Richard N. Current

{{Short description|American historian (1912–2012)}} {{Infobox academic | name = Richard Current | image = Richard N Current 1947.jpg | caption = Teaching at Lawrence University in 1947 | birth_name = Richard Nelson Current | birth_date = {{birth date|1912|10|5}} | birth_place = [[Colorado City, Colorado|Colorado City]], [[Colorado]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|10|26|1912|10|5}} | death_place = [[Boston]], Massachusetts, U.S. | alma_mater = [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]] [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] [[Oberlin College]] | discipline = History | sub_discipline = Race relations | workplaces = [[Rutgers University]] [[Hamilton College (New York)|Hamilton College]] [[Northern Michigan University]] [[Lawrence University]] [[University of Illinois]] [[University of North Carolina at Greensboro]] [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] }}

'''Richard Nelson Current''' (October 5, 1912 – October 26, 2012) was an American [[historian]], called "the Dean of Lincoln Scholars", best known for ''The Lincoln Nobody Knows'' (1958), and ''Lincoln and the First Shot'' (1963).<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Schudel |first=Matt |date=2023-05-19 |title=Richard Nelson Current, historian who brought fresh insights to Abraham Lincoln, dies at 100 |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/richard-nelson-current-historian-who-brought-fresh-insights-to-abraham-lincoln-dies-at-100/2012/11/03/f2b5b072-250d-11e2-ba29-238a6ac36a08_story.html |access-date=2023-12-23 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

==Life== Born in [[Colorado City, Colorado]], Current graduated in 1934 from [[Oberlin College]] with a B.A., in 1935 from [[The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]] at [[Tufts University]] with an M.A., and in 1940 from the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] with a PhD. At Wisconsin, he studied under [[William B. Hesseltine]]. He wrote a book titled "Old Thad Stevens: A Story of Ambition" while at the university.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Thad Stevens a story of ambition {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/560326042 |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=search.worldcat.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=KVK-Volltitel |url=https://kvk.bibliothek.kit.edu/view-title/index.php?katalog=NRW&url=https://nrw.digibib.net/search/hbzvk/record/(DE-605)HT021444942&signature=ebavDi6jR_VERhwH4-JgFLMF8uTiVdqIIBJqvjPsx8k&showCoverImg=1 |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=kvk.bibliothek.kit.edu}}</ref>

In the United States, Current taught at [[Rutgers University]], [[Hamilton College (New York)|Hamilton College]], [[Northern Michigan University]], [[Lawrence University]], [[Mills College]], [[Salisbury State University]], the [[University of Illinois]], the [[University of North Carolina at Greensboro]], and the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]].<ref>{{cite web |date=June 30, 2005 |title=1988 Notable Wisconsin Authors |url=http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/readers/WLAC/Notable/Notable1988.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531165316/http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/readers/WLAC/Notable/Notable1988.html |archivedate=2009-05-31 |accessdate=2010-01-19 |website=Wisconsin Library Association}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= |date= |title=Wisconsin, A History |url=http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/66xxf7hs9780252070181.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306112440/http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/66xxf7hs9780252070181.html |archive-date=2013-03-06 |accessdate=2012-10-29 |website=University of Illinois Press |publisher= |at='About the Book' and 'About the Author' description}}</ref> Internationally, he lectured in Chile, Japan, India, and Antarctica.

Current served as president of the [[Southern Historical Association]] in 1975. In addition, he was the editor of and author of introductions to many other works and published over 250 articles. His papers are in the Rare Book Room of [[the University of North Carolina at Greensboro]].

His first wife of 45 years Rose Bonar died in 1983, and in 1984 he married Marcia Ewing, who co-wrote a biography of dancer [[Loie Fuller]] with him. His final book, a collection of translations of writings by the Norwegian author [[Knut Hamsun]], was published in 2003.

