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Carleton Mabee
Carleton Mabee
Carleton Mabee
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Carleton Mabee (December 24, 1914 – December 18, 2014) was an American writer who won the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F B. Morse.[1]

Life

[edit]

Mabee was born in Shanghai. He graduated from Bates College, and Columbia University. In 1945, he married Norma Dicking. He was professor emeritus at State University of New York at New Paltz.[2]

Mabee lived in Gardiner, New York.[3]

Works

[edit]
  • The American Leonardo: A Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 1943; Literary Licensing, LLC, 2013, ISBN 9781494113834[4]
  • The Seaway Story, The Macmillan Company, 1961.
  • Black Education in New York State: From Colonial to Modern Times, Syracuse University Press, 1979, ISBN 9780815622093
  • Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend. NYU Press. 1 January 1995. ISBN 978-0-8147-5525-9.[5]
  • Carleton Mabee (2003). Gardiner and Lake Minnewaska. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-1185-6.
  • Black Freedom: The Nonviolent Abolitionists from 1830 Through the Civil War, The Macmillan Company, 1970, ISBN 9780025771703
  • “Saving the Shawangunks: The Struggle to Protect one of Earth’s Great Places” Black Dome Press 2017
  • "Bridging the Hudson": The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge and it's connecting Rail Lines. Purple Mountain Press, 2001

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Carleton Mabee

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Carleton Mabee (1914–2014) was an American historian, biographer, and educator known for winning the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book The American Leonardo: A Life of Samuel F. B. Morse. His scholarship focused on American social history, including African American education and abolitionism, as well as regional topics in New York State's Hudson Valley, where he served as Town Historian of Gardiner. Born in Shanghai, China, on December 24, 1914, to American missionary teachers, Mabee moved to the United States at age nine and later earned his bachelor's degree from Bates College and his Ph.D. from Columbia University, where his dissertation formed the basis for his Pulitzer-winning biography of inventor and artist Samuel F. B. Morse. A conscientious objector during World War II, he served in Civilian Public Service and later worked with the American Friends Service Committee on relief efforts in Austria and voter registration projects in the United States. His academic career included teaching positions at Olivet College, Clarkson College of Technology, Delta College, and the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he retired as professor emeritus after joining the history department in the mid-1960s. Mabee's extensive body of work includes Black Freedom: The Non-Violent Abolitionists from 1830 Through the Civil War (1970), Black Education in New York State: From Colonial to Modern Times (1979), Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend (1993, co-authored with his daughter Susan Mabee Newhouse), and several books on Hudson Valley history such as Bridging the Hudson: The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge and Its Connecting Rail Lines (2001) and Listen to the Whistle: An Anecdotal History of the Wallkill Valley Railroad (2009). Appointed Town Historian of Gardiner in 2001, he remained active in local historical research and writing into his late 90s, contributing to preservation efforts and community documentation until his death on December 18, 2014.

Early Life and Education

Childhood in Shanghai

Carleton Mabee (full name Fred Carleton Mabee Jr.) was born on December 25, 1914, in the French Concession of Shanghai, China, to American Baptist missionaries Fred Carleton Mabee and Miriam Bentley Mabee, who worked as teachers. His parents relocated to China for their missionary service, where they resided with their family in an international setting amid the city's foreign concessions. Mabee spent his early childhood in Shanghai until the age of nine, when the family returned to the United States around 1923. This period in China provided him with early exposure to a multicultural and international environment shaped by his parents' missionary work among diverse communities.

Higher Education

Carleton Mabee earned his bachelor's degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1936. He then pursued graduate studies at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in history in 1942. His doctoral work focused on American social history, a specialization he developed during his time at Columbia. Mabee's undergraduate education at Bates provided a foundation in the liberal arts, while his advanced training at Columbia prepared him for a career centered on historical research and scholarship in American social topics.

Academic and Professional Career

University Teaching Positions

Carleton Mabee held teaching positions at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, as well as at institutions in Michigan and Indiana, and as a Fulbright fellow at Keio University in Japan in 1953, before his appointment at SUNY New Paltz. He joined the history department at the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1965 and taught there until his retirement in 1984. Following retirement, he was named professor emeritus of history at SUNY New Paltz, and he remained actively engaged with the department and the college.

