Position

AHA President, 1962

Institution

Brown University

Presidential Address

The Great Mutation

 

In Memoriam

From Perspectives, April 1992

Carl Bridenbaugh (August 10, 1903–January 6, 1992) was born in Philadelphia and earned a bachelor’s degree at Dartmouth College and master’s and doctoral degrees at Harvard University. He served in the Navy during World War II.

He taught history for 11 years at MIT, for 12 years at the University of California at Berkeley, and for 11 years at Brown University, where he retired in 1969. He held a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and was a Guggenheim Fellow three times.

Dr. Bridenbaugh was the first director of the Institute of Early American History and Culture, from 1945 to 1950. He served as president of the AHA in 1962.

He wrote fifteen books and numerous articles for journals and newspapers. His books included Cities in the Wilderness (1938), Rebels and Gentlemen (1942), Seat of Empire (1950), Cities in Revolt (1955), Mitre and Sceptre (1962), Vexed and Troubled Englishmen (1968), No Peace Beyond the Line (1971), The Spirit of ’76 (1975) and Jamestown 1544–1699 (1980).

He is survived by his wife, the former Roberta Haines Herriott, who was co-author of Vexed and Troubled Englishmen.

Bibliography

Cities in the wilderness; the first century of urban life in America, 1625-1742, by Carl Bridenbaugh. New York: Ronald Press, 1938.

Rebels and gentleman; Philadelphia in the age of Franklin, by Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1942.

Peter Harrison, first American architect. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1949.

The colonial craftsman. New York: New York University Press, 1950; Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1990.

Myths and realities; societies of the colonial South. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1952.

Cities in the wilderness: the first century of urban life in America, 1625-1742. 2d ed. New York: Knopf, 1955.

Cities in revolt; urban life in America, 1743-1776. 1st ed. New York: Knopf, 1955.

Seat of empire; the political role of eighteenth-century Williamsburg. New ed. Williamsburg, Va., Colonial Williamsburg; distributed by Holt, New York, 1958.

Mitre and sceptre; transatlantic faiths, ideas, personalities, and politics, 1689 1775. New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.

Myths & realities; societies of the colonial South. New York: Atheneum, 1963.

Vexed and troubled Englishmen, 1590-1642. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968, 1967.

No peace beyond the line; the English in the Caribbean, 1624-1690, by Carl and Roberta Bridenbaugh. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.

Silas Downer, forgotten patriot : his life and writings, by Carl Bridenbaugh. Providence: Rhode Island Bicentennial Foundation, 1974.

The spirit of ’76: the growth of American patriotism before independence, by Carl Bridenbaugh. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.

Rebels and gentlemen: Philadelphia in the age of Franklin, by Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978, 1970.

Jamestown, 1544-1699, by Carl Bridenbaugh. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

Early Americans, by Carl Bridenbaugh. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Gentleman’s progress: the Itinerarium of Dr. Alexander Hamilton, 1744, edited with an introduction by Carl Bridenbaugh. Itinerarium Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1948.