NATICK: Richard Nelson Current, age 100, was a prolific and award-winning Abraham Lincoln scholar who for decades was a leader in his field and helped shape a more realistic view of the iconic president.
A resident of Natick for 25 years with his wife and co-author Marcia Ewing Current, he died on October 26, 2012, at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Cause of death was from complications of Parkinson's Disease.
Born in Colorado City, Colorado, Current was graduated from Oberlin College (Ohio) after completing his undergraduate studies there in 1934. Next, he attended The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University where he was awarded his M. A. in 1935. He earned a doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, graduating in 1940.
Dr. Current combined his writing career of 61 years with more than 50 years of teaching/lecturing. He wrote more than 30 books and co-authored, edited, and provided introductions for countless volumes. His articles and book reviews number in the hundreds. He taught at Rutgers University, Hamilton College, Northern Michigan University, Lawrence University, Mills College, Salisbury State University, the University of Illinois at Champaign, The University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In addition The State Department, U.S.I.S, United States Navy, and assorted academic institutions sent him to Japan, Chile, India, Norway, and even Antarctica to lecture and conduct classes in American History. He served as a Fullbright Professor in Munich, Germany in 1959 and in 1962 as a Harmsworh Professor at the University of Oxford, England
After writing five books in the 1940's and '50's on such diverse subjects as the typewriter and Daniel Webster, Dr. Current's first step to prominence in his career came with his completion of the late J. G. Randall's unfinished final volume Lincoln the President: Midstream to the Last Full Measure. For this book Current earned the coveted Bancroft Prize in 1956.
Of all the books Professor Current has written, his next book, The Lincoln Nobody Knows (1958) has influenced decades of young scholars and has transformed him into a hero among many historians. His most famous book, it is considered to be a classic in Lincoln writings. It has been said that he was capable of strong, lucid prose, had a vast knowledge of original material, a gift for solid argumentation, and a zero tolerance for falsehood and mythification.
Though Current wrote numerous other books on Lincoln and on the Civil War, his wide variety of interests led to his writing several U.S. history textbooks, creating several volumes on the state of Wisconsin (including it bicentennial history), and also publishing a biography of John C. Calhoun. In his 80's Professor Current turned his attention to the worlds of art and the dance and co-authored with his wife of 28 years Marcia Ewing Current a biography Loie Fuller, Goddess of Light in 1997. His final book came out when Dr. Current was 93. In his late '70's he had taught himself Norwegian, then went on to translate into English a variety of Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun's original Norwegian essays and stories. In 2003 those translations, interpreted by Current, appeared as Knut Hamsun Remembers America.
Richard Nelson Current was honored by several organizations with awards for his writing throughout his career. His favorite prize came from The Lincoln Forum, of which he was one of the founders in 1995. That organization named its highest annual honor the Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement. It has been awarded to such distinguished recipients as Ken Burns, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and to Richard Current himself in 2000 for his decades of contributions in the field.
John Everett and Sons is handling the arrangements for Dr. Current. Interment will be in Greensboro, North Carolina in April , 2013.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials in Professor Current's honor be sent to Stray Pets In Need, P. O. Box 812143, Wellesley, MA 02482; or to The Lincoln Forum, c/o Russell Weidman, Treasurer, 6009 Queenston Street, Springfield, VA 22152.
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