Scott, Franklin D. (Franklin Daniel), 1901-1994

Historian. History professor, specializing in Swedish history, at Northwestern University from 1935-1969.

From the description of Franklin Daniel Scott Papers, 1923-1988. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122605060

Historian Franklin Daniel Scott was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1901, the second son of George Harvey and Mary (Cole) Scott. Scott joined the faculty at Northwestern University in 1935, where he remained until his retirement in 1969. Scott's research interests included Sweden and Scandinavia. Upon retiring, Scott became the curator of Nordic Collections at the Honnold Library at Pomona College. Scott died in 1994.

After attending several colleges, required by his father's faculty appointments, Scott took both a Ph.D. in social sciences (1923) and an M.A. in American history (1924) from the University of Chicago. He then taught history for two years at the Jacksonville (Illinois) High School and for three years at Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa. Between 1928 and 1932 Scott attended Harvard, taking an M.A. (1929) and a Ph.D. (1932) in European history. During 1930-1931 he was a traveling fellow of the American Scandinavian Foundation in Stockholm.

From 1932 to 1935 Scott taught history at Superior State Teachers' College, Superior, Wisconsin (now the University of Wisconsin-Superior). He joined the faculty of Northwestern University in 1935 as an assistant professor of history and from 1937 to 1938 held a joint appointment as assistant professor of correlation courses. Promoted to associate professor of history and correlation courses in 1938, Scott held this rank until 1943 when he was appointed professor of history. Scott retired from the Northwestern faculty and was appointed professor emeritus in 1969. After leaving Northwestern, Scott moved to Claremont, California, where he became curator of the Nordic Collections at the Honnold Library of Pomona College.

A specialist in the history of Sweden, Scott made over a dozen trips to that and other Scandinavian countries. He wrote widely on Scandinavian affairs, especially migration, for scholarly and popular journals as well as for encyclopedias. Scott also authored many books and monographs and scores of book reviews. His first book, Bernadotte and the Fall of Napoleon (Harvard, 1935) was translated into Swedish in 1937. Harvard also published his The United States and Scandinavia (1950) which appeared in a revised edition as Scandinavia (1975). Scott edited A Pictorial History of Northwestern University, 1851-1951 (1951). He also authored The American Experience of Swedish Students, Retrospect and Aftermath (University of Minnesota Press, 1956); Wertmuller–Artist and Immigrant Farmer (Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1963); and Sweden: the Nation's History (University of Minnesota Press, 1977). Prentice-Hall published his anthology, World Migration in Modern Times, in 1968. Scott translated and edited several Scandinavian texts and from 1967 to 1974 he edited the Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly .

On May 30, 1925, Scott married Helen Giddings. The couple had one child, Mary Karin, born August 9, 1937.

In 1952 Sweden decorated Scott with the Order of the North Star. Finland awarded him the Order of the White Rose in 1967. In 1970 Uppsala University conferred on Scott the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

From the guide to the Franklin D. Scott (1901-1994) Papers, 1923-1988, (Northwestern University Archives)