Durand Echeverria (February 26, 1913 – May 21, 2001) 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 ...

, studying and writing about French writers and eighteenth-century ideas about democracy. He also translated several historically-important French documents into English.

Biography

Echeverria was born in

Short Hills, New Jersey Short Hills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) situated within Millburn, in Essex County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey, and part of the New York metropolitan area. The community is a commuter town for resi ...

to Charles and Marie (Durand) Echeverria. He attended high school at

South Kent School South Kent School, a private all-boys boarding school in South Kent, Connecticut, United States, is located on a campus in western Litchfield County. It is sited on Spooner Hill east of Bull's Bridge, overlooking the former Housatonic Valle ...

, and in the fall of 1931 matriculated at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He was captain of Princeton's lightweight crew which won the Goldthwait Cup in 1933 and 1935, and competed for the

Thames Challenge Cup The Thames Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's eights at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from a single rowing club A rowing club is a club for people intere ...

at the 1933

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

. He graduated ΦΒΚ in 1935. Echeverria taught at several boys schools, and served in the South Pacific for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during World War II. After the war, he returned to Princeton for his PhD. He joined the faculty at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1950 (becoming chair of the French faculty in 1964), and remained there until he retired in 1980. He was the recipient of two

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

s, a National Humanities Foundation grant, and a

Guggenheim Grant Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated dist ...

. He also served as coach of the Brown crew for several seasons. Between his 1980 retirement and his death in 2001, Echeverria lived with his wife in

Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 United ...

, where he served the town as a commissioner and conservation activist.

Bibliography

* ''Mirage in the West: A History of the French Image of American Society to 1815'', 1957 * ''The Mapeou Revolution: A Study in the History of Libertarianism, France, 1770 - 1774'', 1985 * ''The French Image of America. A chronological and subject Bibliography of French Books printed before 1816 relating to the British North American Colonies and the United States'', 2 vols., 1994 * ''Liberty's impact : the world views 1776'' : Brown University, July 4, 1976 * ''A history of Billingsgate'', Wellfleet Historical Society, 1991 * ''New Travels in the United States of America''. 1788 (translated by Mara Soceanu Varnos and Durand Echeverria, edited by Durand Echeverria) Belknap Press, 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Echeverria, Durand 1913 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Princeton University alumni Brown University faculty South Kent School alumni Writers from Millburn, New Jersey Military personnel from Essex County, New Jersey 20th-century American male writers Historians from New Jersey Historians from Connecticut