Thomas Theodore Allsen (February 16, 1940 – February 18, 2019) was an American historian specializing in

Mongolian studies Mongolian studies or Mongolistics is an interdisciplinary field of scholarly inquiry concerning Mongolian language, Mongolian history, and Mongolian culture. Scholars who work in the field of Mongolian studies are often referred to as Mongolists. ...

. Following the completion of a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

in 1962, Allsen attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

to pursue a Master of Arts in

Russian studies Russian studies is an interdisciplinary field crossing politics of Russia, politics, history of Russia, history, Culture of Russia, culture, economy of Russia, economics, and languages of Russia, languages of Russia and its neighborhood, often gr ...

. In 1969, he graduated from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

with a

Master of Library Science The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) is the master's degree that combines two interdisciplinary academic disciplines. Library science is applied information science and a subfield of information science. This degree focuses on inf ...

degree. He completed a doctoral degree at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1979 and began teaching at

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

. The next year, Allsen joined the faculty of the

Trenton State College The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ was the first normal school, ...

History Department. He received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 2002, and retired from The College of New Jersey in the same year. Between 1986 and 2013, Allsen served on the editorial staff of the journal ''Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi''. The journal published a ''Festschrift for Thomas T. Allsen in Celebration of His 75th Birthday'' in its 21st volume (2014–15). Allsen died on February 18, 2019, aged 79.

Selected Bibliography

The Mongols and Siberia
" in The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire, ed. Michal Biran and Kim Hodong, Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
The Steppe and the Sea: Pearls in the Mongol Empire
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. *"Population Movements in Mongol Eurasia". Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors, edited by Reuven Amitai, Michal Biran and Anand A. Yang, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015, pp. 119-151. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824847890-009
The royal hunt in Eurasian history
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. *"Technologies of Government in the Mongolian Empire: A Geographical Overview." In Imperial Statecraft: Political Forms and Techniques of Governance in Inner Asia, Sixth–Twentieth Centuries, edited by David Sneath, 117–40. Bellingham: Center for East Asian Studies, Western Washington University, 2006.
Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia
Cambridge University Press, 2004. * "The Circulation of Military Technology in the Mongolian Empire". In Warfare in Inner Asian History (500-1800), (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002) doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004391789_008 *"Sharing out the Empire: Apportioned Lands Under the Mongols." I
Nomads in the Sedentary World
edited by Anatoly Khazanov and André Wink, 172–90. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2001.
Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire A Cultural History of Islamic Textiles
Cambridge University Press, 1997.
The Rise of the Mongolian Empire and Mongolian Rule in North China
" In The Cambridge History of China, Volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907–1368, edited by Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett, 321–413. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Mongolian Princes and Their Merchant Partners, 1200–1260
" Asia Major, third series, 2(2): 83–126 (1989). *Mongol imperialism: the policies of the Grand Qan Mongke in China, Russia, and the Islamic lands, 1251-9. xvii, 278 pp. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987. *"Mongols and North Caucasia." Archivum Eurasiae medii aevi 7: 5–40. 91 (1987). *"The Princes of the Left Hand: An Introduction to the History of the Ulus 87 of Orda in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries." Archivum Eurasiae medii aevi 5: 5–40 (1985). *"The Yuan Dynasty and the Uighurs of Turfan in the 13th Century". China Among Equals: The Middle Kingdom and its Neighbors, 10th–14th Centuries, edited by Morris Rossabi, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983, pp. 243-280. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520341722-014 *"Prelude to the Western Campaigns: Mongol Military Operations in the Volga-Ural Region, 1217–1237." Archivum Eurasiae medii aevi 3: 5–24 (1983).https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/title_1754.ahtml

References

1940 births 2019 deaths 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers The College of New Jersey faculty Western Kentucky University faculty University of Minnesota alumni University of Oregon alumni University of Washington alumni Portland State University alumni Mongolists American academic journal editors 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers {{US-historian-stub