Francis Paul Prucha

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Francis Paul Prucha
Born(1921-01-04)January 4, 1921
St. Louis University
Occupation(s)Priest, Professor, Historian

Francis Paul Prucha (January 4, 1921 – July 30, 2015) was an American historian, professor

Pulitzer Prize in History.[2] It is regarded as a classic among professional historians.[3]

Life

Prucha was born in

Army Air Forces, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where he received an M.A. degree in 1947. Harvard University awarded him a Ph.D. degree in history in 1950 under the direction of Frederick Merk.[4] His dissertation, a study of the role of the peacetime army in the settlement process, was published in 1953 as Broadax and Bayonet: The Role of the United States Army in the Development of the Northwest, 1815-1860.[5]

Prucha was a

S.J." in 1957.[6] From 1960 until his retirement he was on the history faculty at Marquette University. He served as visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma and at Harvard and was the Gasson Professor at Boston College.[5] When the editor of Marquette Magazine asked readers to write about their greatest teachers, Prucha was identified among a group of classroom legends for instilling a love of learning in students.[7]

In the late 1960s, while studying under a Guggenheim Fellowship, Prucha began work on a comprehensive history of US Indian policy. His research culminated with the two-volume The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history in 1985 and is regarded as a classic among professional historians.[8] The Great Father was awarded the Billington Prize by the Organization of American Historians in 1985. The recipient of six honorary degrees, Prucha was awarded his emeritus appointment in 1988.

Prucha died at the St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.[3] At 94 years of age he was the oldest member of the Wisconsin Province. He was a Jesuit for 64 years and a priest for 58 years.

Scholarship

Prucha was a member of the

Western Historical Quarterly and as the association's 22nd president in 1982–83.[2] Marquette University's Archives and Special Collection's reading room in its Raynor Library was named in his honor.[9] Prucha was also inducted into the Milwaukee Central Library's Wisconsin Writers Wall of Fame.[10] In 1987, he became a Fellow of the Society of American Historians in recognition of a lifetime of scholarship characterized by "literary distinction" and "scholarly merit".[4]

Reception

Prucha's books have been praised for their thorough scholarship, but also attacked for their alleged favorable treatment of government officials, such as President Andrew Jackson. Prucha's interpretation challenged previous accounts of Jacksonian racism, treachery and oppression. Attacks from his detractors made Prucha broaden his research interests and accumulate more evidence to support his views. He refined and expanded previous interpretations in a variety of writings.[4] Overall, Prucha's evaluation has been viewed favorably,[11] and his study, Andrew Jackson's Indian Policy: A Reassessment, has been dubbed as "the best defense of Jackson's Indian policy".[12] Biographer Jon Brudvig summarizes Prucha's interpretation of that government policy:

Prucha's survey portrayed natives and Europeans clashing from the earliest period of cultural contact. To protect the American Indians, Prucha demonstrated how public officials use their authority to guard Indians against the destructive forces of the dominant culture. Prucha calls this paternalism, "a determination to do what was best for the Indians according to white norms, which translated into protection, subsistence of the destitute, punishment of the unruly, and eventually taking Indians by the hand and leading them along the path to white civilization and Christianity."[4]

Honorary degrees

Books

  • The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians
    Ray Allen Billington Award
    )
  • The Churches and the Indian Schools, 1888-1912
    ISBN 0-8032-3657-3
  • American Indian Policy in Crisis: Christian Reformers and the Indian, 1865-1900
    ISBN 0-8061-1279-4
  • American Indian Treaties: The History of a Political Anomaly
    ISBN 978-0-520-08531-2
  • Indian Peace Medals in American History
    ISBN 978-0-8061-3218-1
  • Broadax and Bayonet: The Role of the United States Army in the Development of the Northwest, 1815-1860
    ISBN 978-0-8032-5151-9
  • Documents of United States Indian Policy: Third Edition
    ISBN 978-0-8032-3728-5
  • The Sword of the Republic: The United States Army on the Frontier 1783-1846
    ISBN 978-0-8032-3676-9

Archival collections

Prucha was instrumental in acquiring for Marquette University the records of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions. There is also a collection that relates purely to Prucha and his work. The archival collections of Francis Paul Prucha includes his correspondence, books (1950–2002), articles, book reviews (1942–2002), public talks and lectures (1956–1998), courses taught (1952–1987), awards and honors (1971–2003), professional activities, research fellowships and grants (1954–2003), personal papers (1927–1993), and research materials (1955–2003).[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Marquette University. Faculty Activities Report. Milwaukee, Wis.: Marquette University Press, 2002.
  2. ^ a b c Marten, James; Naylor, Philip (1 December 2015). "Father Francis Paul Prucha, SJ (1921–2015)". American Historical Association.
  3. ^ a b "In Memory of Fr. Francis Paul Prucha, S.J." beckerritter.com. Becker Ritter Funeral Home. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d Jon J. Brudvig, "Prucha, Francis Paul" in Kelly Boyd, ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, vol. 2. Taylor & Francis. pp. 966–8.
  5. ^
    The Western Historical Quarterly
    , 19:2 (May, 1988): 133-140.
  6. ^ "Rev. Francis Paul Prucha". Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. 26 October 2012.
  7. ^ a b McInerny, Paul M. "Historical Base for Indian Policy". Marquette Magazine, Spring 1988: 5-6.
  8. ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes - Finalists". pulitzer.org. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  9. ^ "Special Collections & University Archives". marquette.edu. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  10. ^ "Fr. Prucha named to Wade Chair". National Jesuit News, June 1990: 1.
  11. ISBN 978-0-253-36816-4
    .
  12. ISBN 978-1-4214-1329-7
    .
  13. ^ "Special Collections & University Archives". marquette.edu. Retrieved August 6, 2015.

Further reading

  • Marten, James; Naylor, Philip. "Father Francis Paul Prucha, SJ 1921-2015".
    Perspectives on History
     vol. 53, no. 9 (2015): 343–351.
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