Paul Samuel Boyer (August 2, 1935–March 17, 2012Brooks, S.
"Paul Boyer, influential scholar of religious history, dies"
''

The Daily Cardinal ''The Daily Cardinal'' is a student newspaper that serves the University of Wisconsin–Madison community. One of the oldest student newspapers in the country, it began publishing on Monday, April 4, 1892. The newspaper is financially and editori ...

'', Mar 26, 2012.Vitello, Paul
Paul S. Boyer, 78, Dies; Historian Studied A-Bomb and Witches
''New York Times''. April 2, 2012.) was a U.S. cultural and intellectual historian (Ph.D.,

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, 1966) and Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus and former director (1993–2001) of the Institute for Research in the Humanities 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 ...

. He had held visiting professorships at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, and William & Mary; had received Guggenheim Foundation and

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

Fellowships; and was an elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, the

Society of American Historians The Society of American Historians, founded in 1939, encourages and honors literary distinction in the writing of history and biography about American topics. The approximately 300 members include professional historians, independent scholars, jou ...

, and the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

Biography

Boyer was born in 1935 in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, to Clarence and Ethel Boyer; he had two older brothers, Ernest L. Boyer and William Boyer. The family was active in the

Brethren in Christ Church The Brethren in Christ Church (BIC) is a River Brethren Christian denomination. Falling within the Anabaptist tradition of Christianity, the Brethren in Christ Church has roots in the Mennonite church, with influences from the revivals of Radic ...

, an offshoot of the

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

. In 1962 he married Ann Talbot, of

Baltimore, Md Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-larges ...

. He earned his Doctorate in American History from Harvard University. Before being invited to the University of Wisconsin in 1980, he taught at the

University of Massachusetts-Amherst A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a co ...

from 1967 to 1980. After his retirement, he became an editor at U.W. Press and a co-author of several college textbooks. Paul Samuel Boyer died at Agrace Hospicecare on March 17, 2012, after three months battle with cancer.

Historiography

Boyer, who grew up in a conservative Christian family, was a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

and

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

.Helsey, Mary Jane. ''Peace and Persistence: Tracing the Brethre in Christ Peace Witness Through Three Generations,'' Kent State University Press, 2003, p. 132. He specialized in the religious and moral history of the American people from the days of the

Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...

in the 1690s, through the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

efforts to reform society in the 19th and early 20th centuries to the impact of

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...

on the American psyche after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Selected publications

''Purity in Print: Book Censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age''
(NY:

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjori ...

, 1968; 2nd edition with two new chapters, Madison:

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a Non-profit organization, non-profit university press publishing Peer review, peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic comm ...

, 2002)
''Notable American Women, 1607–1950''
(

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 3 vols., 1971). Assistant editor.
''Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft''
'Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of

Witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

'' (Cambridge:

, 1974). Co-author with Stephen Nissenbaum. **1974 Winner of the John H. Dunning Prize of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

**1975 Nominated for a

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

in the Category History
Salem Witchcraft Papers''
co-editor with Stephen Nissenbaum (3 vols., NY:

Da Capo Press Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional offi ...

, 1977)
''Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820–1920''
(Cambridge:

, 1978)
''By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age''
(NY: Pantheon, 1985; 2nd edn. with a new introduction, Chapel Hill:

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the southern United States. It is a mem ...

, 1994) *'' Reagan as President: Contemporary Views of the Man, His Politics, and His Politicies'', edited with an introduction by Paul Boyer (Chicago, Ivan R. Dee, 1990).
''When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture''
(Cambridge:

, 1992
''Fallout: A Historian Reflects on America's Half-Century Encounter With Nuclear Weapons''
(Columbus:

Ohio State University Press The Ohio State University Press is the university press of Ohio State University. It was founded in 1957. The OSU Press has published approximately 1700 books since its inception. The current director is Tony Sanfilippo, who had previously worke ...

, 1998)
''American History: A Very Short Introduction''
(Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2012)
''The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History''
co-authored with Joan Shelley Rubin and Scott E. Casper (Oxford University Press, 2013; )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Paul S. University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Northwestern University faculty College of William & Mary faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty American historians 1935 births 2012 deaths Historians of witchcraft