Howard R. Lamar

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Howard Roberts Lamar (born 1923) is a historian of the American West, and a former president of Yale University.

He was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, USA, and was drawn into history in part by his rich family history which includes two United States Supreme Court justices and the second president of the Republic of Texas. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1951. He was president of the university from 1992 to 1993, and since 1994 has been the Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale.

His historical works, and his mentoring of younger Western historians, helped demythologize the romantic notions of a democratic and self-sufficient American West.

The Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders at Yale University was established in his honor.

[edit] Works

  • Dakota Territory, 1861-1889
  • The Far Southwest, 1846-1912: A Territorial History
  • The Trader on the American Frontier: Myth’s Victim
  • The New Encyclopedia of the American West

[edit] Reference

  • Lewis L. Gould, "Howard Roberts Lamar", in Robert Allen Rutland, ed., Clio's Favorites: Leading Historians of the United States, 1945-2000, U of Missouri Press (2000), pp 84-97.
Preceded by:
Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.
Presidents of Yale Succeeded by:
Rick Levin