{{Short description|American historian (1923–2002)}}
{{Infobox academic|name=Estelle Feinstein|birth_name=Estelle Florence Fisher|birth_date={{birth date|1923|12|31}}|death_date={{death date and age|2002|11|03|1923|12|31}}|birth_place=New York City, US|death_place=Stamford, Connecticut, US|occupation=Historian|alma_mater=Vanderbilt University (BA)<br>University of Wisconsin (MA)<br>Columbia University (PhD)|discipline=Historian|sub_discipline=History of Connecticut|workplaces=University of Connecticut|doctoral_advisor=John A. Garraty}}
'''Estelle Florence Feinstein''' (December 31, 1923 – November 3, 2002) was an American historian specializing in the history of Stamford, Connecticut. The author of three books on the city's history, Feinstein taught at the University of Connecticut's Stamford campus from 1957 to 1989.<ref name=":1" /> She received a Homer D. Babbidge Jr. Lifetime Recognition Award from the Association for the Study of Connecticut History in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Homer D. Babbidge, Jr. Awards – Association for the Study of Connecticut History|url=https://asch-cthistory.org/homer-d-babbidge-jr-awards/|access-date=2021-11-11|website=Association for the Study of Connecticut History}}</ref>
== Biography == Feinstein was born Estelle Florence Fisher in New York City on December 31, 1923, a daughter of Moses and Libby Kaleko Fisher. She received her bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in 1944, her Master of Arts in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1946, and her PhD in history from Columbia University in 1971. John A. Garraty supervised her dissertation, which focused on Stamford during the Gilded Age.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Stamford, Connecticut, 1868–1893: A Study of Small Town Politics in the Gilded Age|date=1971|language=English|first=Estelle F.|last=Feinstein|degree=PhD|publisher=Columbia University|oclc=6586299 |id={{ProQuest|<!-- insert ProQuest data here -->}} }}</ref> She taught at Brooklyn College starting in 1946, spent two years in Paris in 1949–51, and moved to Stamford in 1956.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2014-11-08|title=Malcolm Feinstein, Obituary (1922–2014) – from Daily Hampshire Gazette|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/gazettenet/name/malcolm-feinstein-obituary?pid=173093307|access-date=2021-11-11|website=Legacy.com}}</ref>
After a stint teaching at the UConn Hartford campus, Feinstein received a lectureship appointment at the UConn Stamford campus in 1957. She continued to teach at Stamford until retiring in 1989, rising to full Professor of History by 1981. She continued to teach while raising three children and commuting to earn her PhD.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Wills|first=J. Clyde|date=2002-11-05|title=Feinstein, Noted Stamford Historian, Dies at 78|url=https://www.stamfordhistory.org/adv_feinob.htm|access-date=2021-11-11|website=Stamford Historical Society}}</ref>
Feinstein married commercial artist Malcolm Feinstein (1922–2014) in 1949.<ref name=":0" /> She died of Parkinson's disease at Stamford Hospital on November 3, 2002, at the age of 78. She was survived by her husband and their three children: Daniel Feinstein, Deborah Feinstein, and Susan Barry.<ref name=":1" />
== Legacy == The University of Connecticut's Jeremy Richard Library in Stamford has a study area dedicated to Feinstein's memory. A portrait and commemorative plaque are mounted nearby. Featuring a wide range of topics in US and world history, the Estelle Feinstein Memorial Lectures have taken place at UConn Stamford on an annual basis since 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bayonne|first=Phara|title=Estelle F. Feinstein|url=https://lib.uconn.edu/location/stamford-campus-library/estelle-f-feinstein/|access-date=2021-11-11|website=UConn Library|date=8 January 2015 |language=en-US}}</ref> Speakers have included Eric Foner, Susan Zuccotti, Kenneth T. Jackson, Karen Ordahl Kupperman, and Nechama Tec.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Estelle Feinstein Memorial Lectures, 2004-2017|url=https://lib.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Estelle-Feinstein-Memorial-Lectures-List-2004-2017_STAM.pdf|access-date=2021-11-11|website=UConn Library}}</ref> The lecture series is co-sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Fairfield County, the Stamford Historical Society, and UConn Stamford.<ref>{{Cite web|last=O'Connor|first=Kara|date=2012-04-11|title=Historical Society Librarian 'a True Treasure of Stamford'|url=https://www.thehour.com/stamford/article/Historical-Society-librarian-a-true-treasure-of-8124201.php|access-date=2021-11-11|website=The Hour|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Published books == * {{Cite book|last=Feinstein|first=Estelle F.|title=Stamford from Puritan to Patriot: The Shaping of a Connecticut Community, 1641–1774|publisher=Stamford Bicentennial Corporation|year=1976|location=Stamford, Conn.|language=English|oclc=3001745}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fries|first=Sylvia Doughty|date=1977|title=Review of Stamford from Puritan to Patriot|journal=Journal of American History|volume=64|issue=1|pages=126–127|doi=10.2307/1888294|jstor=1888294 }}</ref> * {{Cite book|last1=Feinstein|first1=Estelle F.|title=Stamford: An Illustrated History|last2=Pendery|first2=Joyce S.|last3=Updegraff|first3=Marie|publisher=Windsor Publications; Stamford Historical Society|year=1984|isbn=978-0-89781-114-9|location=Woodland Hills, Calif.|language=English|oclc=11114636}} Reissued in 2002 by American Historical Press. * {{Cite book|last=Feinstein|first=Estelle F.|title=Stamford in the Gilded Age: The Political Life of a Connecticut Town, 1868–1893|publisher=Stamford Historical Society|year=1973|location=Stamford, Conn.|language=English|oclc=733311}} * {{Cite thesis|title=Stamford, Connecticut, 1868–1893: A Study of Small Town Politics in the Gilded Age|date=1971|language=English|first=Estelle F.|last=Feinstein|degree=PhD|publisher=Columbia University|oclc=6586299 }} *
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Feinstein, Estelle F.}}
Category:1923 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Educators from New York City Category:Writers from Stamford, Connecticut Category:20th-century American historians Category:American women historians Category:Historians of the United States Category:Historians of Connecticut Category:Urban historians Category:Vanderbilt University alumni Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:University of Connecticut faculty Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Connecticut