Albert Edward Van Dusen (May 14, 1916 – November 26, 1999) was an

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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 stu ...

who served as Professor of History at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

from 1949 to 1983. He also served in the unpaid honorary position of

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State Historian from 1952 to 1985. His research materials and personal papers are held in the UConn Library's Archives and Special Collections at the

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Early life and education

Van Dusen was born in Vilas,

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, and raised in

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, where his father, Albert P. Van Dusen, was a professor of sociology. His mother was Chloe C. Lewis Van Dusen. He attended Northwood School in Lake Placid and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

in 1938. He went on to earn his Master of Arts and PhD degrees in history from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Academic career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Van Dusen taught in the

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Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and briefly served in the army in 1945. After short stints as a visiting professor at Wesleyan University and as a

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historian, Van Dusen joined the University of Connecticut in 1949. Governor

John Davis Lodge John Davis Lodge (October 20, 1903 – October 29, 1985) was an American film actor, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was the 79th governor of Connecticut from 1951 to 1955, and later served as U.S. ambassador to Spain, Argentina, and Swit ...

appointed him Connecticut State Historian in 1952. During his 34 years at UConn, Van Dusen introduced courses in Connecticut and American colonial and revolutionary history. He oversaw the granting of UConn's first doctorate in history and was voted one of the university's five best teachers in 1964. He served on many state commissions, including the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, the Commission on the Preservation and Restoration of the

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, and the Connecticut Historical Commission, on which he served for 34 years. He founded the Mansfield Historical Society and the Association for the Study of Connecticut History. He also served on the Council of the American Association for State and Local History and was a trustee and officer of the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society. Van Dusen received numerous awards and honors, including the Director's Award from the Connecticut League of Historical Societies, a

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from the Association for the Study of Connecticut History, and an Award of Distinction from the

American Association for State and Local History The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is a non-profit association for state and local history, with a primary focus on history professionals, history volunteers, museums, historical societies, and other history-related organi ...

. He was a member of the Acorn Club, elected in 1953. He and his wife endowed the Albert E. and Wilda E. Van Dusen Scholarship for UConn history graduate students and the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Chair in Academic Medicine at the UConn Health Center. Van Dusen authored numerous books and articles, including ''Puritans Against the Wilderness: Connecticut History to 1763'' (Chester, CT: Pequot Press, 1975) and ''Connecticut: A Fully Illustrated History of the State from the Seventeenth Century to the Present'' (New York: Random House, 1961). ''Connecticut'' went through five printings and sold over 33,000 copies.

Personal life

In 1946, Van Dusen married Wilda Elizabeth (Reep) Van Dusen (1923–2005), his former student at Duke. They remained married for 53 years until his death. Wilda Van Dusen excelled at doing archival research, proofreading, editing, and indexing on her husband's behalf. She also accompanied him on his public speaking engagements. The couple had no issue. Albert died at the age of 83 on November 26, 1999. Wilda died in 2005. Both were interred in the New Storrs Cemetery, on a hill overlooking UConn's campus.

References

External links

Albert Van Dusen Papers
– University of Connecticut Library, Archives and Special Collections * Connecticut Civil War Soldiers Index – compiled by Van Dusen; digital collection available via UConn Library, Archives and Special Collections * Connecticut Revolutionary Soldiers Index – compiled by Van Dusen; digital collection available via UConn Library, Archives and Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Dusen, Albert E. 1916 births 1999 deaths People from Watauga County, North Carolina 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians of Connecticut University of Connecticut faculty Wesleyan University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni 20th-century American male writers