"Instead of dissecting impersonal forces … the historian should narrate the past in terms of living men and women seen as individuals, groups, or communities; and he should give due emphasis to personal motivation and initiative."
Allan Nevins (1890-1971) Historian Faculty 1928-58 LittD 1960 (hon.)
Wedding the craft of journalism to rigorous scholarship, Nevins wrote more than fifty books and scores of articles during his career, which spanned nearly three-quarters of the twentieth century. His output included the eight-volume history of the Civil War, Ordeal of the Union, written over a period of more than twenty years, and two Pultizer Prize-winning biographies, Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage (1933) and Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration (1937).
After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in English at the University of Illinois, Nevins moved to New York in 1913, writing for the New York Evening Post and New York World. His historical work led to an appointment to Columbia's his
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Allan Nevins
American historian and journalist (1890–1971)
Joseph Allan Nevins[1] (May 20, 1890 – March 5, 1971) was an American historian and journalist, known for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller, as well as his public service. He was a leading exponent of business history and oral history.
Biography
Nevins was born in Camp Point, Illinois, the son of Emma (née Stahl) and Joseph Allan Nevins, whom he later described as a stern Presbyterian farmer.[2][3][4][5] His father was of Scottish heritage and his mother German.[2] After education in local public schools, Nevins attended the University of Illinois, where he earned an M.A. in English in 1913.
He married Mary Fleming (Richardson) in 1916, and the couple had two daughters, Anne Elizabeth and Meredith.
Career
Nevins wrote his first book, The Life of Robert Rogers (1914) (about a Colonial American frontiersman and
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Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
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Allan Nevins papers at Huntington Library; 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino CA 91108.
Allan Nevins oral history collection at Butler Library; Columbia University, Box 20, New York, NY 10027.
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