The Father of Alabama Historians: Professor George Petrie and His Survey of Slavery

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The Father of Alabama Historians: Professor George Petrie and His Survey of Slavery GEORGE PETRIE (1866–1947) WAS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL historians in the American South during the early twentieth century. As a professor of history at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API), now Auburn University, he influenced a generation of southern historians and earned a national reputation as a leader in higher education. He is, however, probably best remembered for organizing and coaching Auburn’s first football team in 1892. It is unfortunate that his academic contributions have not earned him a place in the field of American historiography, for Petrie was not only “the father of Auburn football ” but was also “the father of Alabama historians.” Although he published little, his research was on the cutting edge of the historiography of his time and his methodology for the study of Alabama slavery was years ahead of the mainstream of the historical profession. In 1907 he developed a questionnaire and conducted a survey of slavery in Alabama with the intention of writing a book on the subject. From 1907 through 1913 Petrie and his students interviewed hundreds of black and white Alabamians. Sociologists had conducted this type of research for several years, but Petrie was one of the first historians to implement a survey in his research. Yet, as with most of Petrie’s research, it failed to yield a monograph as his enthusiasm eventually waned and he became interested in other topics.1 A N T H O N Y D O N A L D S O N Anthony Donaldson teaches history at Auburn University. His research focuses on the history of the American South and the history of higher education. 1 Auburn University was originally founded in 1872 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. In 1899 the name was officially changed to the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Finally, in 1960, the name was changed to Auburn University. For a discussion of George Petrie’s influence on athletics at Auburn see Mike Jernigan, Auburn Man: The Life & Times of George Petrie (Montgomery, 2007), and Brenda Harper Mattson, “George Petrie: The Early Years, 1866–1892” (master’s thesis, Auburn University, 1983). T H E A L A B A M A R E V I E W 38 Much of Petrie’s philosophy regarding the teaching and study of history resulted from his experiences as a student in the PhD program at Johns Hopkins University from 1889 to 1891. Johns Hopkins was one of the first universities in the United States to adopt the German model of scholarship. Several Hopkins professors had received graduate degrees from the best German universities and they brought their enthusiasm for the new scientific approach to scholarship to the school. In many ways Hopkins was different from other American universities. Visiting lecturers, for example, helped to keep students aware of the latest methods of research and scholarly debates . Probably the most important contribution Hopkins made to American higher education was the “seminary,” or seminar, which many of the European-trained faculty introduced to their students. In these classes a group of twenty or thirty graduate students discussed various topics, listened to a professor’s lecture, or wrote essays on their research. The seminar was modeled after the laboratory approach of the natural sciences, whereby, according to Jurgen Herbst, “research was to begin with the detailed examination of physical objects that could be measured, weighed, analyzed, and compared, and thus humanistic and social studies were to become ‘scientific.’” The results of this research were written, discussed, and eventually published in books and scholarly journals in order to stimulate more study of a given subject. Another significant Hopkins contribution was its publication of scientific and scholarly journals and books, including Studies in Historical and Political Science. Through its press the school provided a medium for scholars to publish work that commercial publishers would not undertake.2 2 According to historian Peter Novick in chapter 2 of his work, That Noble Dream: The “Objectivity Question” and the American Historical Profession (Cambridge, UK, 1988), those historians who received their graduate educations at German universities returned to the United States with...