North American Scholar

SCRAMUZZA, Vincent Mary

  • Image
  • Date of Birth (YYYY-MM-DD): 1886-08-23
  • Born City: Contessa Entellina
  • Born State/Country: Sicily
  • Parents: to John & Catherine Borello S.
  • Date of Death (YYYY-MM-DD): 1956-12-03
  • Death City: New Orleans
  • Death State/Country: LA
  • Married: Bethel Nelson.
  • Education:

    Licenziato, Monreale, 1907; A.M. Louisiana State U., 1924; A.M. Harvard, 1926; Ph.D., 1929.
  • Professional Experience:

    Asst. hist. Harvard, 1926-30; asst. prof. hist. Wellesley, 1929-30; asst. prof, to prof. hist. Smith, 1930-52; vis. lctr. Harvard, 1937-9; Amherst, 1946-7; Mt. Holyoke, 1947-8.
  • Dissertation:

    "The Emperor Claudius: An Inquiry into the Ancient Traditions concerning His Personality, Policy, and Acts" (Harvard, 1929); printed in expanded form, Harvard Historical Studies 40 (Cambridge & London, 1940).
  • Publications:

    "Galveztown, a Spanish Settlement of Colonial Times," Louisiana Historical Quarterly 13 (1930) 553-609; "The Policy of the Early Roman Emperors towards Judaism," in F. J. Foakes Jackson & K. Lake, The Beginnings of Christianity, Part I: The Acts of the Apostles, vol. 5, Additional Notes to the Commentary, ed. K. Lake & H. J. Cadbury (London, 1933) 277-97; "Were the Venerii in Sicily Serfs?", AJP 57 (1936) 326-30; "Publican Societies in Sicily in 73-71 B.C.," CP 32 (1937) 152-5; "Roman Sicily," in An Economic Survey of the Roman Empire, ed. Tenney Frank (Baltimore, 1937), 3:225-377, 653-7; "Greek and English Colonization," AmHistRev 44 (1938-9) 303-15; "Claudius Soter Euergetes," HSCP 51 (1940) 261-6; "Livy in the Ara Pietatis Augustael," CP 38 (1943) 240-5; The Ancient World (posthumous, completed by P. MacKendrick) (New York, 1958).
  • Notes:

    Although his earliest education, both in Palermo and in this country, was directed toward the ministry, Scramuzza soon turned to a scholarly career in history. His specialty was Roman (and Greek) history, but his expertise extended to church history, to the history of religion, and even to American colonial history, and made him one of the most prominent scholars at Smith College, where he spent the major part of his teaching career.
  • Sources:

    S. D[ow], AJA 61 (1957) 189; AmHistR 62 (1956-7) 801; Smith Coll. Archives.
  • Author: Charles Henderson, Jr.