Preserved Smith

Preserved Smith was an influential American historian known for his extensive scholarship on the Protestant Reformation. Born into a lineage of Puritan scholars, he pursued higher education at Amherst College and Columbia University, earning his Ph.D. in 1907. His academic journey also took him to the Sorbonne and the University of Berlin, where he developed a keen interest in the intersection of history and science, inspired by his mentor James Harvey Robinson. Smith's teaching career spanned several prestigious institutions, including Cornell University, where he served from 1923 until his death in 1941. Smith's notable works include critical studies of Martin Luther's Table Talk and comprehensive biographies of both Luther and Erasmus. His scholarship was marked by a commitment to understanding historical figures within their broader social contexts, which contributed to the modern study of religious history. Elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1937, Smith's legacy endures through his contributions to the field of history, particularly in illuminating the complexities of the Reformation and its key figures, making him a significant figure in American historical scholarship.