从殖民地史到进步史:第二次世界大战前美国高等教育史学的历史演进

From Colonial History to Progressive History: The Historical Evolution of the Historiography of American Higher Education Before the Second World War

美国高等教育史学的发展与美国历史学的发展紧密相关。殖民地时期,清教徒史家的著作中出现了对北美高等教育的零星记录。系统的美国高等教育史研究开始于19世纪30年代。该时期的高等教育史著作并非由专业史家写成,而是由学院的教师、领导者或毕业生整理和编写,目的在于颂扬学校的历史和传统,具有很强的功利性。19世纪70年代,一批历史学家着手运用科学的方法从事有关美国学院与大学历史的研究,美国高等教育史学开始了专业化进程。从20世纪初期到第二次世界大战前,在进步史学的影响下,高等教育史家认为,美国高等教育的发展是一个在冲突、对立中逐渐进步的过程。

The development of the historiography of American higher education is closely related to that of American historiography. During the colonial period, the Puritan historians made sporadic record of North American higher education in their works. The systematic study of American higher educational history began in the 1830s. During this period, related works were not written by professional historians, but organized and compiled by teachers, leaders or graduates of colleges, with a strong utilitarian purpose to praise the history and tradition of colleges. In the 1870s, a group of historians began to use scientific methods to study the history of American colleges and universities, and the historiography of American higher education began to professionalize. From the beginning of the 20th century to the Second World War, under the influence of progressive historiography, historians of higher education believed that the development of American higher education was a process of gradual progress in conflict and confrontation.