Constance McLaughlin Winsor Green (August 21, 1897 in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all ...

– December 5, 1975 in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

) was an American historian. She who won the 1963

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...

for '' Washington, Village and Capital, 1800–1878'' (1962).

Biography

Green was born at

. Her father was historian Andrew C. McLaughlin. She completed a bachelor's degree at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in 1919 and a Master's degree at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

in history in 1925. After graduation, Green served as a part-time instructor at Mount Holyoke from 1925 to 1932. Going on to complete a PhD at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

in 1937, her dissertation, a case history of

Holyoke, Massachusetts Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,238. Located north of Springfield ...

, represented one of the earliest academic works of

urban history Urban history is a field of history that examines the historical nature of cities and towns, and the process of urbanization. The approach is often multidisciplinary, crossing boundaries into fields like social history, architectural history, urb ...

, and would subsequently be published by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universit ...

upon receiving the university's Eggleston Award in History. In 1938 she became instructor in the history department of Smith College and head of the Smith College Council of Industrial Relations in 1939. After leaving Smith, Green accepted the position of historian at

Springfield Armory The Springfield Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. She became a consulting historian for the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desig ...

in 1946, chief historian of the Army Ordnance Department in 1948, and historian at the research and development board, Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 1954, under a six-year grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Green became director of the Washington History Project, which was administrated by

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was chart ...

. She married Donald Ross Green; they had three children, including daughter Lois Green Carr, who was also a historian. Green died on December 5, 1975 in Annapolis, Maryland at her daughter's home.

Publications, prizes, and honorary degrees

Green wrote a number of books on the

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...

of the United States. Her works on this subject include ''American Cities in the Growth of the Nation'' (1957), ''The Rise of Urban America'' (1965), and ''The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation's Capital'' (1967). Her other works include ''History of Naugatuck, Connecticut'' (1948),
The Ordnance Department: Planning Munitions for War
' (1955), ''Eli Whitney and the Birth of American Technology'' (1956), ''Vanguard - A History'' (1970) co-authored with Milton Lomask for NASA, ''The Church on Lafayette Square: A History of St. Johns Church, Washington D.C., 1815–1970'' (1970) and ''Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800–1950'' (1976). In 1963 she won the

for '' Washington, Village and Capital, 1800–1878''. She also won the Eggleston Prize in History for ''Holyoke, Massachusetts: A Case History of the Industrial Revolution in America''. She received

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s from Smith College and

Pace College Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...

References

External links

Constance McLaughlin Green papers, Library of CongressGuide to the Constance M. Green Papers, undated, Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Constance Mclaughlin 1897 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American historians Historians of the United States Mount Holyoke College alumni Smith College alumni Yale University alumni Pulitzer Prize for History winners American women historians Urban historians 20th-century American women writers People from Ann Arbor, Michigan Historians from Michigan