# Daniel Aaron

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{{Short description|American writer and academic (1912–2016)}}
{{for|the American businessman and entrepreneur|Comcast}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Daniel Aaron
| image              = Daniel Aaron interview 8min 35sec.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Aaron in a 2010 interview
| birth_name         = Daniel Baruch Aaron
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1912|08|04}}
| birth_place        = [Chicago, Illinois](/source/Chicago%2C_Illinois), U.S.<ref name="post2007" />
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2016|4|30|1912|8|4}}
| death_place        = [Cambridge, Massachusetts](/source/Cambridge%2C_Massachusetts), U.S.
| citizenship        = 
| other_names        = 
| known_for          = 
| education          = [University of Michigan](/source/University_of_Michigan) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts))<br />[Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) ([PhD](/source/PhD))
| employer           = [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University)
| occupation         = [Americanist](/source/American_studies), [academic](/source/Academic_staff)
| years_active       = 
| title              = Victor S. Thomas Professor of English and American Literature Emeritus
| boards             = [Library of America](/source/Library_of_America)
| spouse             = 
| children           = 
| parents            = 
| awards             = National Humanities Medal
}}
'''Daniel Aaron''' (August 4, 1912 – April 30, 2016) was an American writer and academic who helped found the [Library of America](/source/Library_of_America).<ref name="gazette2007">Cromie, William J., Ken Gewertz, Corydon Ireland, and Alvin Powell. [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/06.07/03-honorands.html "Honorary degrees awarded at Commencement's Morning Exercises"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504132654/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/06.07/03-honorands.html |date=2008-05-04 }} ''[The Harvard Gazette](/source/The_Harvard_Gazette)''. June 7, 2007.</ref>

==Education==
Daniel Baruch Aaron, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia, was born in 1912.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/daniel-aaron-scholar-who-helped-develop-academic-field-of-american-studies-dies-at-103/2016/05/02/4f18e390-1054-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html|title=Daniel Aaron, scholar who helped develop academic field of American studies, dies at 103|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2016-05-02}}</ref> Aaron received a BA from the [University of Michigan](/source/University_of_Michigan), and later did graduate studies at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University).<ref name="NYT 2016">{{cite web | last=Roberts | first=Sam | title=Daniel Aaron, Critic and Historian Who Pioneered American Studies, Dies at 103 | website=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) | date=2016-05-04 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/books/daniel-aaron-literary-critic-and-historian-dies-at-103.html | access-date=2018-02-03}}</ref> In 1937, Aaron became the first to graduate with a degree in "American Civilization" from [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University).<ref name="gazette2007"/>

==Career==

===Writing===
Aaron published his first scholarly paper in 1935, "Melville and the Missionaries". He wrote studies on the [American Renaissance](/source/American_Renaissance), the Civil War, and American progressive writers. His last work was an autobiography, ''The Americanist'' (2007).<ref name="Harvard">
{{cite web
| title = Scholars Venerable
| work = [The Harvard Gazette](/source/The_Harvard_Gazette)
| date = 15 December 2011
| url = http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/12/scholars-venerable/
| access-date = 4 January 2012}}</ref> He edited the diaries of American poet [Arthur Crew Inman](/source/Arthur_Crew_Inman) (1895–1963): some 17 million words from 1919 to 1963.<ref>
{{cite news
| first = Gregory
| last = Jaynes
| title = In Boston: Inside a Tortured Mind 
| magazine = [Time](/source/Time_(magazine))
| date = June 21, 2005
| url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1074772,00.html
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080222040034/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1074772,00.html
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = February 22, 2008
| access-date = 4 January 2012}}</ref> He wrote a number of articles for the ''[New York Review of Books](/source/New_York_Review_of_Books)''.<ref>
{{cite web
| title = Contributor: Daniel Aaron
| magazine = New York Review of Books
| url = http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/daniel-aaron/
| access-date = 4 January 2012}}</ref>

===Teaching===
Aaron taught at [Smith College](/source/Smith_College) for three decades and at Harvard from 1971 to 1983. He was the Victor S. Thomas Professor of English and American Literature Emeritus at Harvard.<ref name="Harvard" /> His son, [Jonathan Aaron](/source/Jonathan_Aaron), is an accomplished poet who holds a doctorate from [Yale University](/source/Yale_University) and teaches writing at [Emerson College](/source/Emerson_College) in Boston, Massachusetts.

===Publishing===
In 1979,<ref>
{{cite web
| title = Board of Directors
| publisher = Library of America
| url = http://www.loa.org/page.jsp?id=201
| access-date = 4 January 2012}}</ref> he helped found the [Library of America](/source/Library_of_America), where he served as president to 1985 and board member and remained an emeritus board member.<ref>
{{cite web
| title = History and Mission
| publisher = Library of America
| url = http://www.loa.org/page.jsp?id=214
| access-date = 4 January 2012}}</ref><ref name="NEH">{{cite web
| title = 2010 National Humanities Medalists
| publisher = National Endowment for the Humanities
| url = http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/2010_Medalists.html#No1
| access-date = 4 January 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111116125324/http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/2010_Medalists.html#No1
| archive-date = 16 November 2011
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

