Richard Hartshorne

Richard Hartshorne (pronounced harts-horn) (1899, Kittanning, Pennsylvania – 1992, Madison, Wisconsin) was a prominent American geographer. He completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University (1920) and his doctorate at the University of Chicago (1924), then taught at the University of Minnesota (1924–40) and the University of Wisconsin (1945–70), with war-time interruption (1941–45) to establish and run the Geography Division in the branch of Research and Analysis of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)^[1].

He was part of a key geographical debate in the 1950s over the nature of the subject. Fred K. Schaefer called for the adoption of the 'scientific method' and study of spatial laws and criticised the 'old method' promoted by Hartshorne as the 'Hartshornian orthodoxy'.

He died of cancer at his home in Madison, Wisconsin.^[2][3] Among his brothers was the prominent American philosopher Charles Hartshorne.

Awards and honors

• He was president of the Association of American Geographers in 1949.
• The association gave him its top award in 1960
• Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from Clark University, April 17, 1971.
• Victoria medal from the Royal Geographical Society in 1984.

Books

• The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in the Light of the Past, 1939. The book's subtitle reflected his concern that geographers, as scientists and scholars, should familiarize themselves with, and take account of, past work in their field. The book itself became a standard in the field and remained in print for decades; the seventh edition was published in 2000. Eprint of Editor's Forward and Chapters 1, 2, 11, and 12.
• Perspective on the Nature of Geography, 1959.
• The Academic Citizen: Selected Statements by Richard Hartshorne with introduction and notes by Mark Hoyt Ingraham^[4], U of Wisconsin 1970. Various statements on academic issues, authored (in some cases, co-authored) by Hartshorne, from the late 1940s through the 1960s (his pre-emeritus years at the University of Wisconsin).

Articles

• "Location as a Factor in Geography", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jun., 1927), pp. 92–99
• "Geographic and Political Boundaries in Upper Silesia", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec., 1933), pp. 195–228.
• (and Samuel N. Dicken) "A Classification of the Agricultural Regions of Europe and North America on a Uniform Statistical Basis", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jun., 1935), pp. 99–120.
• "Recent Developments in Political Geography, I", The American Political Science Review, Vol. 29, No. 5 (Oct., 1935), pp. 785–804.
• "Recent Developments in Political Geography, II", The American Political Science Review, Vol. 29, No. 6 (Dec., 1935), pp. 943–966.
• "Six Standard Seasons of the Year", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Sep., 1938), pp. 165–178.
• "The Concepts of 'Raison d'Être' and 'Maturity' of States; Illustrated from the Mid-Danube Area", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 30, pp. 59–60; 1940.
• "The Politico-Geographic Pattern of the World", Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 218, Public Policy in a World at War (Nov., 1941), pp. 45–57.
• "The Concept of Geography as a Science of Space, from Kant and Humboldt to Hettner", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 48, No. 2 (Jun., 1958), pp. 97–108.
• "Political Geography in the Modern World", The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 4, No. 1, The Geography of Conflict (Mar., 1960), pp. 52–66.

References

1. ^ McMaster, Robert and McMaster, Susanna, "A History of Twentieth-Century American Academic Cartography" in Cartography and Geographic Information Science, v.29, n. 3, July, 2002, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, Gaithersburg, MD. U of Wisconsin PDF Eprint
2. ^ New York Times Obituary, "Richard Hartshorne; Geographer Was 92", November 10, 1992, Eprint
3. ^ Martin, Geoffrey J., "In Memoriam: Richard Hartshorne, 1899-1992", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Sep., 1994), pp. 480-492, JSTOR
4. ^ "Mark H. Ingraham, emeritus professor of mathematics, long time dean of the College of Letters and Science, and former national president of the AAUP...." — page vi of the preface.