Harold Bolitho
Encyclopedia
Harold Bolitho was an Australian academic, historian, author and professor emeritus in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
at Harvard University
The name Bolitho is of Cornish
origin.
from 1988 through 1991.
Formerly, Bolitho was a member of the faculty of Monash University
and he taught at the University of Melbourne
in Victoria, Australia. Bolitho was a Visiting Professor at the Research Institute for Humanities at the University of Kyoto in 1989; and he has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania
and Columbia University
.
Bolitho's research interests included Tokugawa institutions, the Bakumatsu and the Meiji Restoration period with emphasis on regionalism. In his 1969 doctoral dissertation, "The Fudai Daimyo and the Tokogawa Settlement," he refined a distinctive point-of-view about the fudai daimyo and the bakufu. He argued that it was the collective power of the fudai and their competing interests which prevented the accumulation of unfettered power in the central government. He argued that "historians, believing too readily that the fudai were more bureaucrats than barons, have ... assumed that they were the model servants of centralized feudalism" and that "an examination of their roles supports no such belief."
In addition to his own work, Bolitho was an editor of Brill Publishers
' series, the Japanese Studies Library. The publisher's series includes monographs on substantial subjects, thematic collections of articles, handbooks, text editions, and translations.
/WorldCat
encompasses roughly 10+ works in 30+ publications in 3 languages and 1,000+ library holdings
Chapters
EALC
In American universities, EALC refers to East Asian Languages and Civilizations , and is the term for the department of East Asian studies, which studies this region of the world....
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
The name Bolitho is of Cornish
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
origin.
Career
In 1985, Bolitho was granted tenure as a Professor of Japanese History at Harvard. He was Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese StudiesEdwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies
Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University is a research center focusing on Japan. It provides a forum for stimulating scholarly and public interest....
from 1988 through 1991.
Formerly, Bolitho was a member of the faculty of Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
and he taught at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
in Victoria, Australia. Bolitho was a Visiting Professor at the Research Institute for Humanities at the University of Kyoto in 1989; and he has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Japanese studies
According to Bolitho, the post-war development of Japanese studies in English-speaking countries was characterized by unexpected growth; and he helped to foster that expansion.Bolitho's research interests included Tokugawa institutions, the Bakumatsu and the Meiji Restoration period with emphasis on regionalism. In his 1969 doctoral dissertation, "The Fudai Daimyo and the Tokogawa Settlement," he refined a distinctive point-of-view about the fudai daimyo and the bakufu. He argued that it was the collective power of the fudai and their competing interests which prevented the accumulation of unfettered power in the central government. He argued that "historians, believing too readily that the fudai were more bureaucrats than barons, have ... assumed that they were the model servants of centralized feudalism" and that "an examination of their roles supports no such belief."
In addition to his own work, Bolitho was an editor of Brill Publishers
Brill Publishers
Brill is an international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands. With offices in Leiden and Boston, Brill today publishes more than 134 journals and around 600 new books and reference works each year...
' series, the Japanese Studies Library. The publisher's series includes monographs on substantial subjects, thematic collections of articles, handbooks, text editions, and translations.
Australian studies
In commemoration of the United States bicentennial celebrations in 1976, the Australian government provided funding for an endowed chair in Australian studies at Harvard. This faculty position rotates yearly among different departments, and former chair holders have come to Harvard from a number of disciplines. This investment in Harvard encouraged an expanded interest in Australian studies. As an Australian, it was natural for Bolitho to have served as chair of the Committee on Australian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.Selected works
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Harold Bolitho, OCLCOCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
/WorldCat
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...
encompasses roughly 10+ works in 30+ publications in 3 languages and 1,000+ library holdings
- Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan (1974)
- Japanese kingship (1976)
- Meiji Japan (1977)
- A Northern Prospect: Australian Papers on Japan: Papers from the 1st Conference of Japanese Studies Association of Australia (1981) with Alan Rix
- Two lectures on Japanese History. (1983)
- Approaching Australia: Papers from the Harvard Australian Studies Symposium. (1999)
- Bereavement and Consolation: Testimonies from Tokugawa Japan (2003)
Chapters
- "The Tempo Crisis," The Nineteenth Century: Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 5 (1989), Marius JansenMarius JansenMarius Berthus Jansen was an American academic, historian, and Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at Princeton University....
, editor - "The Han," Early Modern Japan: Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4 (1999), John Whitney Hall, editor
External links
- Harvard/RIJS, faculty photo
- National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
: Monash archive, faculty photo - Boston Globe, obituary