He died in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 26, 2012, at age 100 of [[Parkinson's disease]]<ref name=":0" /> and was buried in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Italie |first=Hillel |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/01/3077920/lincoln-scholar-richard-current.html |title=NEW YORK: Lincoln scholar Richard Current dies at age 100 - People Wires |publisher=MiamiHerald.com |date=2012-02-11 |accessdate=2012-11-02}} {{Dead link|date=December 2023}}</ref>

==Dean of Lincoln Scholars== {{Unreferenced section|date=December 2023}} Current came late to the study of [[Abraham Lincoln]], having published books on 19th century political leaders [[Thaddeus Stevens]], [[Daniel Webster]], and [[John C. Calhoun]], and the history of the [[typewriter]] when he was asked to complete a 4-volume biography of Lincoln begun by his [[University of Illinois]] colleague [[James G. Randall]], who had finished three volumes before his 1953 death. Current wrote at least half of the fourth volume ''Lincoln the President: Midstream to the Last Full Measure'' (1955), which won the prestigious [[Bancroft Prize]] from [[Columbia University]], establishing his reputation.

Drawn to what he called the "perpetual timeliness" and "eternal relevance" of Lincoln's life, Current went on to write seven more books about him. One of his most influential books was ''The Lincoln Nobody Knows'' (1958), which delved into the seemingly contradictory elements of Lincoln's life and thought, particularly his views on slavery and race, showing how he overcame the narrow thinking of his childhood in the backwoods of [[Kentucky]] and [[Indiana]] where racist and white supremacist views were common.

"The most remarkable thing about him was his tremendous power for growth", Current wrote in ''The Lincoln Nobody Knows''. "He grew in sympathy, in the breadth of his humaneness, as he grew in other aspects of the mind and spirit. In more ways than one he succeeded in breaking through the narrow bounds of his early environment." "The awful fact of the assassination falls between us and the man. It is like a garish, bloodstained glass, in which all perspectives are distorted."

His 1963 book ''Lincoln and the First Shot'' sought to dispel many myths about Lincoln, including the theory that some of the members of his cabinet were in on the assassination conspiracy. Current described how Lincoln built a unity of purpose in the Northern states before the Civil War began in earnest, claiming that Lincoln had a more sophisticated knowledge of law, economics, and military tactics than earlier historians had believed.

==Debate with Gore Vidal== After [[Gore Vidal]] published his 1984 novel ''[[Lincoln (novel)|Lincoln]]'', Current began a running feud in the pages of ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', accusing Vidal of willfully distorting the historical record, misrepresenting Lincoln's views, and "utter ignorance" of the linguistic differences between [[British English]] and [[American English]] because he spelled "jewelry" and "practice" in the British way. "He is wrong on big as well as little matters", Current commented. "Vidal simply doesn't know what he's talking about".<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Current |first=Richard Nelson |title=Vidal's 'Lincoln': An Exchange |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4341 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208134213/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4341 |archive-date=December 8, 2009 |access-date=January 19, 2010 |website=[[The New York Review]]|date=18 August 1988 |volume=35 |issue=13 }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

In response, Vidal explained that he used what was then-common agreed-upon American speech, and as a writer of novels was obliged to dramatize his story through someone's consciousness. Vidal asserted that Current never read his book in whole, that he was fault-finding, and that he could not separate a biography from a novel, "getting all tangled up in misread or misunderstood trivia". The real reason for Current's criticism, Vidal maintained, was his portrayal of Lincoln as wanting to colonize the liberated slaves in Liberia, which would go against the [[political correctness]] of the 1980s. Ironically, the source of this interpretation according to Vidal was a biography of Lincoln by Current himself.<ref name=":1" />

==Awards== * 1956 [[Bancroft Prize]] * 1959 Fulbright Professor in Munich, Germany * 1960 O. Max Gardner Prize from the University of North Carolina * 1962 [[Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History]] at [[Oxford University]] * 1977 George Banta Award from the [[Wisconsin Library Association]] * 1988 Notable Wisconsin Authors * 1989 Logan Hay Medal from the [[Abraham Lincoln Association]] * 2000 [[Lincoln Prize]] for lifetime achievement * 2000 The Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement from The Lincoln Forum<ref>[https://www.thelincolnforum.org/richard-nelson-current-award-of-achievement The Lincoln Forum]</ref>

