Richard Bushman
Encyclopedia
Richard Lyman Bushman is an American historian
and Gouverneur Morris
Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University
. He is currently the Howard W. Hunter
Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University
. He also serves as one of three general editors of the Joseph Smith Papers
.
. Bushman received his AB
, AM
, and his PhD
in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University
, where he studied with distinguished early American historian Bernard Bailyn
. Bushman taught at Harvard, Brigham Young University
, Boston University
, and the University of Delaware
before joining the history faculty at Columbia. During the 2007-08 academic year, Bushman served as Howard W. Hunter
Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University
and held a Huntington Library fellowship. Bushman married fellow historian Claudia Lauper Bushman
on August 19, 1955; and they are the parents of four sons (Richard, Karl, Serge, and Ben) and two daughters (Clarissa and Margaret).
Bushman is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He interrupted his undergraduate studies at Harvard to serve as a missionary
in New England
and Atlantic Canada
, and he has held various positions within the LDS Church, including Seminary teacher, bishop
, stake president, and Stake Patriarch
.
, an award given by the trustees of Columbia University
for the year's best book on American history. Bushman has also received the Phi Alpha Theta
prize, and Evans Biography Awards, administered by the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies at Utah State University
. In 2006, Bushman received the Mormon History Association
's annual 2006 Best Book award for his biography Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
. Bushman has held Guggenheim, Huntington, National Humanities Center, and National Endowment for Humanities fellowships; and he served as president of the Mormon History Association
(1985–1986).
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris , was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the...
Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He is currently the Howard W. Hunter
Howard W. Hunter
Howard William Hunter was the fourteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1994 to 1995. His nine month presidential tenure is the shortest in the history of the Church...
Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
. He also serves as one of three general editors of the Joseph Smith Papers
The Joseph Smith Papers
The Joseph Smith Papers is a project researching, collecting, and publishing all manuscripts and documents created by, or under the direction of, Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. The documents will be published with transcriptions and annotations online and in...
.
Biography
Richard Bushman was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of a department store executive; and he was reared in Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. Bushman received his AB
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, AM
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
, and his PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he studied with distinguished early American historian Bernard Bailyn
Bernard Bailyn
Bernard Bailyn is an American historian, author, and professor specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He has been a professor at Harvard University since 1953. Bailyn has won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice . In 1998 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected...
. Bushman taught at Harvard, Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, and the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
before joining the history faculty at Columbia. During the 2007-08 academic year, Bushman served as Howard W. Hunter
Howard W. Hunter
Howard William Hunter was the fourteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1994 to 1995. His nine month presidential tenure is the shortest in the history of the Church...
Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
and held a Huntington Library fellowship. Bushman married fellow historian Claudia Lauper Bushman
Claudia Lauper Bushman
Claudia Marian Lauper Bushman is an American historian with specialty in the history of the Latter-day Saints.-Background:A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint herself, she is the wife of fellow historian Richard Lyman Bushman. The Bushmans are the parents of six children...
on August 19, 1955; and they are the parents of four sons (Richard, Karl, Serge, and Ben) and two daughters (Clarissa and Margaret).
Bushman is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He interrupted his undergraduate studies at Harvard to serve as a missionary
Mormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
, and he has held various positions within the LDS Church, including Seminary teacher, bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
, stake president, and Stake Patriarch
Patriarch (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, Patriarch is an office of the Priesthood whose main duty is to give Patriarchal blessings to church members. It is considered to be either an office of the Patriarchal Priesthood or the Melchizedek priesthood...
.
Honors
Bushman's scholarship includes studies of early American social, cultural, and political history, American religious history, and the history of the LDS Church, and his books have won numerous awards. In 1968, Bushman's From Puritan to Yankee: Character and Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765 won the prestigious Bancroft PrizeBancroft Prize
The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948 by a bequest from Frederic Bancroft...
, an award given by the trustees of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
for the year's best book on American history. Bushman has also received the Phi Alpha Theta
Phi Alpha Theta
Phi Alpha Theta is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history.The society is a charter member of the Association of College Honor Societies and has over 350,000 members, with about 9,500 new members joining each year through 860 local chapters.-...
prize, and Evans Biography Awards, administered by the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies at Utah State University
Utah State University
Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
. In 2006, Bushman received the Mormon History Association
Mormon History Association
The Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...
