An historian of both American politics and New Jersey, Richard Patrick McCormick was born on December 24, 1916 in New York, N.Y. He received his A.B. in 1938 and his A.M. in 1940, both from Rutgers University, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1948. McCormick began his teaching career as an instructor at the University of Delaware in 1944-1945. At Rutgers University, he went from instructor to professor of history from 1945-1974, served as University Historian from 1948-1982, chariman of the History Dept., 1966-1969, Dean of Rutgers College from 1974-1977, university professor from 1974-1982 and became Emeritus Professor of History in 1982. Concurrently, McCormick served as president of the New Jersey Historical Society from 1950-1957, as a research advisor at Colonial Williamsburg from 1953-1961, Fulbright lecturer at Cambridge University (London) 1961-1962, Commonwealth lecturer at the University of London in 1971, chairman of the New Jersey Historical Commission from 1967-1970 and president of the Historians of the Early American Republic in 1988-1989.
Quite a prolific writer, McCormick is the author of The History of Voting in New Jersey, New Jersey From Colony to State, Rutgers: A Bicentennial History, and most recently, The Black Student Protest Movement at Rutgers. A member of the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, McCormick also served on the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission from 1958-1960, the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission from 1971-1974 and as a Social Science Research Council fellow in 1956-57.
From the description of Richard P. McCormick Papers, 1929-2003. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122562186
Richard P. McCormick began his career at Rutgers as an undergraduate student in 1934, and contributed to Rutgers in a number of ways. McCormick served Rutgers as Professor of History, University Historian, Dean of Rutgers College, and distinguished alumnus. McCormick's relationship with Rutgers, which continued beyond his retirement, is documented throughout the collection.
As a historian, McCormick focused his research and writing on the history of New Jersey, the history of Rutgers University, and the broader scope of American political history. He was affiliated with, and active in, numerous national historical and professional organizations, including the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. He was not only affiliated and active in many New Jersey historical organizations, but he was instrumental in the establishment of several, including the New Jersey Historical Commission, the New Jersey State Historical Records Advisory Board, and the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission. His longtime relationship with the New Jersey Historical Society, which is reflected in the collection, dates back to his involvement in the revitalization of the Historical Society and as President of the Society beginning in 1950.
A prolific writer of history, McCormick was the published author of nine books, more than forty articles, and a number of guides, pamphlets, and reports. McCormick spoke frequently on the topics of New Jersey and American political history, and the collection is enriched by a large number of speech outlines and drafts, and the correspondence related to those speaking engagements.
The following chronology lists the highlights of the career of Richard P. McCormick. For a more detailed biographical account, see Michael Birkner's introductory essay in McCormick of Rutgers: Scholar, Teacher, Public Historian (2001), as well as the oral history interviews conducted with McCormick that follow Professor Birkner's introduction.
1916, December 24
Richard Patrick McCormick (RPM) born in Ridgewood (Queens),
New York.
1927
McCormick family moves to Upper Nyack, New York.
1929
Graduates from Upper Nyack Elementary School.
1929
Family moves to Cresskill, New Jersey. RPM attends Tenafly
High School.
1933
Graduates from Tenafly High School. RPM continues on at
Tenafly High, taking the requisite courses necessary for admission to Rutgers
University.
1934
Begins freshman year at Rutgers College.
1938
Receives A.B. degree from Rutgers.
1940
Receives A.M. degree from Rutgers, completing a thesis, "The
War Aims of President Wilson and Congress."
1940, September
Begins Ph.D. program at University of Pennsylvania.
1942, Spring
RPM completes all of his doctoral course work and examinations
under the advisement of Professor Roy Nichols.
1942
1944
RPM works as a civil historian at the Philadelphia
Quartermaster Depot and writes two lengthy studies: "A History of Storage and
Distribution at the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, 1917-1943," and "The
Physical Plant, 1917-1942."
1944
Teaches ASTRP (Army Specialized Training Reserve Program)
students at the University of Delaware. Meets Katheryne Levis, a graduate
fellowship student in chemistry at the University of Delaware.
1945, July
RPM starts teaching full time in the history department at
Rutgers University. During this summer, RPM begins to center his research on
New Jersey history, which leads to his focus on New Jersey in the critical
period of 1781 to 1789 for his dissertation.
1945, August
Marries Katheryne Levis in Baltimore, Maryland. Katheryne
McCormick begins teaching at the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass
College) in September 1945. The two become the proud parents of two children: Richard (1947) and Dorothy (1950).
1948
RPM completes his dissertation, "Experiment in Independence:
New Jersey in the Critical Period, 1781-1789" and receives his doctorate from
the University of Pennsylvania.
1948
Appointed Rutgers University Historian.
1948
Receives grant from Rutgers Research Council to begin a study
of electoral machinery in New Jersey
1948
Named Chairman of the Conference of New Jersey Historians, of
which he conceived, organized, and implemented.
1948
Inaugurates a full-year, college-level course on New Jersey
History at Rutgers.
1950
Experiment in
Independence: New Jersey in the Critical Period, 1781-1789 is published
by Rutgers University Press.
1950
1957
Serves as President of New Jersey Historical Society.
1951
Rutgers University publishes McCormick's New Jersey History
course quiz as a flyer entitled, "How Well Do You Know New Jersey?"
