John S. Curtiss
Encyclopedia
John Shelton Curtiss was an American historian
of Russia
and historical scholar of old Yankee
stock. Curtiss was a longtime professor of history at Duke University
.
, the son of prominent attorney, Harlow C. Curtiss and Ethel (Mann) Curtiss.
He received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University
in 1921 and his Ph.D. from Columbia University
.
In 1940 Curtiss received the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize
from the American Historical Association
for Church and State in Russia, 1900–1917. http://www.historians.org/prizes/AWARDED/AdamsWinner.htm Curtiss also wrote The Peasant in nineteenth-century Russia with Wayne S. Vucinich
.
, in 1941 and 1942, while Jews were being, or about to be, exterminate
d by the Nazis in Europe
, Curtiss published his 118 page monograph
denying the truth
and authenticity
of the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is to be noted that this was accomplished years before Norman Cohn
had published his work on the subject, Warrant for Genocide
(1967). This work was endorsed by no less than thirteen (13) of the top American
historians at universities throughout the country, as attested to in the work's Foreword. Thereby, this book was effectively an appraisal (the leading word of its title
) of the authenticity
of the text
published under various titles, edition
s, and imprint
s. The finding was, by all 14 historians, that the Protocols of Zion are, "beyond doubt," a "rank and pernicious forgery
." In brief, The Protocols have failed Curtiss's test of authentication
.
The names, titles, and positions of the notable and distinguished American historians who so subscribed to Curtiss' finding are:
He died in December, 1983, a resident of Honolulu, Hawaii
.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and historical scholar of old Yankee
Yankee
The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...
stock. Curtiss was a longtime professor of history at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
.
Early life and education
John Shelton Curtiss was born in Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, the son of prominent attorney, Harlow C. Curtiss and Ethel (Mann) Curtiss.
He received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1921 and his Ph.D. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
In 1940 Curtiss received the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize
Herbert Baxter Adams Prize
The Herbert Baxter Adams Prize is an annual award of the American Historical Association. It is awarded to new authors of European history. Named in honor of Herbert Baxter Adams, who was from the faculty of Johns Hopkins University and one of the founders of the AHA.Established in 1905, the prize...
from the American Historical Association
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...
for Church and State in Russia, 1900–1917. http://www.historians.org/prizes/AWARDED/AdamsWinner.htm Curtiss also wrote The Peasant in nineteenth-century Russia with Wayne S. Vucinich
Wayne S. Vucinich
Wayne S. Vucinich was an American historian and professor and a founding father of Russian and East European scholarship after World War II.- Life :...
.
His work on debunking the Protocols
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in 1941 and 1942, while Jews were being, or about to be, exterminate
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
d by the Nazis in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Curtiss published his 118 page monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
denying the truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
and authenticity
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
of the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is to be noted that this was accomplished years before Norman Cohn
Norman Cohn
Norman Rufus Colin Cohn FBA was a British academic, historian and writer who spent fourteen years as a professorial fellow and as Astor-Wolfson Professor at the University of Sussex.-Life:...
had published his work on the subject, Warrant for Genocide
Warrant for Genocide
Warrant for Genocide, by Norman Cohn, is a critical work about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.This scholarly book explores the history, origin, and worldwide dissemination of this notorious, antisemitic plagiarism, literary forgery, and hoax....
(1967). This work was endorsed by no less than thirteen (13) of the top American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historians at universities throughout the country, as attested to in the work's Foreword. Thereby, this book was effectively an appraisal (the leading word of its title
Title
A title is a prefix or suffix added to someone's name to signify either veneration, an official position or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may even be inserted between a first and last name...
) of the authenticity
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
of the text
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
published under various titles, edition
Edition
In printmaking, an edition is a number of prints struck from one plate, usually at the same time. This is the meaning covered by this article...
s, and imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
s. The finding was, by all 14 historians, that the Protocols of Zion are, "beyond doubt," a "rank and pernicious forgery
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
." In brief, The Protocols have failed Curtiss's test of authentication
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
.
The names, titles, and positions of the notable and distinguished American historians who so subscribed to Curtiss' finding are:
- Carl L. BeckerCarl L. BeckerCarl Lotus Becker was an American historian.-Life:He was born in Waterloo, Iowa. He studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Frederick Jackson Turner was his doctoral advisor there. Becker got his Ph.D. in 1907. He was John Wendell Anderson Professor of History in the Department of History...
, Professor of History in Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and Former President of the American Historical AssociationAmerican Historical AssociationThe American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...
- E. Malcolm Carroll, Professor of History in Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
- Sidney B. Fay, Professor of History in Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
- Dixon Ryan FoxDixon Ryan FoxDixon Ryan Fox was an American educator, researcher, and president of Union College from 1934-45.Fox graduated from New York University, where he was a member of the Andiron Club...
, President of Union CollegeUnion CollegeUnion College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
- Walter P. Hall, Dodge Professor of History in Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
- Ralph V. Harlow, Professor of History in Syracuse UniversitySyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
- Carlon J. H. Hayes, Seth Low Professor of History in Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
- William L. Lancer, Coolidge Professor of History in Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
- Dana G. Munro, Director of School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
- Allen Nevins, Professor of History in Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
- Thad W. Riker, Professor of History in the University of Texas
- Geroid T. Robinson, Professor of Russian History in Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
- Bernadotte E. Schmitt, Professor of Modern History in the University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Marriage and later life
John Shelton Curtiss married Edna Sutter on September 21, 1925, in Buffalo, New York. She died May 22, 1981, in Durham, North Carolina.He died in December, 1983, a resident of Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
.
Works
- An Appraisal of the "Protocols of Zion"
- Russian church and the Soviet state 1917-1950 (1953)
- Russian revolutions of 1917 (1957)
- Essays in Russian and Soviet History, in Honor of Geroid Tanquary Robinson
- ISBN 0231025211 (0-231-02521-1)
- Church and state in Russia (1965)
- Essays in Russian and Soviet history (1965)
- Russian Army under Nicholas I, 1825-1855 (1965)
- Russian church and the Soviet state 1917-1950 (1965)
- Peasant in nineteenth-century Russia, edited by Wayne S. VucinichWayne S. VucinichWayne S. Vucinich was an American historian and professor and a founding father of Russian and East European scholarship after World War II.- Life :...
- Contributors: John S. Curtiss [and others] (1968)
- Russia's Crimean WarCrimean WarThe Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1979) - Russian revolutions of 1917 (1982)
- Russia's Crimean War
External links
- Review by Edward M. Hulme of An Appraisal of the "Protocols of Zion" (1942) http://www.jstor.org/pss/1840776