Ferner Nuhn
American author, literary critic and artist
Ferner Nuhn (July 25, 1903 – April 15, 1989) was an American writer, literary critic, and artist born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the son of William C. and Anna R. Nuhn. He described his background as Middle Western of mixed German, Swiss and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. He lived in various sections of the country, from California to Vermont, and married noted Iowa writer Ruth Suckow in 1929. He was a literary critic, teacher, writer, and artist; he and his wife were both active in the Quakers and part of the Conscientious Objectors movement in World War II. After his wife's death, in 1960, he worked to preserve her literary legacy, founded the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, remarried Georgeanna (Georgia) Washburn Dafoe, and taught at Claremont College before retiring. He died in 1989 after the death of his second wife, and is buried beside Ruth in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Early life
Nuhn attended Lincoln School through fourth grade, Jefferson (or West) School through sixth and Lincoln again through eighth grade. He graduated from Cedar Falls High School with the class of 1920. Local Historian Dorothy Grant describes his family this way: his father was in banking and real estate while his mother was a homemaker. He had two siblings: Marjorie and Hilde.
He attended North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, graduating with a B.A. in 1924; he described discovering that he liked English literature during this period of time.
“Ferner Nuhn” enters the record as american author, literary critic and artist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ferner, Nuhn and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16012236. VIAF identifies the subject as 38402323. The Library of Congress control number is n86121035. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903, 1989, 1929 and 1960.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ferner Nuhn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.