Samuel Proctor (March 29, 1919 – July 10, 2005) was an American
history professor and author. He taught at the University of Florida (UF) and wrote about the school and the state's history.
Early life and education
Proctor was born in
Jacksonville, Florida. He was one of six sons of Jack Proctor, a
textile salesman who was born in Poland, and Celia Proctor (née Schneider), a
housewife. Proctor arrived at the
University of Florida as a freshman in 1937 and received his
Bachelor of Arts in 1941. As an
undergraduate, he was on the staff of the ''
Florida Alligator''. He received his
Master of Arts from UF in 1942 after only two
semesters, in which the wrote a 560-page thesis,
Napoleon Bonaparte Broward: The Portrait of a Progressive Democrat'' on
Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward. In 1950 Proctor published
Napoleon Bonaparte Broward: Florida's Fighting Democrat'
with the
University Press of Florida.
Proctor served in the
United States Army during
World War II, where he taught reading and
arithmetic
Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...
to illiterate
Army recruit
Military recruitment refers to the activity of attracting people to, and selecting them for, military training and employment.
Demographics
Gender
Across the world, a large majority of recruits to state armed forces and non-state arme ...
s at
Camp Blanding near
Starke.
Career at the University of Florida
Discharged from the service in 1946, he was offered scholarships to pursue an
international law degree at
Yale and
Ohio State. However, he instead decided to return to the University of Florida, originally to attend the
College of Law. One of his former professors, William Carleton (chairman of the freshman
social sciences program and later namesake of Carleton Hall) convinced him to help alleviate the post-war shortage of teachers.
In 1953,
University President J. Hillis Miller, Sr.
J. Hillis Miller Sr. (August 29, 1899 – November 14, 1953) was an American university professor, education administrator and university president. Miller was a native of Virginia, and earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees before emb ...
named Proctor the first UF Historian and Archivist and commissioned for him a book on UF history in honor of the university's 100th anniversary. The resulting work was submitted by Proctor as his
dissertation,
The University of Florida: its early years 1853-1906'
'','' and he received his
Ph.D. in 1958. Proctor remained the UF Historian and Archivist until his death, serving even in retirement. He published a history of the university, ''Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida'', in 1986 with Langley Press.
Proctor became a professor of
history at the UF and taught at the university for 50 years.
Proctor was a leading figure in the development of
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
. He founded the Oral History Program in 1967 (which is now one of the largest oral history programs in the United States) and was its director. The program was later renamed the
Samuel Proctor Oral History Program in his honor.
He was also noted as an expert on
Florida history
The history of Florida can be traced to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. They left behind artifacts and archeological evidence. Florida's written history begins with the arrival of Europ ...
, and edited the academic journal, journal ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' for over 40 years. He held the titles of Julian C. Yonge Professor of Florida History and Distinguished Service Professor of History. Proctor also held the post of Curator of History at the Florida Museum of Natural History and was the director of the Center for Florida Studies. Proctor also served as the University of Florida Historian. He established the University Archives and wrote major works on the university's history. Proctor is also credited with helping to establish the Center for Jewish Studies at UF.
Proctor was one of two Academia, academics to be on the 1998 Lakeland, Florida, Lakeland ''The Ledger, Ledger'' list of the "50 Most Important Floridians of the 20th Century," selected by a panel of distinguished Floridians.
Proctor retired from teaching in 1993 but remained involved with the university, maintaining an office in Turlington Hall and heading several University of Florida Alumni Association and University of Florida Foundation committees.
Proctor also served as an expert witness in court and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Historical Society. The Samuel Proctor Endowment was established in his honor for history graduate students, known as Samuel Proctor Scholars.
Proctor was a longtime friend of Bob Graham, the Governor of Florida, Florida governor and United States Senate, U.S. Senator who was one of his students.
See also
*
Samuel Proctor Oral History Program
*List of University of Florida honorary degree recipients
*University of Florida Digital Collections
References
External links
Dr. Samuel Proctor Oral History Interview conducted in August 2002 by Dr. Mark Greenberg. Audio file and written transcript.
Samuel Proctor Oral History Programhome page, retrieved 2019-06-17.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, Samuel
1919 births
2005 deaths
University of Florida alumni
University of Florida faculty
Historians of Florida