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 race; as well as the st ...

, 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 located within Millburn Township, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a popular commuter town for residents who work in New York City. As of the 2020 United States Census, the CDP's po ...

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 Valley ...

, and in the fall of 1931 matriculated at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

. 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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales ...

at the 1933

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

. He graduated

ΦΒΚ The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

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 maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

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

s, a National Humanities Foundation grant, and a Guggenheim Grant. 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 town in 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 census, which swells nearly sixfold during the summer. A t ...

, 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 People from Millburn, New Jersey Military personnel from New Jersey 20th-century American male writers Historians from New Jersey Historians from Connecticut