--- title: "William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859) - IVU - International Vegetarian Union" description: "William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859): William Alcott was best known as the author of The Vegetable Diet As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages . Co-founded the American Physiological Society in 1837, with Sylvester Graham." url: "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2831-history-usa19-william-alcott.html" date: "2026-11-06T04:51:21+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- # William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859) ![william alcott](https://ivu.org/images/legacy/history/history/usa19/william-alcott.jpg) William Alcott was best known as the author of *The Vegetable Diet As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages*. Co-founded the American Physiological Society in 1837, with Sylvester Graham. First President of the American Vegetarian Society, 1850. Dr. William Alcott, still President of AVS, died on March 29, 1859. - [**Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages** ](http://books.google.com/books?id=2YIEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)*(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott, 1838 - [Letters](https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/3126-congress-1850-letter.html), with William Metcalfe, proposing the formation of the American Vegetarian Society in 1850 - [Vegetarianism in the United States](https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/3123-congress-1850-history.html) - by William Alcott, 1850 - [The American Vegetarian Society](https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/3122-congress-1850-convention.html) - very detailed report of the founding convention, leading to William Alcott being elected as the first President. - [Vegetarian festival in New York, 1853](https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2825-history-usa19-letter.html) - mentions William Alcott as a speaker *other books by Alcott:* - contributed to the *American Annals of Education* from 1926 until at least 1839 - [Essay on the construction of school-houses: to which was awarded the prize ...](http://books.google.com/books?id=14w7lyTOwrAC&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=3#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1832 - [The Young Man's Guide](http://books.google.com/books?id=ey9WAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=6#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Alexander Alcott 1834 - The Moral Reformer and Teacher on the Human Constitution Vol.1 *(PDF 12mb)* by William Andrus Alcott, Boston, 1835 - [The life of Peter the apostle](http://books.google.com/books?id=8uwPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=4#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1836 - The Moral Reformer and Teacher on the Human Constitution Vol.2 *(PDF 19mb)* by William Andrus Alcott, Boston, 1836 - [The house I live in: or The human body](http://books.google.com/books?id=lxYIAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=10#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott - [The young missionary: exemplified in the life of Timothy](http://books.google.com/books?id=ZRkWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott, Massachusetts Sabbath school society. Committee of publication 1837 - [The young wife, or Duties of woman in the marriage relation](http://books.google.com/books?id=AesTAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=11#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1837 - [Ways of living on small means](http://books.google.com/books?id=IFZHAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=12#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1837 - The Young Mother: Or, Management of Children in Regard to Health *(PDF 7mb)*, by William Andrus Alcott, Boston, 1836 - this edition 1838 - [The mother in her family: or sayings and doings at Rose Hill cottage](http://books.google.com/books?id=JQs-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1838 - The Young House-keeper, Or, Thoughts on Food and Cookery: Or, Thoughts on Food and Cookery *(PDF 8mb)*, by William Andrus Alcott, Boston, 1838 - [Confessions of a school master](http://books.google.com/books?id=f_su_BcvNPMC&pg=PR2&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1839 - [Tea and coffee](http://books.google.com/books?id=v38EAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=8#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1839 - [The house I live in; or The human body: For the use of families and schools](http://books.google.com/books?id=dNRHAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=9#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1839 - [The young husband: or, Duties of man in the marriage relation](http://books.google.com/books?id=5AI-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=7#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1839 - [Thoughts on bathing](http://books.google.com/books?id=Mt52fPafRVYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:Alcott&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&cd=13#v=onepage&q&f=false) *(link to Google Books)* by William Andrus Alcott 1839 - Lectures on Life and Health, Or, The Laws and Means of Physical Culture *(PDF 16mb)* by William A. Alcott, Boston, 1853 - The Laws of Health *(PDF 26mb)*, by William Andrus Alcott, Boston, 1859 A note on this archive. The history section of this website is drawn from a body of legacy content originally compiled by John Davis, former manager of the International Vegetarian Union. It represents his curation of historical material, and in places includes passages written by him directly. Over the years, the IVU website has migrated between several different hosting servers. In the course of these migrations, a number of PDF files were unfortunately lost, and **some links to PDF documents may no longer function**. Where this is the case, we have chosen to leave the original link text in place, as it may itself carry information of historical value. - Hits: 1531 ## Schema ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://ivu.org/hv-societies-ivu-history-societies-usa.html?view=article&id=2831:history-usa19-william-alcott&catid=78","url":"https://ivu.org/hv-societies-ivu-history-societies-usa.html?view=article&id=2831:history-usa19-william-alcott&catid=78","name":"William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859)","inLanguage":"en","isPartOf":[{"@id":"https://ivu.org/history-of-ivu.html#archive"},{"@id":"https://ivu.org/hv-societies-ivu-history-societies-usa.html"}],"publisher":{"@id":"https://ivu.org/#organization"},"description":"William Alcott was best known as the author of The Vegetable Diet As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages."}]} ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://ivu.org" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "IVU", "item": "https://ivu.org/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Resources", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Interviews", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "History of the Vegetarian Societies", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "name": "history", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "name": "usa19", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "name": "William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859)", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2831-history-usa19-william-alcott.html" } ] } ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2831-history-usa19-william-alcott.html" }, "headline": "William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859)", "description": "William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859): William Alcott was best known as the author of The Vegetable Diet As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages . 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