A native of Ohio where he attended Ohio State University, Joseph Blickensderfer served in the Army during World War I and graduated from Hobart College in 1918. He received his masters and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. He first came to the University of Oklahoma as an instructor in English in 1920, but moved to Washington University in Missouri only a year later where he taught until 1923 when he returned as an assistant in the English Department of Harvard University until 1925. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh until 1929 when he returned to the University of Oklahoma as a professor of English, where he also organized and became director of the School of Letters (1937-1942), and served as Dean of the University College (1942-1944). He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1944 after being appointed editor of the U.S. Book Review. Blickensderfer is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.