's annual 2006 Best Book award for his biography Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling: A Cultural Biography of Mormonism's Founder is a biography of Joseph Smith Jr., founder and prophet of the Latter Day Saint movement, by Richard Bushman...
. Bushman has held Guggenheim, Huntington, National Humanities Center, and National Endowment for Humanities fellowships; and he served as president of the Mormon History Association
Mormon History Association
The Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...
(1985–1986).
Publications
- From Puritan to Yankee; character and the social order in Connecticut, 1690-1765. Harvard University PressHarvard University PressHarvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
, 1967. ISBN 0-674-32551-6 - Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism. University of Illinois PressUniversity of Illinois PressThe University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...
, 1984. ISBN 0-252-01143-0 - Great Awakening: Documents on the Revival of Religion, 1740-1745. Institute Of Early American History, University of North Carolina PressUniversity of North Carolina PressThe University of North Carolina Press , founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina....
, Textbook reprint 1989. ISBN 0-8078-4260-5 - King and People in Provincial Massachusetts. University of North Carolina PressUniversity of North Carolina PressThe University of North Carolina Press , founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina....
, textbook reprint 1992. ISBN 0-8078-4398-9 - The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities. Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, Incorporated, 1993. ISBN 0-679-74414-2 - Building the Kingdom: A History of Mormons in America, with Claudia Lauper BushmanClaudia Lauper BushmanClaudia Marian Lauper Bushman is an American historian with specialty in the history of the Latter-day Saints.-Background:A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint herself, she is the wife of fellow historian Richard Lyman Bushman. The Bushmans are the parents of six children...
. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 2001. ISBN 0-19-515022-8 - Believing History: Latter-Day Saint Essays, Edited by Jed Woodworth. Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
, 2004. ISBN 0-231-13006-6 - Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. Alfred Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4270-4
- The Mormon History Association's Tanner Lectures, with Dean L. MayDean L. MayDean Lowe May was an American academic, author and documentary filmmaker and professor of History at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. May specialized in nineteenth- and twentieth-century social and cultural history of the American West through the study of community and family...
, Reid L. Neilson, Thomas G. AlexanderThomas G. AlexanderThomas Glen Alexander is an American historian and academic who is professor emeritus from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he was also Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr. Professor of Western History and director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies.-Biography:Alexander was born in...
(Editor), Jan ShippsJan ShippsJo Ann Barnett "Jan" Shipps is an American historian specializing in Mormon History, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century to the present. Shipps is generally regarded as the foremost non-Mormon scholar of the Latter Day Saint movement, having given particular attention to The...
(Editor). University of Illinois PressUniversity of Illinois PressThe University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...
, 2006. ISBN 0-252-07288-X - On the Road with Joseph Smith: An Author's Diary. Greg Kofford Books, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58958-102-9
- Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 2008. ISBN 0-19-531030-6
External links
- "Interview with Richard Bushman" by Michael Kress, BeliefnetBeliefnetBeliefnet is a large multi-faith e-community that aims to provide a free forum for religious information and inspiration, spiritual tools, and discussions and dialogue groups. Beliefnet provides information about various religious and spiritual beliefs, ranging from Christian denominations to...
- Interview with Richard Bushman "Experiences as a Mormon historian" by John DehlinJohn DehlinJohn P. Dehlin is the creator of several Mormon-themed podcasts, blogs and web sites. John worked for several years in various positions at Microsoft, and served for a few years as the Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an influential...
, Mormon Stories - http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/94.2/shipps.html Review and analysis by Jan ShippsJan ShippsJo Ann Barnett "Jan" Shipps is an American historian specializing in Mormon History, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century to the present. Shipps is generally regarded as the foremost non-Mormon scholar of the Latter Day Saint movement, having given particular attention to The...
. “Richard Lyman Bushman, the Story of Joseph Smith and Mormonism, and the New Mormon History”]