William Bouwsma Explained

William James Bouwsma
Birth Date:	22 November 1923
Birth Place:	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Death Place:	Berkeley, California
Nationality:	American
Known For:	Sather Professor of History Emeritus
Occupation:	Professor

William James Bouwsma (November 22, 1923 – March 2, 2004) was an American scholar and historian of the European Renaissance. He was Sather Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and president of the American Historical Association (AHA) in 1978.

Early life and education

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan of Dutch descent, he was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. He received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1943. Upon graduation from Harvard, he joined the United States Army Air Forces where he spent three years as a classification specialist stationed in Denver, Colorado and became a buck sergeant.^[1] Following service in Army Air Forces, he returned to Harvard, receiving his Ph.D. in 1950.

Academic career

Bouwsma taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign until 1957 when he accepted a position in the History Department at U.C. Berkeley. After teaching for two years at Harvard (1969–1971), he returned to U.C. Berkeley as Chairman of the History Department, serving in this capacity from 1966 to 1967, and from 1981 to 1983. He was chancellor for academic affairs from 1967 to 1969.^{[2] [3] [4]} He was an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.^{[5] [6]}

In 1992, he received the inaugural Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award from the American Historical Association.^[7]

Works

• "The Politics of Commynes", The Journal of Modern History Volume 23, Number 4, December 1951
• Concordia Mundi: the career and thought of Guillaume Postel; 1510-1581 Harvard historical monographs 33 (1957).^[8]
• Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty: Renaissance Values in the Age of the Counter Reformation (University of California Press, 1968);
  • Book: 2023 Kindle edition of 1st edition. 978-0520368927 . Bouwsma . William J. . 15 November 2023 . Univ of California Press .
• John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait (Oxford University Press, 1988)
  • Book: 1989 pbk edition. 0-19-505951-4. Bouwsma . William J. . March 17, 1989 . Oxford University Press .
• A Usable Past: Essays in European Cultural History (University of California Press, 1990);
• "Eclipse of the Renaissance", The American Historical Review Volume 103, Number 1, February 1998
• The Waning of the Renaissance, 1550–1640 (Yale University Press, 2000);
  • Book: 2002 pbk edition. 0-300-09717-4 . Bouwsma . William James . January 2002 . Yale University Press .

Notes and References

1. https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/bouwsma_william.pdf "William J. Bouwsma"
2. Web site: William J. Bouwsma . University of California . 2010-05-22.
3. Web site: William J. Bouwsma . New Netherland Institute . 2010-05-22.
4. Web site: William J. Bouwsma . Historians.org . September 2004 . Perspectives . 2010-05-22.
5. Web site: William James Bouwsma . 2022-06-14 . American Academy of Arts & Sciences . en.
6. Web site: APS Member History . 2022-06-14 . search.amphilsoc.org.
7. Web site: Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award Recipients. American Historical Association.
8. Review of Concordia Mundi: The Career and Thought of Guillaume Posted (1510-81) by William J. Bouwsma. Cranz, F. Edward. Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. 35. 2. 289–291. 10.2307/2851346. 2851346 .