Nelson, Ernest William, 1896-

Ernest W. Nelson (1896-1974) was a professor of history at Duke University (1926-1965). His primary interest was Italian Renaissance cultural history. Nelson founded the Durham Chamber Arts Society (1945) and was chairman from 1945-1963.

Born Feb. 5, 1896, in Brockton, Mass., Nelson was educated at Clark University (A.B., 1916; A.M., 1921) and Cornell University (Ph.D, 1925). He was an assistant in Medieval History at Cornell (1922-1923), assistant professor at the University of South Dakota (1923-1925), professor of Medieval History at Cornell University (1926),and assistant curator of the President White Historical Library. In 1926, he came to Duke University and stayed until his retirement in 1965.

Nelson received a number of awards and grants. He was named an Andrew D. White Fellow in European History (1921-1922) and studied at the Sorbonne, Ecole de Droit, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, and the University of Cologne. He also received an American Council of Learned Societies Grant (1930-1931) and spent the year in Italy. Nelson was a member of the Medieval Academy of America, the American Historical Association, and the Phi Kappa Phi scholarship society.

Nelson's special interests in research and teaching were Renaissance civilization, the history of liberty and ideas of tolerance, heresy and persecution, church and state relations, italian origins of modern diplomacy, and balance-of-power relationships.

Nelson married in 1927 and had four children.