Historian, born in Wilton, Wisconsin, USA. A leading historian of Spanish America, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley (191140). A prolific writer, he is best known for his explorations in the SW USA, his extensive archival research, a massive published guide to Mexican archives (1913), and the Bolton theory, a controversial hemispheric view of American history.
Herbert Eugene Bolton (July 20, 1870–January 30, 1953) was an American historian and one of the most prominent authorities in Spanish-American history. He originated what became the Bolton theory of the history of the Americas and wrote or co-authored 94 works. A student of Frederick Jackson Turner, Bolton disagreed with his mentor and argued that the history of the Americans is best understood by taking a holistic view.
Early life and education
Bolton was born in Wilton, Wisconsin in 1870 to Edwin Latham and Rosaline (Cady) Bolton.
Bolton studied under Frederick Jackson Turner from 1896 and 1897. Starting in 1897, Bolton was a Harrison Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and studied American history under John Bach McMaster.
Career
From 1901 to 1909, Bolton was a history professor at the University of Texas, where he taught medieval and European history.
The Carnegie Institution asked Bolton to write a report of information found about United States history in Mexican archives, and the report was published in 1913.
In 1904, Bolton and Eugene C. In 1906, Bolton began studying Native American history in Texas for the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology, writing more than 100 articles for the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico.
In 1911, Bolton became a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. A year later, Bolton published Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century: Studies in Spanish Colonial History and Administration and declined the presidency of the University of Texas.
Over the next 29 years, Bolton published many works, including Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century (1921), The Spanish Borderlands (1921), Outpost of Empire (1931), Rim of Christendom (1936) and Coronado (1949), for which he received a Bancroft Prize from Columbia University.
In 1932, Bolton served as president of the American Historical Association, and in 1944 retired as a professor.
Legacy
Bolton is best known for his exploration of Spanish colonial trials and translation of the important journals of Spanish soldiers and priests, which vastly expanded the written record of that period.
Bolton's biggest mistake was his February 1937 authentication of Drake's Plate of Brass, which was a forgery of a mythical brass plaque purportely placed by Sir Francis Drake upon his arrival in Northern California in 1579.
User Comments Add a comment…