Carl Abbott (urban historian)

American historian (born 1944)

This article is about the urban historian. For the architect, see Carl Abbott.

Carl Abbott

Born|  (1944-12-03) 3 December 1944 (age 80)
Spouse| Margery Post Abbott[1]
Website| theurbanwest.com

Carl Abbott (born December 3, 1944) is an American historian and urbanist, specialising in the related fields of urban history, western American history, urban planning, and science fiction,[2] and is a frequent speaker to local community groups.

## Personal life

[edit]

Since 1967, Carl has been married to Margery Post Abbott, a Quaker scholar and teacher.[1]

## Academia

[edit]

He received a BA in history from Swarthmore College (1966) and a PhD from the University of Chicago (1971).[3] His academic positions have included the University of Denver[4] (1971–72), Old Dominion University (1972–78),[5] and Portland State University (1978–2012).[3][6][7] He has also held visiting positions at Mesa University, George Washington University,[8] and the University of Oregon.[9]

He served as president of the Urban History Association (1995),[10] has been a member of the American Historical Association since 1982[2] and served as president of its Pacific Coach Branch from 2012 until 2013.[11] Other professional service has included co-editorship of the journal of the American Planning Association from 1999 to 2004[12] and of the Pacific Historical Review from 1997 to 2014.[13]

## Writing

[edit]

Abbott has authored or co-authored sixteen books. The Metropolitan Frontier: Cities in the Modern American West (1993) received the book award of the Urban History Association[14] and Political Terrain: Washington D.C. from Tidewater Town to Global Metropolis (1999) received the book award of the Society for American City and Regional Planning History.[6] He has also published many scholarly articles, chapters, and reviews[15] as well as shorter essays for general readers on his website.[16]

Abbott is also active in fields of public history, working with Portland's Architectural Heritage Center, The Oregon Encyclopedia,[17] the Oregon Historical Society, and other organizations and is an advocate of community-based history.[2]

### Works

[edit]

* Colorado: The History of the Centennial State. Colorado Associated University Press, Boulder 1976. 5th ed., 2013 (with Stephen Leonard and Tom Noel): University of Colorado Press, Boulder, 2013, ISBN 9781607322269.
* The Great Extravaganza: Portland and the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, 1981, ISBN 0875950884.
* Boosters and Businessmen: Popular Economic Thought and Urban Growth in the Antebellum Middle West. Greenwood Press, Westport CT 1981, ISBN 0313225621.
* The New Urban America: Growth and Politics in Sunbelt Cities. University of North Carolina Press, 1981. Revised ed., 1987, ISBN 0807841803.
* Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth Century City. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1983, ISBN 0803210086.
* Urban America in the Modern Age, 1920 to Present. H. Davidson, Arlington Heights IL, 1987. 2nd ed., 2007, ISBN 9780882952475.
* The Metropolitan Frontier: Cities in the Modern American West. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1993, ISBN 0816511292.
* Planning a New West: The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (with Sy Adler and Margery Post Abbott). Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, 1997. ISBN 0870713922.
* Political Terrain: Washington, D.C., from Tidewater Town to Global Metropolis. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1999, ISBN 080782478X.
* Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2001, ISBN 0812236122.
* Two Centuries of Lewis and Clark: Reflections on the Voyage of Discovery (with William L. Lang). Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, 2004, ISBN 0875952887.
* Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 2006, ISBN 0700614303.
* How Cities Won the West: Four Centuries of Urban Change in Western North America. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 2008, ISBN 9780826333148.
* Portland in Three Centuries: The Place and the People. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis 2011. ISBN 9780870716133
* Imagined Frontiers: Contemporary America and Beyond. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 2015, ISBN 978-0806148366
* Imagining Urban Futures: Cities in Science Fiction and What We Might Learn from Them. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 2016. ISBN 9780819576712

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Vogdes, Elizabeth (July 2013). "A Convergence of Friends – Swarthmore College Bulletin". Swarthmore College Bulletin. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
2. ^ a b c "AHA Member Spotlight: Carl Abbott". Historians.org. American Historical Association. March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
3. ^ a b "Profile". www.pdx.edu. Portland State University. Archived from the original on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
4. ^ Noel, Thomas J.; Abbott, Carl; Leonard, Stephen J. (2011). Colorado: A History of the Centennial State (4th ed.). University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1-4571-0955-3. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
5. ^ "Carl Abbott Papers". Special Collections of the Old Dominion University Libraries. Dominion University Library. 1958–1977. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
6. ^ a b Abbott, Carl. "Political Terrain". University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
7. ^ "Carl Abbott". LinkedIn. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
8. ^ Abbott, Carl; Anderson, Virginia Dejohn (2000). The American Journey: A History of the United States. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-088245-5. Retrieved March 26, 2017. Blurb on Google Books.
9. ^ "Community Events" (PDF). The Weekly Bulletin. University of Oregon: 3. January 15, 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
10. ^ "Past Leadership". www.urbanhistory.org. Urban History Association. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
11. ^ Abbott, Carl. "How Scanners Democratize History". www.historians.org. American Historical Association. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
12. ^ "Editors of the Journal of the American Planning Association and its predecessors" (PDF). TandF.co.uk. Taylor & Francis Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
13. ^ Front Matter. (2012). Pacific Historical Review, 81(4), I-X. doi:10.1525/phr.2012.81.4.fm. JSTOR phr.2012.81.4.fm.
14. ^ "Past Awards". www.urbanhistory.org. Urban History Association. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
15. ^ "PDXScholar search: "Carl Abbott"". pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu. Portland State University Library. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
16. ^ Carl, Abbott. "The Urban West". theurbanwest.com. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
17. ^ "Authors of the Oregon Encyclopedia". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.

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