William D. Metz
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William DeWitt Metz (June 13, 1914 - February 11, 2013) was an American historian specializing in
Rhode Island History The history of Rhode Island is an overview of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the state of Rhode Island from pre-colonial times to the present. Pre-colonization Native Americans occupied most of the area comprising Rh ...
. He served as chairman of the Department of History at the University of Rhode Island, retiring after 45 years at the university in 1982. He was especially noted for promotion of
heritage conservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...
and historical preservation activities throughout Rhode Island.


Biography

William DeWitt Metz was born in Buffalo, New York on June 13, 1914 to William J. and Minerva (Lamphear) Metz and was raised in the village of
Perry, New York Perry is a town in Wyoming County, New York, United States. The population was 4,616 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. The town is on the eastern border of the county. Perry is also the name of a village ...
, about 50 miles east of Buffalo. Metz prepared for college at Dexter High School in Maine and graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1937. He subsequently earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1945. The following year, he accepted a position in the history department of the University of Rhode Island. Metz consequently spent the rest of his academic career with the history department until his retirement in 1982 as Professor Emeritus of History. In the forty-five years that Metz was associated with the University of Rhode Island, he served the University of Rhode Island academic community and the citizens of the State of Rhode Island in numerous ways. He was active in publishing numerous articles on Rhode Island history, served as editor of Phi Alpha Theta's journal, ''
The Historian ''The Historian'' is the 2005 debut novel of American author Elizabeth Kostova. The plot blends the history and folklore of Vlad Țepeș and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula. Kostova's father told her stories about Dracula when she was a c ...
'', and was an abstracter for ''Historical Abstracts.'' He also served on many university committees, such as the Library Committee, Committee on History of URI, and the Arts and Sciences Committee. He served on the Watson House Committee, the Special URI Faculty Senate Senate Committee on Controversial Visitors, and was the Chairman of the History Department from 1962-to-1968. From 1966-to-1967, Metz was a visiting distinguished Fulbright lecturer in American History at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. He served as president of
Phi Alpha Theta Phi Alpha Theta () is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history. It has more than 400,000 members, with new members numbering about 9,000 a year through its 970 chapters. Founding Phi Alpha The ...
and was involved, at one time or another, with the
Phi Beta Kappa Society The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ar ...
, and
Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...
. The activities of Professor Metz extended beyond the University as well. In 1958 he was a founding member and later served as president of the
Pettaquamscutt Historical Society Museum The South County History Center, which formerly operated as the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization in Kingston, Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, United States, that preserves and interprets the material culture of ...
; he was instrumental in acquiring the Washington County Jail for the home of Society. He was also active with the Cocumscussoc Association, and gave numerous talks on East Africa (because of his sabbatical leave spent in Uganda) and on Rhode Island history throughout his career. In the 1960s, he was a member of the Rhode Island Civil War Centennial Commission in which he conducted programs for marking sites where Abraham Lincoln spoke in Rhode Island in 1860. In 1977, he was elected chairman of the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities. He was the first chair of the South Kingstown Historic District Commission, chair of the South Kingstown Bicentennial Commission, and was a founding member of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission. Metz also acted as the member-archivist for the historic Kingston Congregational Church, and president of the Tavern Hall Club, in
Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...
. After his retirement from the University of Rhode Island in 1982, Metz was instrumental in establishing the
South County Museum The South County Museum is a non-profit museum in Narragansett, Rhode Island. History South County Museum was founded in 1933 in North Kingstown North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the ...
in
Narragansett, RI Narragansett is a New England town, town in Washington County, Rhode Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 14,532 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. However, during the summer months the town's po ...
. In 1997, the State of Rhode Island honored Metz for his lifelong community service by conferring the state's highest historic preservation award, the ''Antoinette F. Downing Volunteer Service Award,'' upon him at a statewide planning conference entitled "Preserving Place-Growing Smart," that was held at URI. Metz died on 11 Feb 2013 at his home in Kingston, RI.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metz, William D. Historians from New York (state) University of Rhode Island faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Bates College alumni 1914 births 2013 deaths Writers from Buffalo, New York People from South Kingstown, Rhode Island Fulbright alumni Members of Phi Kappa Phi