Nye, Russel
Feb. 17, 1913 – Sept. 2, 1993
Place of birth: Viola, Wisconsin
Place of Principle Residence: East Lansing, MI
Biography:
In 1913 Russel Nye was born to Charles and Zelma in Viola, Wisconsin. In 1934 Nye graduated from Oberlin College and went on to University of Wisconsin, where he received his Masters in 1935 and his Doctorate in 1938. He married Kathryn Chaney and the two had one son, Pete. Besides writing, teaching was Nye’s chief profession; he served as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University for thirty-nine years. Nye’s first book George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel, published in 1944, became a huge success, winning a Pulitzer Prize. Nye accredited the book’s origin to browsing through his grandfather’s library. Besides delving into historical figures, Nye enjoyed a colorful assortment of interests, such as jazz musicians Bix Beiderbecke, the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, comic strips from The Chicago Tribune, the “Gunsmoke” television series, Tom Swift and Horatio Alger books, hair styles, and automobile racing. He died in Lansing, Michigan on September 2, 1993.
Selected Works:
- George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel (1945)
- Fettered Freedom: Civil Liberties and the Anti-Slavery Controversy (1947)
- A Baker’s Dozen: Thirteen Unusual Americans (1957)
- The Unembarrassed Muse: American Popular Culture (1970)
Awards:
- 1945 Pulitzer Prize, Biography
- 1947 Rockefeller Fellowship
- 1948 Newberry Library Fellowship
- 1977 Donner Medal, Donner Foundation and the Association for Canadian Studies
- 1978 Distinguished Service Award, Society for the Study of Midwestern History and Literature
- 1984 Distinguished Service Award, Michigan Council for the Humanities
- 1968 Litt.D., Northern Michigan University
- 1968, 1976 LL.D., Ferris State College; Bowling Green State University
- 1944 Knopf Fellowship
Critical Reception:
George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel, Nye’s very first book, won enthusiastically received and won a Pulitzer Prize. New York times praised the author as “a prodigious scavenger of the trivial past” and that “reading his book is like spending an afternoon in a country antique store.”
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Nye published much of his work during his thirty-nine years at Michigan State University.