| 1884–86 | | Franklin Carter |
| 1887–91 | | James Russell Lowell |
| 1892–93 | | Francis A. March |
| 1894 | | A. Marshall Elliott (Sec. 1884–92) |
| 1895 | | James Morgan Hart |
| 1896 | | Calvin Thomas |
| 1897 | | Albert S. Cook |
| 1898 | | Alcée Fortier |
| 1899 | | H. C. G. von Jagemann |
| 1900 | | Thomas R. Price |
| 1901 | | Edward S. Sheldon |
| 1902 | | James W. Bright (Sec. 1893–1901) |
| 1903 | | George Hempl |
| 1904 | | George Lyman Kittredge |
| 1905 | | Francis B. Gummere |
| 1906 | | Henry Alfred Todd |
| 1907 | | Fred Newton Scott |
| 1908 | | Frederick M. Warren |
| 1909 | | Marion Dexter Learned |
| 1910 | | Brander Matthews |
| 1911 | | Lewis F. Mott |
| 1912 | | C. H. Grandgent (Sec. 1902–11) |
| 1913 | | Alexander R. Hohlfeld |
| 1914 | | Felix E. Schelling |
| 1915 | | Jefferson B. Fletcher |
| 1916 | | James Douglas Bruce |
| 1917 | | Kuno Francke |
| 1918–19 | | Edward C. Armstrong |
| 1920 | | John Matthews Manly |
| 1921 | | William Guild Howard (Sec. 1912–19) |
| 1922 | | Raymond Weeks |
| 1923 | | Oliver F. Emerson |
| 1924 | | William Allan Neilson |
| 1925 | | Hermann Collitz |
| 1926 | | T. Atkinson Jenkins |
| 1927 | | Ashley H. Thorndike |
| 1928 | | Hugo K. Schilling |
| 1929 | | William A. Nitze |
| 1930 | | Frederick Tupper |
| 1931 | | George Oliver Curme |
| 1932 | | C. Carroll Marden; Milton A. Buchanan |
| 1933 | | John Livingston Lowes |
| 1934 | | James Taft Hatfield |
| 1935 | | Colbert Searles |
| 1936 | | Carleton Brown (Sec. 1920–34) |
| 1937 | | Eduard Prokosch |
| 1938 | | J. S. P. Tatlock |
| 1939 | | H. Carrington Lancaster |
| 1940 | | Karl Young |
| 1941 | | John A. Walz |
| 1942 | | Frederick Morgan Padelford |
| 1942–43 | | Rudolph Schevill |
| 1944 | | Robert Herndon Fife |
| 1945 | | Fred N. Robinson |
| 1946 | | Ernest Hatch Wilkins |
| 1947 | | T. Moody Campbell |
| 1948 | | Percy W. Long (Sec. 1935–47) |
| 1949 | | George Sherburn |
| 1950 | | S. G. Morley |
| 1951 | | Archer Taylor |
| 1952 | | Albert C. Baugh |
| 1953 | | Hayward Keniston |
| 1954 | | LeRoy E. Kimball |
| 1955 | | Louise Pound |
| 1956 | | Gilbert Chinard |
| 1957 | | Taylor Starck |
| 1958 | | James Holly Hanford |
| 1959 | | William Riley Parker (Sec. 1947–56) |
| 1960 | | Henri M. Peyre |
| 1961 | | Henry W. Nordmeyer |
| 1962 | | Kemp Malone |
| 1963 | | Marjorie Nicolson |
| 1964 | | Morris Bishop |
| 1965 | | Howard M. Jones |
| 1966 | | Hermann J. Weigand |
| 1967 | | George Winchester Stone, Jr. (Sec. 1956–63) |
| 1968 | | Otis H. Green |
| 1969 | | Henry Nash Smith |
| 1970 | | Maynard Mack |
| 1971 | | Louis Kampf |
| 1972 | | Stuart Atkins |
| 1973 | | Florence Howe |
| 1974 | | John H. Fisher (Sec. 1963–71) |
| 1975 | | Germaine Brée |
| 1976 | | Northrop Frye |
| 1977 | | Edith Kern |
| 1978 | | Walter J. Ong |
| 1979 | | Jean A. Perkins |
| 1980 | | Helen H. Vendler |
| 1981 | | Peter Demetz |
| 1982 | | Wayne C. Booth |
| 1983 | | Mary Ann Caws |
| 1984 | | Carolyn G. Heilbrun |
| 1985 | | Theodore J. Ziolkowski |
| 1986 | | J. Hillis Miller |
| 1987 | | Winfred P. Lehmann |
| 1988 | | Barbara Herrnstein Smith |
| 1989 | | Victor Brombert |
| 1990 | | Catharine R. Stimpson |
| 1991 | | Mario J. Valdés |
| 1992 | | Houston A. Baker, Jr. |
| 1993 | | Elaine Marks |
| 1994 | | Patricia Meyer Spacks |
| 1995 | | Sander L. Gilman |
| 1996 | | Sandra M. Gilbert |
| 1997 | | Herbert Lindenberger |
| 1998 | | Elaine Showalter |
| 1999 | | Edward W. Said |
| 2000 | | Linda Hutcheon |
| 2001 | | Sylvia Molloy |
| 2002 | | Stephen Greenblatt |
| 2003 | | Mary Louise Pratt |
| 2004 | | Robert Scholes |
| 2005 | | Domna C. Stanton |
| 2006 | | Marjorie Perloff |
| 2007 | | Michael Holquist |
| 2008 | | Gerald Graff |
| 2009 | | Catherine Porter |
| 2010–11 | | Sidonie Smith |
| 2011–12 | | Russell A. Berman |
| 2012–13 | | Michael Bérubé |
| 2013–14 | | Marianne Hirsch |
