Harold David Langley (15 February 1925 – 29 July 2020) was an American diplomatic and naval historian who served as associate curator of naval history at 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 ...

from 1969 to 1996. As a naval historian, he was a pioneer in exploring American naval social and medical history.

Early life and education

Langley was born in

Amsterdam, New York Amsterdam () is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam is bordered on the northern and ea ...

. The son of Walter Benedict Langley and Anna Mae McCaffrey, Harold Langley joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

at the age of eighteen and served from 1943 to 1946, receiving along with his unit the Army Meritorious Service Medal and the

Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal was a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was create ...

. Following his military service, he attended

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

, where he earned his A.B. in 1950. Going on for graduate work, he attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, where he earned his M.A. in 1951 and his

Phd A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1960 with a dissertation on "The Humanitarians and the United States Navy, 1798–1862."

Professional career

Langley began his professional career at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, Manuscripts Division, in Washington, D.C., where he served as a manuscripts assistant in 1951–52, while a graduate student. Moving to the

Libraries in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was a graduate student, he served as a manuscripts specialist, rare book collection, 1952–54. Returning to the

in Washington, he was a manuscripts specialist, there in 1954–55. In 1955, Marywood College in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

, appointed him assistant professor of history. He remained there until 1957, when he received an appointment as a diplomatic historian in the U.S. Department of State. In 1964,

appointed him

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

, and in 1968 promoted him to full professor in 1968. In 1969, the

, Washington, D.C., appointed him associate curator of naval history. While holding that position, he was also an adjunct professor of American history at the

from 1971 to 2001. He died in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

, in July 2020.

Awards

* 1995 John Lyman Book Awards in the category of Science and Technology for ''History of Medicine in the Early U.S. Navy'' * 2000 K. Jack Bauer Award,

North American Society for Oceanic History The North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) is the national organization in the United States of America for professional historians, underwater archeologists, archivists, librarians, museum specialists and others working in the broad f ...

* 2001 Samuel Eliot Morison Award, USS Constitution Museum * 2014 Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award, Naval Historical Foundation

Published works

*(Editor with others) ''Documents on Germany, 1944–59'', (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959). *(Editor with others) ''Documents on

Disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...

, 1960'', (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961). *(Compiler and co-editor) ''Documents on International Aspects of the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, 1954–1962,'' (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963.) *''Social Reform in 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 ...

, 1798–1862'', (Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1967). *''St. Stephen Martyr Roman Catholic Church and Community, 1867–1967''. (Washington, D.C.: St. Stephen Martyr Centennial Committee, 1968). *''To

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

with the

Dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

and glimpses of life in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and California, 1858–1859'' edited by Harold D. Langley. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, c.1974). *(Editor with Francis Loewenheim and Manfred Jonas) '' Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence''. (New York: Saturday Review Press, 1975). * (Editor) ''So Proudly We Hail: The History of the

United States Flag The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

''. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981). *''A History of

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

in the Early U.S. Navy''. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).

Reviews

Langley's examination of the early practice of naval medicine contains some enlightening and shocking revelations. Foremost is the ponderous movement of bureaucracies, most notably the Navy Department, which could not produce a decision on the means to provide care and treatment for wounded and infirm sailors.

References

Sources

* ''Contemporary Authors'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Langley, Harold D. People from Amsterdam, New York Catholic University of America alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni American naval historians Smithsonian Institution people Catholic University of America faculty American male non-fiction writers 1925 births 2020 deaths Historians from New York (state) Military personnel from New York (state) American Catholics