Federico de Onís
(Salamanca, 1885 - San Juan de Puerto Rico, 1966)

Federico de Onís, endorsed by Unamuno, moved to Madrid for his graduate studies under Ramón Menéndez Pidal’s supervision in 1905. Pidal was the director of the Center for Historical Studies (CEH), founded in 1910, and Onís worked closely with him and his students at the Center. He obtained a grant from the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios(JAE) to research dialect varieties in the ancient kingdom of Leon, and to collaborate in CEH’s Sección Orígenes de la Lengua Española.

He obtained his Ph.D. in 1909, became professor of Spanish Literature at the University of Oviedo, and then won the chair at the University of Salamanca in 1915. In 1916, sponsored by the CEH, he became a professor of Spanish Literature at Columbia University in New York, after a request made by the Department of Romance Languages to the director of CEH for a professor.  In 1921, he asked for permanent leave of absence in Salamanca.

Onís worked for the expansion of Spanish culture in the United States, and promoted the knowledge of contemporary literature and writers. In1920, he was appointed delegate of the JAE; he was also elected member of the Cultural Relations Board in the United States, and of the Instituto de las Españas. In 1926, supported by the rector of the University of Puerto Rico, he created the Department of Hispanic Studies, with the collaboration of Columbia University and the CEH. After the Civil War, Onís helped Spanish exiles, such as Américo Castro, Salinas, Solalinde, and Tomás Navarro to find work in the United States.