Richard S. Dunn, Prominent Historian, Professor and Author, Dies at 93

Richard S. Dunn, 93, formerly of Philadelphia, award-winning professor emeritus of American history at the University of Pennsylvania, director emeritus of the groundbreaking McNeil Center for Early American Studies, co-director emeritus of the American Philosophical Society, and a researcher and prolific author, died Monday, January 24 of congestive heart failure and COVID-19 at his home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

A renowned expert on ancient American and Caribbean history, he was a professor at Penn for 40 years. He presided over the school history department from 1972 to 1977, helped recruit its first female tenured faculty and won the school’s 1993 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

He served on several committees that shaped the School of Arts and Sciences and the university as a whole, and was named Penn’s first Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History. The History Department established the Richard S. Dunn Award for Distinguished Teaching after his retirement in 1996.

Professor Dunn founded the Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies, today the McNeil Center for Early American Studiesat Penn in 1977, and served in leadership positions until 2000. The center’s Richard S. Dunn Fellowship recognizes excellence in scholarship, and its Chief of Staff serves as Trustee Richard S. Dunn.

In one online tributecurrent director Emma Hart said: “Richard’s legacy will live on well beyond his lifetime.

In 2002, Professor Dunn and his wife, Mary Maples Dunn, became co-executive directors of the Philadelphia-based American Philosophical Society. For six years, they oversaw the society’s initiatives in research, scholarships, researcher exchanges, endowments and building renovations, among others.

A well traveled scholar, Professor Dunn edited, wrote, and reviewed numerous documents, books and articles. His 1972 book, Sugar and slaves: the rise of the planter class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713was a 1973 National Book Award finalist in history, and his 2014 book, A Tale of Two Plantations: Slave Life and Labor in Jamaica and Virginiawon the 2015 Anisfield-Wolf Book Prize for non-fiction.

He also won other awards and fellowships and was a member of many learned organizations. He won the 2017 American Historical Association’s Award for Scholarly Distinction, was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciencesand talked about his work at many events around the world.

“As a historical editor should, I try to present my findings in a way that encourages the reader to come to their own conclusions,” he said in a interview 2015 with the Junto blog on early American history. He said the Harvard Gazette in 2015“I have a good experience of writing history from top to bottom. But now I try to write the story from the bottom up.

In one online tribute, former students called Professor Dunn a “historical giant” and praised his “alert and humane scholarship”. His colleagues noted his “good heart”, his “generous soul” and his “extraordinary integrity”.

Born August 9, 1928 in Minneapolis, Professor Dunn is a graduate of St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Harvard University. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in history from Princeton University and taught at Princeton and the University of Michigan before joining Penn in 1957.

He met Mary Maples, a fellow historian then teaching at Bryn Mawr College, at a history convention, and they married in 1960. They had daughters Rebecca and Ceci and lived in Philadelphia and St. Davids.

His wife became president of Smith College in Massachusetts in 1985, and Professor Dunn often traveled between Philadelphia and New England, reveling in his role as his wife’s partner and entertaining host for colleagues, students and friends. She passed away in 2017.

A fan of the Eagles, 76ers and Phillies, Professor Dunn loved recounting the time he was knocked down by Sixers star Charles Barkley. He loved opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and recited Shakespeare in Zoom meetings with other enthusiasts.

“He was a very caring human being,” said his daughter, Ceci. “He was always interested in what we were doing. He was a model for me. »

His daughter, Rebecca, said: “I enjoyed chatting with him. He always gave good advice.”

In addition to his daughters, Dr. Dunn is survived by three grandchildren and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

A celebration of his life is to take place later.

Donations in his name can be made to McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Office of Advancement, 3600 Market St., Suite 300, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104; the American Philosophical Society, Development Office, 104 S. Fifth St., Philadelphia, Pa.19106; and Smith CollegeGift Accounting, 76 Elm St., Northampton, Mass. 01063.