Town Historian of Gardiner

Carleton Mabee served as the Town Historian of Gardiner beginning in 2001, a role he held until his death in 2014. He had resided in the town since 1965 after relocating for an academic position. Prior to his formal appointment, Mabee was actively involved in local conservation and zoning matters during the 1970s and 1980s, when such issues were not yet widely prioritized. In his capacity as town historian, Mabee maintained an extensive knowledge base on local history and made weekly visits to Town Hall to collect newspapers, which he reviewed and incorporated into his records. He remained highly active in historical documentation and research well into his later years, earning praise for his insatiable pursuit of knowledge and dedication to archiving and writing. Town Supervisor Carl Zatz had recently invited Mabee to continue serving as historian for 2015 and was preparing to reappoint him, but Mabee died on December 18, 2014, from complications following a fall at his home, one week before his 100th birthday, leaving the planned reappointment unfulfilled.

Literary Career

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Work

Carleton Mabee received the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book The American Leonardo: A Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, published in 1943 by Alfred A. Knopf. The biography provides a detailed and objective portrait of Samuel F. B. Morse, presenting him as both a respected painter in early nineteenth-century America and the inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph and Morse code. Mabee's work is noted for its meticulous research and unsparing approach, seeking to reveal the full complexity of Morse's character and achievements without idealization. The book earned critical praise for its thoroughness and commitment to truth-seeking, establishing Mabee as a serious biographer capable of handling multifaceted historical figures. It was reissued in 2013, reflecting continued interest in the work. The biography also inspired an adaptation for the television series Pulitzer Prize Playhouse.

Books on Abolitionism and African American History

Carleton Mabee authored several influential books on abolitionism and African American history, building on his specialization in American social history. His 1970 book Black Freedom: The Nonviolent Abolitionists from 1830 Through the Civil War, published by Macmillan, examined the strategies and contributions of nonviolent activists in the antislavery movement during the decades leading up to the Civil War. The work highlighted the role of peaceful tactics, including moral suasion and political action, and was praised as a careful, well-written, and thoroughly documented study. It received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in recognition of its outstanding contribution to scholarship on racism and human relations. In 1979, Mabee published Black Education in New York State: From Colonial to Modern Times, which traced the development of education for African Americans in New York from the colonial period through the 20th century. The book addressed key themes such as segregated schooling, struggles for equal access, and evolving policies, offering a detailed chronological account of institutional and community efforts. Mabee's later work included the 1993 biography Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend, co-authored with his daughter Susan Mabee Newhouse and published by New York University Press. This book presented a comprehensive portrait of the former enslaved woman who became a prominent abolitionist, women's rights advocate, and religious figure, drawing on primary sources to explore her life, activism, and enduring legacy. The collaboration with his daughter reflected Mabee's ongoing commitment to scholarly exploration of African American figures and movements.

Regional and Local Histories

Carleton Mabee produced a number of publications focused on the history of the Hudson Valley region, New York State infrastructure projects, and local conservation efforts, often drawing from his deep knowledge of the area as town historian of Gardiner. His works in this area reflect a commitment to documenting transportation developments, community histories, and environmental preservation in Ulster County and beyond. In 1961, Mabee published The Seaway Story, an account of the planning, construction, and significance of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a major infrastructure achievement connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and impacting New York State's economy and transportation. Mabee later turned his attention to local transportation history with Bridging the Hudson: The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge and its Connecting Rail Lines (2001), which examines the engineering, operation, and historical role of the Poughkeepsie Bridge (now the Walkway Over the Hudson) and its associated rail networks across the Hudson River. He continued his exploration of local history in Gardiner and Lake Minnewaska (2003), a detailed study of the town of Gardiner's development alongside the history of Lake Minnewaska, including its resort era and natural features. Mabee also addressed conservation topics in his posthumously published Saving the Shawangunks: The Struggle to Protect One of Earth's Last Great Places (2017), which chronicles grassroots and organizational efforts to preserve the Shawangunk Mountains from overdevelopment and protect their unique ecological and scenic value. In addition to these full-length books, Mabee contributed writings on related regional subjects, including the history of the Wallkill Valley Railroad, the local impact of Father Divine's religious communities in Ulster County, and broader efforts in open-space preservation throughout the Hudson Valley.

