From the American Historical Review 36:3 (April 1931)
Edward Channing (June 15, 1856–January 7, 1931), teacher of history in Harvard University since 1883, professor since 1897, one of the founders of the American Historical Association and its president in 1920, died on January 7, at the age of 74. A faithful and vigorous teacher., dealing especially with the colonial and Revolutionary periods of United States history, he trained a multitude of students in the application to that history of his own high and exacting standards, and was their steady friend ever after. Aside from a widely-used textbook, his Student’s History of the United States (1898), his literary product consisted almost entirely in one extensive and highly important work, a History of the United States, planned to cover the whole story in eight volumes. The first volume appeared in 1895, the sixth in 1925. Volume VII. had reached an advanced stage, but is still so far from completion that it will not be published. The ·merits widely recognized in this monumental work lie in the thoroughness of the author’s researches, his constant use and recognition of special monographs preceding, the determined fairness with which he strove to emancipate himself from Bostonian prepossessions, his sturdy independence, and, especially in the later volumes, a freshness of view which led him, disregarding traditional valuations, to place his emphasis on the things that seemed to him really significant.
Bibliography
American history leaflets; colonial and constitutional. Ed. by Albert Bushnell Hart and Edward Channing no. 1-36. New York, A. Lovell & company, 1892-1910.
Elements of United States history, by Edward Channing in consultation with Susan J. Ginn. New York : The Macmillan Company, 1919 [1910].
Extracts from the sagas describing the voyages to Vinland. New York : P. P. Simmons Co., 1906, 1892. First lessons in United States history. New York : Macmillan, 1904.
The genesis of the Massachusetts town, and the development of town meeting government. Cambridge, Mass.: J. Wilson and son, 1892.
Guide to the study and reading of American history, by Edward Channing, Albert Bushnell Hart, and Frederick Jackson Turner. Edition: Rev. and augm. ed. Boston, London, Ginn and Company, 1914.
A history of the United States, by Edward Channing. 7 vols. New York: Octagon Books, 1977, 1905-1932.
The Jeffersonian system, 1801-1811, by Edward Channing. New York, Harper, 1906; Reprint, New York, Cooper Square, 1968.
The story of the Great Lakes, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1909
Town and county government in the English colonies of North America, by Edward Channing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1884.
The Virginia and Kentucky resolutions: with the alien, sedition, and other acts. 1798-1799. New York : Parker P. Simmons, 1912.