Happy birthday, Peter…
While it is customary to pay tribute to living scholars by honoring them with festschrifts and critical praise for their noteworthy publications, it seems especially appropriate today, his 80th birthday, to celebrate Peter Stansky’s role as a mentor both to those who have studied under him and to those who, like myself, have been fortunate enough to have known him over the past several decades.
I first met Peter in 1978, and I have maintained a personal and professional relationship with him ever since. The origin of our student/mentor relationship is a curious one. I had moved to the Stanford area in order to write up a dissertation I was preparing on Spanish anarchism at the London School of Economics. I knew of Peter partly by reputation (I had just read his and William Abraham’s absorbing profile of George Orwell, The Unknown Orwell ) and partly because he was a good friend of my LSE advisor, James Joll. In his characteristically friendly manner, Peter welcomed me with open arms and strongly encouraged me to develop contacts with graduate students and faculty members of the history department who shared my intellectual interests. By pointing me in this direction, Peter clearly saw at the time what I could not, namely, that it was possible for a symbiotic relationship to develop between me (an “orphaned” graduate student working at Stanford’s Greene and Hoover libraries) and the department of history. His perspicacity in this regard was borne out by my experiences. Over the course of the next six years I got to know a number of scholars, historical figures, graduate students, and faculty members, all of whom greatly enriched my academic training while I was resident at Stanford. Peter constantly reinforced these relationships by inviting me to lectures and allowing me to participate in a variety of department-sponsored activities (notably the junior faculty seminar series). Our own intellectual and personal relationship was also deepened by our shared scholarly pursuits and mutual personal acquaintances. In the former case, I was able to learn a great deal from Peter about two historical personalities whom I have long admired, George Orwell and William Morris. No less important to me was the fact that Peter and I were connected to Spain and Spanish studies through our common friendship with a number of individuals living in the bay area, including the renowned Spanish Civil War historian, Burnett Bolloten. Looking back at the many fascinating individuals with whom I came into contact because of Peter’s generosity of spirit and eagerness to build a community of kindred spirits, I am truly indebted to him for having adopted me as one of his mentees during my sojourn at Stanford.
After I finished my PhD and left the bay area to teach in Florida, Peter continued to take a keen interest in my academic career. When I went on the job market, for example, he was always willing to write letters on my behalf. At the same time Peter was a constant source of inspiration and encouragement: he read with great care all my publications and promoted my scholarship among his colleagues teaching European history at Stanford and at other universities.
I am grateful to have this opportunity to celebrate with others the many personal and professional contributions Peter has made during his long career as an exemplary mentor to his former students and others, like myself, whom he has chosen to take under his (scholarly) wing. Thanks, Peter.
Un abrazo fuerte,
George
1 | Peter’s letter
1 | Peter’s letter