==Recognition==
Aaron was elected a fellow of the [American Academy of Arts and Sciences](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences) in 1973<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|page = 1|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=18 March 2011}}</ref> and a member of the [American Academy of Arts and Letters](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Letters) in 1977.<ref name=AAAL>{{cite web|title=Current Members|url=http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2_current.php|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Letters|access-date=1 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624004136/http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2_current.php|archive-date=24 June 2016}}</ref>

He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Harvard University in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/06/honorary-degree-recipients-and-citations-2007/|title=Honorary degree recipients and citations, 2007|date=14 June 2007}}</ref>

In 2010, he was a National Humanities Medalist,<ref name="NEH" /><ref>
{{cite web
 |title        = National Humanities Medals Awarded
 |magazine     = The Harvard Gazette
 |url          = http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/03/white-house-awards-aaron-and-bailyn-humanities-medals/
 |url-status   = dead
 |date         = March 2011
 |access-date  = 4 January 2011
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110305131946/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/03/white-house-awards-aaron-and-bailyn-humanities-medals/
 |archive-date = 5 March 2011
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| title = Awards & honors: 2010 National Humanities Medalist - Daniel Aaron
| last  = Serpe
| first = Nick
| publisher = [National Endowment for the Humanities](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Humanities)
| url = https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/daniel-aaron
| access-date = 15 October 2017}}</ref> whose citation reads:

{{blockquote|Daniel Aaron: Literary scholar for his contributions to American literature and culture. As the founding president of the Library of America, he helped preserve our nation's heritage by publishing America's most significant writing in authoritative editions.<ref>
{{cite web
| title = Winners of the National Humanities Medal and the Charles Frankel Prize
| publisher = National Endowment for the Humanities
| url = https://www.neh.gov/taxonomy/term/246
| access-date = 4 January 2012
| url-status = live
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054114/http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/nationalmedals.html
| archive-date = 21 July 2011
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| title = 'The Americanist' Author Daniel Aaron Awarded National Humanities Medal
| publisher = University of Michigan Press
| url = http://umichpress.typepad.com/university_of_michigan_pr/2011/03/the-americanist-author-daniel-aaron-awarded-national-humanities-medal.html
| date = 14 March 2011
| access-date = 4 January 2011}}</ref>}}

==Selected works==

===Writing===
* ''Commonplace Book, 1934-2012'' (Pressed Wafer 2015)<ref name="NYT 2016"/>
* ''Scrap Book'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160623023341/http://pressedwafer.com/books/scrap-book/ Pressed Wafer 2014])
* ''The Americanist'' (2007).<ref name="post2007">Dirda, Michael [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301797.html "From scholar Daniel Aaron, the long view of civilization"]. ''The Washington Post'' May 6, 2007.</ref>
* ''American Notes: Selected Essays'' (1994).<ref name="NYREV1">
{{cite web
| title = Books by Daniel Aaron
| publisher = New York Review of Books
| url = http://www.nybooks.com/authors/2107
| access-date = 4 January 2012}}</ref>
* ''Cincinnati, Queen City of the West: 1819-1838'' (1992)<ref name="NYREV1"/>
* ''The Unwritten War: American Writers and the Civil War'' (1973)<ref name="NYREV1"/>
* ''America in Crisis: Fourteen Crucial Episodes in American History'' (1971)<ref name="NYREV1"/>
* ''Writers on the Left: Episodes in American Literary Communism'' (1961,<ref>
{{cite web
 |title=Writers on the Left 
 |publisher=Library of Congress 
 |url=http://lccn.loc.gov/61013349
 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121213083511/http://lccn.loc.gov/61013349
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-date=13 December 2012
 |access-date=4 January 2012 
}}</ref> 1974 and 1992<ref name="NYREV1"/>)
* ''Men of Good Hope'' (1951)<ref name="NYT 2016"/>

===Editing===
* [Arthur Crew Inman](/source/Arthur_Crew_Inman), ''From a Darkened Room: The Inman Diary'', ed. Daniel Aaron (Cambridge, MA: [Harvard University Press](/source/Harvard_University_Press), 1996) 
* [Arthur Crew Inman](/source/Arthur_Crew_Inman), ''The Inman Diary: A Public and Private Confession'' (Cambridge, MA: [Harvard University Press](/source/Harvard_University_Press), 1985) 
* Paul Elmer More, ''Shelburne Essays on American Literature'', ed. Daniel Aaron (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963)

==See also==
* [List of members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Literature](/source/List_of_members_of_the_American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Letters_Department_of_Literature)

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=210684 University of Michigan Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028204840/http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=210684 |date=2011-10-28 }}
* [https://www.neh.gov/taxonomy/term/246 NEH National Medals]
* [http://www.wnyc.org/story/foia-fbi-file/ "What We Learned from Grandpa's FBI File", ''Note to Self'', 31 May 2017 (radio show episode about Aaron's FBI file, including audio recording of interview with Aaron).]
* [https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/resources/298 Daniel Aaron Papers] at the [Smith College Archives](/source/Smith_College_Archives), Smith College Special Collections.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron, Daniel}}
Category:1912 births
Category:2016 deaths
Category:Writers from Chicago
Category:Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences faculty
Category:Smith College faculty
Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni
Category:National Humanities Medal recipients
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:American men centenarians
Category:20th-century American academics
Category:Jewish American academics
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:Jewish centenarians
Category:Jews from Illinois
Category:Academics from Chicago

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Daniel Aaron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Aaron) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Aaron?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.