In the late 19th and early 20th century, he was secretary of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and from 1939 on he was doctor honoris causa of the Sofia University, as well as an active member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. From 1907 to 1910 he was also the head secretary of the Bulgarian Exarchate. Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan was also among the founders of the tourist movement in Bulgaria, a long-standing chairman of the Bulgarian Tourist Association and editor of the Bulgarian Tourist magazine. In addition, he was also Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Bulgaria.
Works
Among his most important scientific contributions ranks his work on Bulgarian grammar, the peculiarities of Bulgarian phonology, his struggle against loanwords (linguistic purism), the enrichment of the language using dialectal words. He also published works in the field of literary history. Some of his publications (including posthumous) include:
Struggle for modern orthography (1921-1923), Sofia, 1924
New Bulgarian grammar for everyone, Sofia, 1958
Selected works, Sofia, 1987
A book about myself, Sofia, 1988
Balan's scientific legacy amounts to 886 titles, including books, studies, articles and notes, of which 310 devoted to the Bulgarian language, as well as many successful neologisms. Despite his numerous contributions, Balan lived in relative poverty, with his French wife often suffering from tuberculosis. Balan survived to almost centenarian age, he died in Sofia on 12 February 1959.
Грашева, Лиляна; et al. (2003). "Теодоров-Балан, Александър Стоянов". Кирило-Методиевска енциклопедия (in Bulgarian). София: изд. на БАН, Институт за литература; акад. издателство "Марин Дринов", т. IV (допълнения). pp. 44–47. ISBN954-430-949-7. (АИ)(Т. IV); (ИЛ при БАН).
Веселинов, Д., А. Ангелова, Ст. Пинтев. Александър Теодоров-Балан. Книжевни залиси. Книгопис (лична библиография). Хроноложки показалец на статии, бележки, вести, оценки и книги. София, Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2011, 228 с. ISBN 978-954-07-3005-9