Name Harold Perkin | ||
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Died October 16, 2004, London, United Kingdom Awards Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, Latin America & Caribbean Books The rise of professional society, The Third Revolution, The Origins of Modern English S, Key profession, The Age of the Railway |
Harold James Perkin (11 November 1926 – 16 October 2004) was an English social historian and founder of the Social History Society (1976).
Contents
Perkin was born in Hanley, Staffordshire of humble origins. He attended Hanley High School and then obtained a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge from 1945, gaining a starred First Class degree in 1948. Then followed National Service in the RAF. Rejected by his Cambridge college to study for a PhD, he instead commenced extramural history teaching from 1950 with Manchester University.
Academic career
Perkin was successively a lecturer in social history at Manchester University, 1951–65, senior lecturer in social history at Lancaster University, 1965–67, professor there 1967–84, director of the Centre for Social History 1974–84, and emeritus professor of history, Northwestern University, Illinois 1985–97. In addition, he had a visiting professorship at Rice University, founded and chaired the Social History Society, and served as chief salary negotiator for the Association of University Teachers, of which he was later president. Perkin was a distinguished, pioneering social historian.
Publications
Television
Television shows for Granada TV
Both were later issued in book form.