Clay McShane (died October 29, 2017) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Career

Clay McShane studied at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

and graduated in 1968. He received a certificate in the history of technology from the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, where he was also a member of the visiting faculty. He continued his graduate education at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, where he earned his MA in 1970 and his PhD in 1975. His master's thesis, Wisconsin, ''Technology and Reform: Street Railways and the Growth of Milwaukee, 1887-1900'', was published as a book in 1975. In 1975 and 1976, he was Visiting Assistant Professor at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. He began his long tenure at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

in 1976, where he taught history until his retirement in 2012.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:McShane, Clay 1943 births 2017 deaths City College of New York alumni Smithsonian Institution people University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American historians Carnegie Mellon University faculty Northeastern University faculty