Francis "Fritz" Jennings (1918November 17, 2000) was an American historian, best known for his works on the colonial history of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He taught at

Cedar Crest College Cedar Crest College is a private liberal arts women's college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At the start of the 2015-2016 academic year, the college had 1,301 undergraduates (628 traditional age, 673 adult) and 203 graduate students. Men may pu ...

from 1968 to 1976, and at the

Moore College of Art Moore College of Art & Design is a Private college, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its undergraduate programs are available only for female students, but its other educational programs, including graduate programs, are co-ed ...

from 1966 to 1968.

Biography

Early life and education

Jennings was born in

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the west bank of th ...

in 1918, just before the close of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He grew up in a poor coal-mining town and enrolled at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

in the mid-1930s. After graduating, he stayed in Philadelphia and taught high school English and social studies. He then married Joan Woollcott, and started a family. After the outbreak of

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 opposing ...

, Jennings served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

for four years, as the chief clerk of a headquarters unit stationed in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. After returning home from the war, earned a master's degree in education and two more children were born. Jennings earned a PhD in 1965 at the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

Jennings was interested in American historiography and the influence of ideology in the case of

Francis Parkman Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of '' The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life'' and his monumental seven-volume '' France and England in North Am ...

. In 1956, he purchased a used set of his works. In his reading of Parkman he argued it contained a heavy strain of

American exceptionalism American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is inherently different from other nations. Peggy Noonan, an American political pundit, wrote in ''The Wall Street Journal'' that "America is not exceptional because it has long att ...

or ideology and revisited Parkman's sources. The

Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture (OI) is an independent research organization located in Williamsburg, Virginia, sponsored by William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg. Founded in 1943, the OI supports the scholars and s ...

published his own work on colonial Indian relationships offered by Parkman in the Watergate-era titled ''Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest''.

Later life and death

Jennings spent his last years as the Senior Research Fellow at the Newberry Library of Chicago and earlier as the director of the Newberry Library's D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History. He died on November 17, 2000, after a long illness.

Bibliography

Selected works

*The "Covenant Chain" trilogy: **''The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and the Cant of Conquest'' (1975) **''The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies'' (1984); New York: Norton. **''Empire of Fortune'' (1990); W. W. Norton & Company *''The Creation of America: Through Revolution to Empire'' (2000); New York: Cambridge University Press. * ''The Founders of America'' (1993)

Articles and essays

*Jennings, Francis. "James Logan". ''

American National Biography The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Le ...

''. 13:836–37. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. .

References

External links

at the Organization of American Historians (OAH)
Francis Jennings Papers
a
the Newberry Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Francis 1918 births 2000 deaths United States Army personnel 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers