John Leddy Phelan (1924 - 24 July 1976) was a scholar of colonial

Spanish America Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' imperial era between 15th and 19th centuries. To the e ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. He spent the bulk of his scholarly career at the

University of Wisconsin, Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. Following his death, his notable former graduate student, James Lockhart, wrote a candid obituary of his mentor.

Biography

He was born in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

. Phelan graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

cum laude in History in 1947; he earned his doctorate at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1951. His dissertation on the Franciscan Order in early

colonial Mexico Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 ...

became the basis for his first book, ''The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans in the New World: A Study of the Writings of Gerónimo de Mendieta (1525-1604)'' (1956, 2nd edition 1970), which remains an important work in the field of early Latin America. Phelan’s monograph, ''The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses''(1959) continues to be one of the few works on the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

focusing on the colonial Philippines and takes into account local responses to crown policies. His third monograph, ''The Kingdom of Quito in the Seventeenth Century: Bureaucratic Politics in the Spanish Empire'' (1967) is a mixture of political and social history, along with an important chapter on cultural history focusing on Mariana de Jesús de Paredes, known as the "Lily of Quito." In 1968 the book was accorded honorable mention for the Bolton Prize of the

Conference on Latin American History Conference on Latin American History, (CLAH), founded in 1926, is the professional organization of Latin American historians affiliated with the American Historical Association. It publishes the journal ''The Hispanic American Historical Review''. ...

. His last monograph, ''The People and the King: The Comunero Revolution in Colombia 1781'', was published posthumously and received the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

’s

Beveridge Award The Albert J. Beveridge Award is awarded by the American Historical Association (AHA) for the best English-language book on American history (United States, Canada, or Latin America) from 1492 to the present. It was established on a biennial basis ...

in 1978. Phelan was elected Chairman of the Conference on Latin American History in 1973. He was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

, American Council of Learned Societies Fellow, Newberry Library Fellow. He served on the editorial boards of

Hispanic American Historical Review ''The Hispanic American Historical Review'' is a quarterly, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal of Latin American history, the official publication of the Conference on Latin American History, the professional organization of Latin American historia ...

and ''The Americas''. He died in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelan, John Leddy Harvard University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Historians of Franciscan history Historians of Latin America Historians of Mexico Historians of Colombia Historians of South America People from Fall River, Massachusetts Historians of the Philippines 1924 births 1976 deaths