1952
1961
Serves as Research Advisor to Colonial Williamsburg in
Virginia.
1953
The History of Voting in
New Jersey: A Study of the Development of Election Machinery, 1664-1911
published by Rutgers University Press.
1953
1954
Serves on the Governor's Commission on Morven.
1956
1957
Receives grant from Social Science Research Council for a
year-long leave to research Early American political behavior and organize the
"Conference on Early American Political Behavior" (June 1957). RPM later
publishes a summary of the conference proceedings.
1958
Plays an instrumental role in organizing New Jersey government
to appoint a commission to arrange a statewide celebration of the New Jersey
Tercentenary in 1964. He briefly serves as Acting Chair of the New Jersey
Tercentenary Commission.
1959
"Suffrage Classes and Party Alignments: A Study in Voter
Behavior" published in the
Mississippi Valley
Historical Review.
1960
"New Perspectives on Jacksonian Politics" published in the
American Historical
Review.
1960, June
1960 August
British colonial records trip for New Jersey Tercentenary
Commission. The Commission published his findings as a report that same
year.
1960
Receives New Jersey Award for distinguished contributions to
the study of New Jersey history.
1961
1962
Receives a Fulbright award to lecture on American history at
Cambridge University, England.
1963
Serves as Chairman of the State Committee on Historic Sites
Evaluation.
1964
Receives Lindback Award for distinguished teaching and
research at Rutgers University.
1964
New Jersey from Colony to
State, 1609-1789 published by Van Nostrand. A second edition is published
by the Rutgers University Press in 1970 and a paperback edition published by
the New Jersey Historical Society appears in 1981.
1965
The Second American Party
System: Party Formations in the Jacksonian Era receives the biennial
book prize from the American Association for State and Local History prior to its publication.
1966
Although completed in 1962,
The Second American Party
System: Party Formation in the Jacksonian Era published by the
University of North Carolina Press in 1966.
1966
Rutgers, A Bicentennial
History published by Rutgers University Press.
1966
1969
Serves as Chair of history department of Rutgers
College.
1967
1970
Serves as Chairman of New Jersey Historical
Commission.
1968
Awarded the biennial book prize from the American Association
for State and Local History for
Rutgers: A Bicentennial
History.
1969
Serves as Chair of a Special Faculty Committee to deal with
demands of black students at Rutgers in wake of protests on the Newark, New
Brunswick, and Camden campuses.
1969
1970
Serves as Chairman of the New Jersey Tercentenary
Commission.
1970, January 29
30
Lectures at the Commonwealth Fund and Colloquium in
England.
1971
Serves as Chair of Coeducation Committee at Rutgers
College.
1971
1974
Member of the American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission.
1974
Appointed by the Rutgers Board of Governors as University
Professor of History.
1974
1977
Serves as Dean of Rutgers College.
1977
1978
While on sabbatical, RPM conducts research for his 1978
report,
Academic Reorganization in
New Brunswick, 1962-1978: the Federated College Plan, which contributes
to the 1981 restructuring of the University.
1980
The Selected Speeches of
Mason Welch Gross, edited by RPM and Richard Schlatter, is published
by Rutgers University Press.
1982
Retires from Rutgers faculty and from position of University
Historian. Becomes Emeritus Professor of History.
1982
Receives honorary doctor of letters degree from
Rutgers.
1982
The Presidential Game: The
Origins of American Presidential Politics published by Oxford
University Press.
1984
Political Parties and the
Modern State, the proceedings of a conference marking RPM's retirement
from the Rutgers faculty in 1982 and edited by Richard L. McCormick, is
published by the Rutgers University Press.
1985
Resigns from the Board of the New Jersey Historical
Society.
1988
1989
Serves as President of the Historians of the Early American
Republic.
1988
"A Historian's Education," appears in the
William and Mary
Quarterly.
1989
The Case of the Nazi
Professor, coauthored with David M. Oshinsky and Daniel Horn, is
published by Rutgers University Press.
1990
RPM is inducted into Rutgers' Hall of Distinguished
Alumni.
1990
The Black Student Protest
Movement at Rutgers is published by Rutgers University Press.
1994
Equality Deferred: Women
Candidates for the New Jersey Assembly, 1920-1993, coauthored with
Katheryne C. McCormick, is published by the Center for the American Woman and Politics,
Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
2001
Michael J's Birkner's book McCormick of Rutgers:
Scholar, Teacher, Public Historian, is published
by Greenwood Press. The book contains selections from eight oral history
interviews conducted with RPM between 1995 and 2000.
2002, December
RPM's son, Richard L. McCormick, is selected as the nineteenth President of Rutgers University. During his career, Richard L. McCormick had held positions as a faculty member and
Chair of the Rutgers History Department, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences at Rutgers, Provost at the University North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and
President of the University of Washington.
2003, January
RPM receives the 2002 Award for Scholarly Distinction from the
American Historical Association, the most prestigious award presented by the
association, in recognition of his lifetime contribution to historical
scholarship.
2006, January 16
Richard P. McCormick dies after an extended illness at the age of 89. He had served Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey with distinction for over six decades.
From the guide to the Guide to the Richard P. McCormick Papers, 1929-2006, (Rutgers University. Special Collections and University Archives)