Moses Rischin
American historian (1925–2020)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moses Rischin (1925-2020[1]) was an American historian, author, lecturer, editor, and emeritus professor of history at San Francisco State University.[2][3] He coined the phrase new Mormon history in a 1969 article of the same name.[4]
Rischin is considered an authority on American ethnic and immigration history[5][6] and a pioneer in the field of American Jewish history.[7] Historian Selma Berrol, however, has challenged the minimal treatment Rischin has given to the tensions between earlier German Jews and later Russian Jews in America.[8]
Biography
Rischin was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City.[1] His undergraduate studies were at Brooklyn College.[9] Harvard University awarded him a Ph.D. in 1957.[10]
Ruschin became a professor at San Francisco State University in 1964.[11] 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.[12][13] During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rischin was a signatory of "Historians in Defense of the Constitution" wherein 400 historians criticized efforts to impeach President Bill Clinton.[14][15]
He was the longtime director of the Western Jewish History Center, at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, from its founding in 1967;[16][17] from 2005 until approximately 2010, an annual lecture was given there in his name.[18]
A collection of historical essays was published in Rischin's honor in 1996.[19]
A character in the 1967 novel Meyer Meyer by Helen Hudson may have been partly modeled after him.[20]
Books
- The Promised City: New York's Jews, 1870-1914 (Harvard University Press) ISBN 978-0674715011
- Jews of the American West, with John Livingston (Wayne State University Press) ISBN 0-8143-2171-2
- The American Gospel of Success, Individualism and Beyond, Edited with an Introduction by Moses Rischin (A Quadrangle Paperback)
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
Awards
- 1963: National Jewish Book Award in The Promised City: New York's Jews, 1870-1914[21]