Bernard Moses: Pioneer in Latin American Scholarship

Abstract

51 THEN BERNARD MosESs came to the University of CaliVVfornia at Berkeley in 1875 he taught every course in history and the social sciences whieh that new institution offered. This was the beginning of the end of a period when a single scholar could embrace both broad fields of history and the emerging social sciences. Although the demands of specialization were soon to make this impossible, interesting explorations into the history of American scholarship can be made by examining the breadth of work carried on by men such as Moses. In addition to teaching and writing in the fields of European history, Bernard Moses contributed to political economy, and made inquiries into political science, which he founded as a separate discipline at Berkeley in 1903. Having received his graduate training in the Universities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Heidelberg, Moses was well-oriented to the German School of historical scholarship. He wrote several monographs and articles on foreign governments, and explored the prerequisites for the development of a science of society. In addition to his extensive scholarly contributions in several areas, Bernard Moses gradually was drawn more and more toward a new phase of history, one long-neglected by American historiansHispanic America. His early researches and teaching in the colonial era of Spanish America entitle him to a place as the pioneer American scholar who gave the original impetus to a field that was to enjoy tremendous growth and interest in the twentieth century. While he continued to write widely in other fields, Moses' main research after 1894 was directed toward this then undeveloped field. This interest continued during his years at the University of California, through his retirement in 1911, and until the year of his death in 1930. A total of seven books, published from 1898 to 1929, and several articles, signify the productivity of his research.