19 Facts About Oscar Handlin

Oscar Handlin was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on September 29,1915, the eldest of three children of Russian-Jewish immigrants.

Oscar Handlin's parents were passionately devoted to literature and the life of the mind.

Between 1936 and 1938, Oscar Handlin taught history at Brooklyn College before reentering Harvard University.

Oscar Handlin was among the first Jewish scholars appointed to a full professorship at Harvard.

Oscar Handlin was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1999.

Oscar Handlin died at age 95 on September 20,2011, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Oscar Handlin was very active as a scholarly organizer and administrator.

Oscar Handlin served on the board of overseers of Brandeis University, and was a trustee of the New York Public Library.

Oscar Handlin was Harvard's chief librarian from 1979 to 1984 and acting director of the Harvard University Press in 1972.

Oscar Handlin was one of the most prolific and influential American historians of the 20th century.

Oscar Handlin edited a 42-volume collection of books on subjects relating to immigration and ethnicity, The American Immigration Collection.

Oscar Handlin continued his work with immigrants with From the Outer World, which collected the travel accounts of visitors to the United States from non-European countries.

Oscar Handlin argued that racism was a by-product of slavery, and that the main focus was on the fact that slaves, like indentured servants, were regarded as inferior because of their status, not necessarily because of their race.

In March 1961, Oscar Handlin signed an ACLU-organized petition of scholars demanding that the House Committee on Un-American Activities cease operations.

In 1961, Oscar Handlin published The Distortion of America, his critique of the attractions of Communism.

Oscar Handlin published widely on all the major public issues of the time: racism, group life, anti-Semitism, prejudice, the Bill of Rights, the business corporation, ethnicity, and the Jews and other groups in American society.

Oscar Handlin was liberal in social controversies, especially those related to immigration, race, social justice, and equal opportunity.

In 1979, Oscar Handlin published Truth in History, which criticized New Left historians and the corruption of American universities with faddishness, hiring quotas, overspecialization and fragmentation in history studies, and deficiencies in graduate training.

In December 1967, Oscar Handlin was one of 14 anti-Communist American scholars who co-wrote a report for the Freedom House Public Affairs Institute, which argued that disaster would strike if the US withdrew from Vietnam.