==Works== {{Lacking ISBN|section|date=December 2023}} *''Old [[Thaddeus Stevens|Thad Stevens]]: A Story of Ambition,'' 1942. *''Pine Logs and Politics: A Life of [[Philetus Sawyer]], 1816–1900,'' 1950. *''The Typewriter and the Men Who Made It,'' 1954. *''Secretary [[Henry Stimson|Stimson]]: A Study in Statecraft'' (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N.J., 1954) [https://archive.org/details/seretarystimsona006740mbp read online] *''[[Daniel Webster]] and the Rise of National Conservatism'' (1955) [https://books.google.com/books/about/Daniel_Webster_and_the_Rise_of_National.html?id=uWtO6BkTLeYC read online] *''Lincoln the President: Last Full Measure'' (with [[James G. Randall]]) (1955) ([[Bancroft Prize]]) [https://books.google.com/books/about/Lincoln_the_President_Etc.html?id=5K89kgAACAAJ read online] *''The Lincoln Nobody Knows'' (1958) [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Lincoln_Nobody_Knows.html?id=ekj2pdN2JhAC read online] *"God and the Strongest Battalions," in [[David Herbert Donald|Donald, David Herbert]], ed., ''Why the North Won the Civil War'', 1960. *''American History: A Survey'' (with [[Frank Freidel]] and [[T. Harry Williams]]), 1961. *''Lincoln and the First Shot'' (J. B. Lippincott & Co., New York, 1963) [https://archive.org/details/lincolnfirstshot00curr read online] *''[[John C. Calhoun]]'', 1963. *''United States History'' (with A. DeConde and H. L. Dante), 1967. *''Three Carpetbag Governors'', 1967. *''Essentials of American History'' (with others) (New York: Knopf, 1972, 1980) [https://books.google.com/books/about/Essentials_of_American_History.html?id=Lzk7mwEACAAJ read online] *''United States History: A World Power'' (with A. DeConde and H. L. Dante), 1974. *''United States History: Search for Freedom'' (with A. DeConde and H. L. Dante), 1974. *''Wisconsin: The Civil War Era 1848–1873'', 1976. *''Wisconsin: A Bicentennial History'', 1977. *''Unity, Ethnicity, and Abraham Lincoln'', 1978. *''A History of the United States to 1877'' (with Gerald J. Goodwin and Paula Angle Franklin), 1980. First edition with T. Harry Williams and Frank Freidel, 1959. *''Speaking of Abraham Lincoln: The Man and His Meaning for Our Times'', 1983. *''Northernizing the South'', 1983. *''Arguing with Historians: Essays on the Historical and the Unhistorical'', 1987. *''Those Terrible [[Carpetbaggers]]'', 1988. *''Lincoln, the Constitution, and Presidential Leadership'', 1989. *''[[Daniel Webster]]: "The Completest Man"'', Lebanon, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1990 (essays by Current and others). *''[[Phi Beta Kappa]] in American Life: The First Two Hundred Years,'' 1990. *''Lincoln's Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy'', Boston, Massachusetts: Northeastern University Press, 1992. *''Encyclopedia of the Confederacy'' (editor), 1993. *''What Is an American? Abraham Lincoln and "Multiculturalism"'', Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press, 1993. *''Lincoln on Democracy'' (with others), 1994. *''[[Loie Fuller]], Goddess of Light'' (with Marcia Ewing Current), 1997. *''[[Knut Hamsun]] Remembers America: Essays and Stories, 1885–1949'' (translator), 2003.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/archon/?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=3467 Richard N. Current | University of Illinois Archives]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Current, Richard N.}} [[Category:1912 births]] [[Category:2012 deaths]] [[Category:The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni]] [[Category:Rutgers University faculty]] [[Category:Hamilton College (New York) faculty]] [[Category:Northern Michigan University faculty]] [[Category:Lawrence University faculty]] [[Category:University of Illinois System faculty]] [[Category:University of North Carolina at Greensboro faculty]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty]] [[Category:Oberlin College alumni]] [[Category:Historians from New York (state)]] [[Category:Historians of race relations]] [[Category:American men centenarians]] [[Category:Writers from Colorado]] [[Category:Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History]] [[Category:People from Pueblo County, Colorado]] [[Category:Bancroft Prize winners]]