Contributions to Television

Writing for Pulitzer Prize Playhouse

Carleton Mabee's only known contribution to television writing came as the story writer for a single episode of the anthology series Pulitzer Prize Playhouse. The episode, titled "The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse," aired on May 21, 1952, and featured performances by John Forsythe, Wanda Hendrix, and Elmer Davis. Mabee's story credit drew from his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, adapting elements of the historical work for the television format. This isolated credit reflects Mabee's limited engagement with the medium, with no additional television writing credits documented.

Personal Life

Marriage and Family

Carleton Mabee married Norma Dierking in 1945, and the couple remained together until her death in 2004. They had two children: Susan Mabee Newhouse and Timothy I. Mabee. Mabee's daughter Susan co-authored with him the 1993 book Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Passing

In his later years, Carleton Mabee remained actively engaged in historical research and writing well into his nineties. He completed a manuscript on efforts to protect open space in the Shawangunk Mountains, focusing on past development battles including the Marriott Corporation's 1970s proposal for a hotel and condos at Lake Minnewaska and John Bradley's later attempt at luxury housing near Awosting Reserve; the book was slated for publication by Black Dome Press in spring 2015. He continued to work on additional projects, including an autobiography. Mabee died on December 18, 2014, at his home in Gardiner, New York, from complications of a fall he sustained at home two days earlier, at the age of 99. A memorial service was held on December 20, 2014, at the New Paltz United Methodist Church, where he had been a longtime member.

Posthumous Recognition and Works

Mabee's final book, Saving the Shawangunks: The Struggle to Protect One of Earth's Last Great Places, was published posthumously on November 7, 2017, by Black Dome Press. The work documents the successful grassroots campaigns of the 1980s and subsequent decades to block major development proposals—including a 400-room hotel and conference center with 500 condominiums at Lake Minnewaska, along with other large-scale projects at Tillson Lake and Sam's Point—in New York's Shawangunk Mountains. These citizen-led efforts resulted in state acquisition of key lands and the creation of the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, preserving a landscape designated in 1991 by The Nature Conservancy as one of the 75 Last Great Places on Earth. Described as Mabee's "labor-of-love swan song," the book underscores how ordinary citizens can halt corporate encroachment and safeguard community and environmental resources. In the years following his death, Mabee received tributes from institutions and communities he had served. SUNY New Paltz mourned his passing, highlighting his enduring engagement with the college as professor emeritus and his impact on regional history. The Gardiner community, where he had long resided and served as town historian and founding member of the Gardiner Historical Society, paid respects through local memorials that recognized his contributions to Hudson Valley historical documentation and land conservation advocacy.

References

  1. https://www.copelandhammerl.com/obituaries/Carleton-Mabee?obId=4065044
  2. https://gardinergazette.com/article/gardiner-historian-celebrates-notable-birthday/
  3. https://walkway.org/product/carleton-mabee-book/
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/books/carleton-mabee-biographer-of-morse-dies-at-99.html
  5. https://www.maybeesociety.org/getperson.php?personID=I175&tree=tree1
  6. https://sites.newpaltz.edu/news/2014/12/carleton-mabee/
  7. https://sites.newpaltz.edu/news/2015/01/college-mourns-passing-of-carleton-mabee-professor-emeritus-of-history/
  8. https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2014/12/26/gardiner-town-historian-carleton-mabee-dies-one-week-short-of-his-100th-birthday/
  9. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/carleton-mabee
  10. https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1944
  11. https://www.amazon.com/Black-Freedom-Nonviolent-Abolitionists-Through/dp/0025771701
  12. https://www.anisfield-wolf.org/winners/black-freedom-the-nonviolent-abolitionists-from-1830-through-the-civil-war/
  13. https://www.amazon.com/Sojourner-Truth-Slave-Prophet-Legend/dp/0814754848
  14. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5560150/
  15. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042138/fullcredits/
  16. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0680428/
  17. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/carleton-mabee-pulitzer-winning-biographer-of-samuel-morse-dies-at-99/2014/12/22/8809c272-8a00-11e4-9e8d-0c687bc18da4_story.html
  18. https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/carleton-mabee-biographer-of-morse-dies-at-99
  19. https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Shawangunks-Struggle-Protect-Earths/dp/1883789885
  20. https://shop.blackdomepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=87
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