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 ...
,
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...
, and
emeritus professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of history at
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...
.My Jewish Learning: The Lower East Side He coined the phrase
new Mormon history
New Mormon history refers to a style of reporting the history of Mormonism by both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars which departs from earlier more polemical or faith-based styles of history. Rather than presenting material selectively to either pro ...
in a 1969 article of the same name.http://www.sunstoneonline.com/magazine/issues/123/123-28-32.pdf
Rischin is considered an authority on American ethnic and immigration history and a pioneer in the field of
American Jewish history
''American Jewish History'' is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Jewish Historical Society. The journal was established in 1892 and focuses on all aspects of the history of Jews in the United States. The journal ...
. Historian
Selma Berrol
Selma may refer to:
Places
*Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cali ...
, however, has challenged the minimal treatment Rischin has given to the tensions between earlier German Jews and later Russian Jews in America.
Biography
Rischin was born and raised in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
awarded him a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in 1957.
Ruschin became a professor at San Francisco State University in 1964."Moses Rischin". ''Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors''. Gale. Farmington Hills, Mich.: 2001. Retrieved via ''Gale In Context: Biography'' database, 2020-08-22. In addition to his professorship, he sat on the board for the ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' and on the council of the
American Jewish History Society
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
.Browse Journals /ref>AJHS: Academic Council Member /ref> During the
Monica Lewinsky scandal
Monica may refer to:
People
*Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress
*Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...
, Rischin was a signatory of "Historians in Defense of the Constitution" wherein 400 historians criticized efforts to impeach President Bill Clinton.">Salon Newsreal , "Historians in Defense of the Constitution" /ref>
He was the longtime director of the
Western Jewish History Center The Western Jewish History Center existed as part of the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California, from 1967 to 2010. It is now the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, administered as part of the Bancroft Library, University of Califor ...
, at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, from its founding in 1967; from 2005 until approximately 2010, an annual lecture was given there in his name.
A collection of historical essays was published in Rischin's honor in 1996.
A character in the 1967 novel ''Meyer Meyer'' by Helen Hudson may have been partly modeled after him.
Books
*''The Promised City: New York's Jews, 1870-1914'' (
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...
)
*''Jews of the American West'', with John Livingston (
Wayne State University Press
Wayne State University Press (or WSU Press) is a university press that is part of Wayne State University. It publishes under its own name and also the imprints
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), ...
)
Articles and essays
*"The New Mormon History", ''The American West'' 6, March 1969, 49.
*"The Jewish Experience in America: A View from the West"
*Foreword to ''California Jews'' (2003) Brandeis University Press