Jay Broadus Hubbell (May 8, 1885 – February 13, 1979) was an American academic who specialized in the literature of the Southern United States.
Born in Virginia, he studied at Richmond College and Harvard University before beginning his teaching career.
[3] Hubbell was an early member of the American Literature section of the Modern Language Association (MLA), serving as its chairman from 1924 until 1927.
[1]: 93 In 1964, the MLA's American Literature section began awarding the Jay B. Hubbell Medallion for lifetime achievement.
[5] Hubbell continued to publish books after his retirement in 1961, releasing the essay collection South and Southwest in 1965 and Who Are the Major American Writers?
[1]: 93 Hubbell's published works also include a memoir of his wife and a history of the Yates Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina.
[1]: 93–4 While teaching at SMU in the 1910s, Hubbell met Lucinda Smith: she had been studying his course on English literature.
[1]: 93 In his obituary of Hubbell, Rayburn S. Moore described him as "a pioneer in the scholarly study of American literature".