Frederick Jackson Turner was born in Portage, Wisconsin, in 1861, and this close proximity to frontier life clearly influenced his work. He received his B.A and M.A. from the University of Wisconsin and completed his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University in 1889. He returned that year to teach at the University of Wisconsin and later moved to Harvard University in 1910. He played a leading role in the American Historical Association, serving as its president in 1910 and on the editorial board of the Association's American Historical Review from 1910 to 1915.