862, however, and he did not preach again for 14 years.

Tyler...