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Robert Choate Darnton

ロバート・チョート・ダーントン

robert-choate-darnton

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1939-05-10 （New York City, US）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New York City (birth) → Oxford (study) → Princeton (faculty) → Cambridge, MA (Harvard University)

Career

Occupations
historian, academic librarian, university professor, researcher
Active Years
1964-
Affiliations
Princeton University, Harvard University Library, Oxford University Press (trustee), New York Public Library (trustee)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, Institut de France (associated/honored)
Influenced By
Richard Cobb
Influenced
historians of the book and publishing history

Education

Phillips Academy
Year of Graduation: 1957
Country: United States
Secondary education completed
Harvard University
Degree: BA
Period: 1956–1960
Year of Graduation: 1960
Country: United States
University of Oxford (Nuffield College)
History
Degree: DPhil (PhD)
Period: 1960–1964
Year of Graduation: 1964
Country: United Kingdom
Rhodes Scholar

Awards

Leo Gershoy Award
1979
Work: The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie, 1775–1800
Organization: American Historical Association (AHA)
Result: 受賞
MacArthur Fellowship
1982
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1980
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Result: 選出
Elected to the American Philosophical Society
1989
Organization: American Philosophical Society
Result: 選出
National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism)
1996
Work: The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France
Category: 批評
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur
1999
Organization: French government
Result: 叙勲
Gutenberg Prize (International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz)
2004
Organization: International Gutenberg Society
Result: 受賞
National Humanities Medal
2011
Organization: U.S. President / National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: 受賞（2012年授与式にて授与）
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (lifetime achievement)
2013
Category: 生涯業績
Organization: Institut de France
Result: 受賞
Award for Distinguished Achievement (American Printing History Association)
2005
Organization: American Printing History Association
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History

1984 cultural history / microhistory

A collection of essays exploring 18th-century French everyday life, humor, and social meaning through emblematic episodes.

Enlightenmenteveryday culturelabor and humor

The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie, 1775–1800

1979 publishing history / cultural history

Analyzes the publishing, distribution, and market of the Encyclopédie to reveal knowledge production and circulation during the Enlightenment.

history of publishingcirculation of knowledgecensorship and the market

The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France

1996 cultural history / bibliography

Investigates clandestine best-sellers circulating in late-18th-century France and discusses their social and cultural significance.

censorshipclandestine publishingEnlightenment ideas

The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future

2009 library studies / electronic publishing

Essays and reflections on the role of libraries, print, and electronic publishing in the digital age.

digitizationfuture of librariesaccess to knowledge

Bibliography

  • Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France
  • The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie, 1775–1800
  • The Literary Underground of the Old Regime
  • The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History
  • A Literary Tour de France: The World of Books on the Eve of the French Revolution
  • Pirating and Publishing: The Book Trade in the Age of Enlightenment
  • The Writer’s Lot: Culture and Revolution in Eighteenth Century France

Style & Themes

Literary Style
scholarly yet readable proseuses microhistorical methodsincludes essayistic reflections
Recurring Motifs
publishing and censorship in the Enlightenmentclandestine and informal circulation of textscommunication and networks

Legacy

Darnton is a pioneering historian of the book and Enlightenment-era cultural history. As a university librarian he advanced digital access and archival projects, bridging academia and public knowledge.

Academic Societies

  • American Historical Association (former president)
  • International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (former president)
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Philosophical Society

Archives

  • Harvard University Library Archives
  • Princeton University Archives

Quotes

  • For his determination to make knowledge accessible to everyone.
    Source: National Humanities Medal citation (2012) (2012)

Trivia

  • Brother is John Darnton, a retired New York Times editor and author.
  • Father was war correspondent Byron Darnton.
  • Studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
  • As Harvard University Librarian he helped launch the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).