Background

William Archibald Dunning was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on May 12, 1857, just before the civil war. His parents, John H. and Catherine D. Trelease Dunning, were artistic folk: his father was a professional carriage maker who also painted and wrote about art.

Education

Dunning attended Dartmouth College, from which he was expelled for rowdy behavior. He then attended Columbia University, where he made a better showing: Dunning received his A. B. in 1881, his A. M. in 1884 and his Ph.D. in 1885. Dunning's graduate work was deeply influenced by his mentor, John W. Burgess, whose German trained ideas about the "objective" study of history found their way into the Dunning school. Dunning's dissertation, a study of the Constitution in the Civil War period, was published the year that he graduated. He then briefly studied at the University of Berlin (one of his mentor's old haunts) before joining the faculty of his alma mater.

Career

Dunning began teaching at Columbia. At Columbia, Dunning was a great success. He quickly became one of the most powerful professors in his department, and eventually achieved the Francis Lieber professorship. Dunning's success at Columbia owed much to Burgess's presence on the faculty, but Dunning was also, by all accounts, a compelling instructor and a dedicated scholar.

Toward the end of his career, however, his classrooms became the nation's center of Southern apologist Civil War history; his students disseminated his particular methods and premises throughout the country, particularly in southern colleges.

Dunning's books were mightily approved by reviewers, too, many of whom held the same white supremacist beliefs as Dunning. His first collection of essays, Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction and Related Topics (1898), was published and republished both in America and abroad. His three-volume study, History of Political Theories (1902-20), was approved by many reviewers as both sound history and able writing.

Despite lukewarm international reception, the American academic establishment sat at Dunning's feet. As a founding member and sometime president of both the American Historical Association and American Political Science Association, Dunning's power was great and his admirers were many. Dunning died on August 15, 1922.

Achievements

• Dunning was an authority on the Civil War and Reconstruction periods and an influential teacher.
  
  He was one of the founders of the American Historical Association, serving several years on its council and as its president in 1913.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The British Empire and the United States; A Review of Their Relations During the Century of Peace Following the Treaty of Ghent

    (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

  • Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction

    (Originally published in 1897. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction
  • Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction and Related Topics
  • Reconstruction, political and economic
  • Catalogue of the Books and Pamphlets in the Library of the School of Mines of Columbia College July
  • The reminiscences
  • A History of Political Theories: From Rousseau to Spencer

Politics

The "Dunning school" in Civil War and Reconstruction historiography interpreted the events of the period in a manner more favorable to the South. They defended the planters of the antebellum period, blamed the abolitionists for bringing on the war, and vehemently criticized the Radical Republicans for using Lincoln's death to enhance their political ambitions and economic interests by reducing the South to colonial status.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Dunning's biographer for the Encyclopedia of World Biography noted, "Dunning possessed the rare talent of being both a distinguished teacher and a brilliant scholar."

Connections

In 1888 Dunning married Charlotte E. Loomis of Brooklyn. They had no children.

Father:

John H. Dunning

Mother:

Catherine D. Trelease Dunning

Spouse:

Charlotte E. Loomis of Brooklyn

She died on 13 June 1917.

References

• The Dunning School: Historians, Race, and the Meaning of Reconstruction
• The antecedents of the Declaration of Independence
• Contemporary Authors New Revision: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields: 178