Oscar Handlin

Oscar Handlin
Born(1915-09-29)September 29, 1915
New York City, US
DiedSeptember 20, 2011(2011-09-20) (aged 95)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
Spouses
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    ​
    (m. 1937; died 1976)​
  • ​
    (m. 1977)​
Children3, including David P. Handlin
AwardsPulitzer Prize (1952)
Academic background
Education
Academic advisorsArthur M. Schlesinger Sr.
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-discipline
InstitutionsHarvard University
Doctoral students
Notable students
Main interestsHistory of immigration to the United States
Notable worksThe Uprooted (1951)

Oscar Handlin (September 29, 1915 – September 20, 2011) was an American historian. As a professor of history at Harvard University for over 50 years, he directed 80 PhD dissertations and helped promote social and ethnic history, virtually inventing the field of immigration history in the 1950s. Handlin won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Uprooted (1951).[7][8] Handlin's 1965 testimony before Congress was played an important role in passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that abolished the discriminatory immigration quota system. According to historian James Grossman, "He reoriented the whole picture of the American story from the view that America was built on the spirit of the Wild West, to the idea that we are a nation of immigrants."[9]

  1. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Feeney 2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Gunther Barth, Retired UC Berkeley Professor, American History Scholar and Mentor to Countless Students, Dies at Age 78" (Press release). Berkeley, California: University of California, Berkeley. 12 January 2004. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  3. ^ Konig, David (January 2002). "Rowland T. Berthoff (1921–2001)". Perspectives. Vol. 40, no. 1. Washington: American Historical Association. ISSN 0743-7021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Anne Firor Scott, 1921–2019: In Memoriam". Journal of Southern History. 86 (1): 117. 2020. doi:10.1353/soh.2020.0003. ISSN 2325-6893.
  5. ^ Ware, Susan (2009). "Barbara Miller Solomon". Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Brookline, Massachusetts: Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  6. ^ Shapiro, Edward (30 August 2011). "Review of My Times & Life: A Historian's Progress Through a Contentious Age, by Morton Keller". New York: Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Explore Winners and Finalists by Category". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  8. ^ "Pulitzer Prize Winners 1952". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 22 August 2006.
  9. ^ Quoted in Paul Vitello, "Oscar Handlin Dies at 95, Historian Who Chronicled U.S. Immigration" New York Times 24 Sep 2011.