Dates

• Existence: 1931 - 2007-09-28

Biography

Walter David Lewis was born on June 24, 1931, in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.A. and M.A. in History from Pennsylvania State University in 1952 and 1954. In 1961, Lewis earned a Ph. D. in American Social and Intellectual History from Cornell University. From 1959 through 1965, Lewis served as Fellowship Coordinator for the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation as well as Lecturer in History at the University of Delaware in Wilmington. He served as Professor of History at State University of New York (Buffalo) from 1965 to 1971. Lewis accepted an appointment as Hudson Professor of History and Engineering at Auburn University in 1971, a position he held until his death in 2007. He was instrumental in developing Auburn's History of Technology program and played a major role in shaping the direction of the History Department throughout his long and distinguished tenure at Auburn.

As a prolific scholar, Lewis authored or co-authored several major publications including The Southern Mystique: The Impact of Technology on Human Values in a Changing Region, Delta: The History of An Airline, The Airway to Everywhere: The History of All American Aviation, Sloss Furnaces and the rise of the Birmingham District, and most recently, Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century. In addition, he published over fifty articles and wrote dozens of book reviews for such well-known publications as the Journal of American History, the American Historical Review, and the Journal of Southern History. Lewis was also instrumental in the acquisition of what is now the Eddie Rickenbacker Papers presently located in Auburn University's Special Collections and Archives Department. In addition to his academic pursuits Lewis was a proficient organist.

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