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Readings in Early American History
The Jefferson Image in the American Mind
Merrill was born in 1921. He passed away in 2009.
Historian. A professor and the author of 37 books, he was best known as a scholar of the life and work of Thomas Jefferson. Raised in Kansas, he was a political science student at the University of Kansas when World War II broke out. After receiving his degree in 1943, he joined the Navy as a supply officer and eventually saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters. An opportunity for advanced training took him to Harvard Business School. After mustering out of the Navy in 1946, he returned to the school and ultimately got his Ph.D. in 1950. Peterson taught at Brandeis and at Princeton, and in 1960 published "The Jefferson Image in the American Mind", a re-working of his doctoral dissertation which examined changing perceptions of Mr. Jefferson in the years since his death. The work won him the 1960 Bancroft Prize, as well as a Gold Medal from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. In 1962, he was hired by the history department at the University of Virginia to replace the legendary Dumas Malone, who had retired to concentrate on his six volume Jefferson biography. Peterson's own biography of the Sage of Monticello, "Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation", appeared in 1970; stretching to over 1,000 pages, is remains in print, and is considered (along with Dr. Malone's "Jefferson And His Time") one of the two gold standards of Jeffersonian scholarship. Over the years he wrote on such subjects as John C. Calhoun, John Brown, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln. He retired to emeritus status in 1987; in 1997, following the death of his wife, he joined the Peace Corps, and served in Armenia. His experiences lead to the 2004 "Starving Armenians: America and the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1930, and After". Peterson received the Library of Virginia's 2005 Literary Lifetime Achievement Award, joining such notables as Edgar Allan Poe. Of his approach to study, he said: "The most important thing in my education was my dissertation. If I had any words of wisdom for Ph.D. students in history, it would be that the most important thing that they will do is select a dissertation subject, as it could potentially set the stage for their careers."
Bio by: Bob Hufford