Ray Allen Billington
Encyclopedia
Ray Allen Billington was an American historian
. He was born in Bay City, Michigan
and died in San Marino, California
.
, but was expelled. He held two Ph.D. degrees from University of Wisconsin 1926, and Harvard University
1933. He taught at Clark University
, Smith College
, Northwestern University
, and served as a professor at Oxford University. He retired from his teaching career in 1964 and became the Senior Research Associate at the Huntington Library. He married Mabel R. Crotty; they had two children.
The Ray Allen Billington Prize is given biennially by the Organization of American Historians
for the best book in American frontier history.
Occidental College
has begun a search for the Ray Allen Billington Distinguished Visiting Professor in U.S. History.
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...
. He was born in Bay City, Michigan
Bay City, Michigan
Bay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...
and died in San Marino, California
San Marino, California
San Marino is a small, affluent city in Los Angeles County, California. Incorporated in 1913, the City founders designed the community to be uniquely residential, with expansive properties surrounded by beautiful gardens, wide streets, and well maintained parkways...
.
Life
Billington studied at the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, but was expelled. He held two Ph.D. degrees from University of Wisconsin 1926, and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard 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...
1933. He taught at Clark University
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
, Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, and served as a professor at Oxford University. He retired from his teaching career in 1964 and became the Senior Research Associate at the Huntington Library. He married Mabel R. Crotty; they had two children.
The Ray Allen Billington Prize is given biennially by the Organization of American Historians
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S...
for the best book in American frontier history.
Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
has begun a search for the Ray Allen Billington Distinguished Visiting Professor in U.S. History.
Works
- America's Frontier Heritage Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963 (reprint University of New Mexico Press, 1993)
- The Protestant Crusade 1800-1860: a study of the origins of American nativism (1938) (reissue Rinehart, 1952) (1st edition 1949) (1st edition 1950)
- The Far Western Frontier Harper, 1956
- Westward Movement in the United States Van Nostrand, 1959
- The Frontier Thesis R. E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1966; 1977
- The Genesis of the Frontier Thesis (1971)
- Frederick Jackson Turner: Historian, Teacher, Scholar. Oxford University Press, 1973
- Limericks: Hysterical and Historical
- Land of Savagery, Land of Promise: The European Image of the American Frontier in the Nineteenth Century