History Professor Receives New York Public Library Fellowship

Thanks to a fellowship from the New York Public Library, Fordham’s Doron Ben-Atar, Ph.D., is currently crafting a historical portrait of Litchfield, Conn., a seemingly docile New England village that emerged as a major cultural, religious, political and economic hub at the turn of the 19th century.

Ben-Atar, an associate professor of history at Fordham, is spending this year as a fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. He was one of fifteen fellows selected from a pool of more than 300 applicants hailing from 27 countries.

According to Ben-Atar, no historian has previously undertaken such a study of Litchfield. He hopes to describe a political culture torn between radical ideas inspired by the French Revolution and the rise of the Jeffersonian party that challenged the Federalist establishment. His research will also address the tensions brought on by a shift from traditional farming to commerce and industry. By detailing striking, even bizarre, incidents that shed light on the passions, tensions, and anxieties of the town’s residents, Ben-Atar hopes to illuminate the way ordinary women and men reacted to the radical transformation of their surroundings.

“Doron Ben-Atar has undertaken important research into an uncharted inquiry at a critical moment of the American republic’s early development,” said John Hollwitz, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs. “Such academic vision enriches our community of scholars and keeps Fordham at the forefront of academic and intellectual inquiry.”

— Ryan Thompson

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Doron Ben-Atar, Ph.D.