Scholarship honors late historian William H. Williams

William Henry Williams, UD professor of early American history for 33 years, author of six books and mentor to innumerable Delaware students, died April 7 at his second home in Venice, Fla.

Dr. Williams, who was born in 1937 in Port Jervis, N.Y., earned his bachelor’s degree from Drew University in 1958 and his master’s degree in education from Yeshiva University in New York City in 1959. After teaching high school in Queens, N.Y., he moved to Delaware, where he worked closely with the late Dr. John Munroe, receiving his doctorate from UD in 1971.

Dr. Williams, who lived with his family in Georgetown, Del., taught in UD’s Parallel Program there and in the University’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. According to colleague Mark McLeod, associate professor of history, Dr. Williams taught using the Socratic method, which involved constant questioning and probing of a student’s knowledge and thinking. This method made some students uncomfortable, particularly those who had not done the reading, McLeod said, and one student suggested that Dr. Williams might have invented the medieval torture device known as the “hot seat.”

“Many of Bill’s Parallel Program colleagues so admired his collegiality, his talent for communications and his fairness in judgment that we have, consciously or unconsciously, modeled our own academic careers on him,” McLeod said.

The author of six books, Dr. Williams explored such previously unresearched topics as the role of Methodism in the Delmarva Peninsula, America’s first hospital established in 1751 in Philadelphia, the legacy of slavery in Delaware, an illustrative history of the First State and Delmarva’s chicken industry. His final book, Man and Nature in Delaware: An Environmental History of Delaware, 1631-2000, will be released in October.

He is survived by his wife, Helen G. Williams, CHEP ’92M, and twin children, Dawn W. Stitzel, AS ’85, and Mark T. Williams, BE ’85.
Upon his retirement in 2000, the William H. Williams Scholarship in Early American History was established in his honor. This annual scholarship, awarded by the chairperson of the history department, provides stipends to UD students who have an exceptional aptitude for history. Those interested in making contributions to this scholarship fund may write to: University of Delaware Development Office, William H. Williams Scholarship in Early American History, George Evans Hall, Newark, DE 19716.