Frederick Merk | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 15, 1887 |
| Died | September 24, 1977 |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | American History |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Doctoral advisor | Frederick Jackson Turner |
| Doctoral students | John Morton Blum, Paul Wallace Gates, Rodman W. Paul, Ralph Hidy, Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., Samuel Hays, Bradford Perkins, Elting E. Morison |
Frederick Merk (1887–1977) was an American historian. He spent his early career working for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, before pursuing his PhD at Harvard University. At the recommendation of his mentor Frederick Jackson Turner, he was offered a position as professor at Harvard and became one of that institutions most renowned professors, teaching from 1924 to 1957. Although the quantity of his published works was not large, he was a thoroughgoing researcher who applied himself diligently to teaching, and was influential through a number of important doctoral students that he advised.
Biography edit
Frederick Merk was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1887.[1] After attending public schools in Milwaukee, he attended the University of Wisconsin where he met his future mentor Frederick Jackson Turner, although he did not study under him.[2] He graduated 1911 and then worked for five years at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. While at the Society, he worked with Reuben Gold Thwaites on a compilation of speeches by Wisconsin Governors during the Civil War. He also researched and wrote Economic History of Wisconsin During the Civil War Decade which was accepted as his dissertation at Harvard.
In 1916 he went to Harvard University to study under the direction of Turner,[3] aided by an Edward Austin Fellowship.[4][5] He earned is PhD in 1920. His teaching duties began in 1921 when Turner asked him to take on the second semester of History 17, popularly known as the "Wagon Wheels" course. Upon Turner's retirement in 1924, Merk took up most of the rest of Turner's duties with his support. He taught at Harvard until 1957, and oversaw several dozen graduate students.[1]
Merk published little while teaching, although he was always actively researching. His research during that period was instead focused on providing accurate details to his students. However, after retiring in 1957 he published six books, co-authored another, and revised Economic History of Wisconsin During the Civil War Decade. All of these works were based on the research notes he accumulated while teaching.[6]
Scholarly Impact edit
John Morton Blum, one of Merk's graduate students after World War II, recalled of his mentor that Merk emphasized integrity, "an integrity of mind and process, of the way in which to understand and to write history, an integrity by his standards so severe that perhaps no one of his students could ever achieve it, but a quality he made so important that all of them would try."[7]
References edit
- ^ a b Faragher 1995, p. xi.
- ^ Thomas 1977.
- ^ John Morton Blum, "A Celebration of Frederick Merk (1887-1977)", The Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer 1978: 446-453.
- ^ Paul 1978.
- ^ Crimson 1900.
- ^ Smith 1979, p. 143.
- ^ Blum, A Celebration of Frederick Merk, 448.
- Attributions
- Faragher, John Mack (1995). "Forward". In Merk, Frederick; Merk, Lois Bannister (eds.). Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History: A Reinterpretation (1st Harvard University Press paperback ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. ix-xiii. ISBN 0-674-54805-1. OCLC 33866051. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
- Thomas, Robert McG. Jr (September 27, 1977). "Frederick Merk, 90; A Harvard Historian; Taught 'Wagon Wheels' Course on Westward Expansion of U.S. Scholar in Frontier History". New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
- Smith, David C. (winter, 1979-1980). "Frederick Merk and the Frontier Experience: A Review Essay". Wisconsin Historical Society. 63 (2). Madison, WI: 141–145. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Paul, Rodman W. (Apr., 1978). "Frederick Merk, Teacher and Scholar: A Tribute". The Western Historical Quarterly. 9 (2). Utah State University: 141–148. doi:10.1093/whq/9.2.141. JSTOR 966823. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Austin Scholarship for Teachers". Harvard Crimson. January 9, 1900. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
Bibliography edit
- Thwaites, Reuben Gold; Tilton, Asa; Merk, Frederick, eds. (1912). Civil War Messages and Proclamations of Wisconsin War Governors. Madison: Wisconsin History Commission. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
- Merk, Frederick (1916). Economic History of Wisconsin During the Civil War Decade. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
- Turner, Frederick Jackson; Merk, Frederick (1922). List of References On the History of the West. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
- Merk, Frederick (1950). Albert Gallatin and the Oregon Problem; A Study in Anglo-American Diplomacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 273263. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
- Merk, Frederick; Merk, Lois Bannister (1972). Slavery and the Annexation of Texas. New York: Knopf. OCLC 633971086. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
- Merk, Frederick; Merk, Lois Bannister (1995) [First published 1963]. Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History: A Reinterpretation (1st Harvard University Press paperback ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. OCLC 33866051. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
- Merk, Frederick (1985). History of the Westward Movement. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. OCLC 470801839. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
Category:1887 births
Category:1977 deaths
Category:American historians
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:Historians of American foreign relations
Category:Historians of the United States