Carl Abbott (urban historian)

This article is about the urban historian. For the architect, see Carl Abbott.

• Urban history
• Urban planning
• Western American history
• Science fiction studies

Carl Abbott
Born	(1944-12-03) December 3, 1944 (age 80)
Nationality	American
Known for	Studies of American urban development and western cities
Spouse	Margery Post Abbott
Awards	Urban History Association Book Award (1993) Society for American City and Regional Planning History Book Award (1999)
Academic background
Alma mater	Swarthmore College (BA, 1966) University of Chicago (PhD, 1971)
Thesis	(1971)
Institutions	University of Denver (1971–1972) Old Dominion University (1972–1978) Portland State University (1978–2012)
Website	theurbanwest.com

Carl Abbott (born December 3, 1944) is an American urban historian with research interests in the modern American West, the Sun Belt, Portland, and the cultural imagination of cities, and he is professor emeritus of urban studies and planning at Portland State University. ^{[1] [2]}

He served as president of the Urban History Association and of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, and has co-edited both the Journal of the American Planning Association and Pacific Historical Review . ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

Early life and education

Abbott was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on December 3, 1944, and earned a B.A. in history from Swarthmore College in 1966 before completing an M.A. (1967) and Ph.D. (1971) at the University of Chicago. ^{[1] [2]}

Career

His academic positions have included the University of Denver ^[7] (1971–72), Old Dominion University (1972–78), ^[1] and Portland State University (1978–2012). ^{[8] [9] [10]} He has also held visiting positions at Mesa University, George Washington University, ^[11] and the University of Oregon. ^[12]

He served as president of the Urban History Association (1995), ^[13] has been a member of the American Historical Association since 1982 ^[2] and served as president of its Pacific Coach Branch from 2012 until 2013. ^[14] Other professional service has included co-editorship of the journal of the American Planning Association from 1999 to 2004 ^[15] and of the Pacific Historical Review from 1997 to 2014. ^[16]

Writing

Abbott has authored or co-authored sixteen books. The Metropolitan Frontier: Cities in the Modern American West (1993) received the book award of the Urban History Association ^[17] and Political Terrain: Washington D.C. from Tidewater Town to Global Metropolis (1999) received the book award of the Society for American City and Regional Planning History. ^[9] He has also published many scholarly articles, chapters, and reviewsб as well as shorter essays for general readers on his website. ^[18]

Abbott is also active in fields of public history, working with Portland's Architectural Heritage Center, The Oregon Encyclopedia, ^[19] the Oregon Historical Society, and other organizations and is an advocate of community-based history. ^[2]

Works

• Colorado: The History of the Centennial State. Colorado Associated University Press, Boulder 1976. 5th ed., 2013 (with Stephen Leonard and Tom Noel): University of Colorado Press, Boulder, 2013, ISBN   9781607322269.
• The Great Extravaganza: Portland and the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, 1981, ISBN   0875950884.
• Boosters and Businessmen: Popular Economic Thought and Urban Growth in the Antebellum Middle West. Greenwood Press, Westport CT 1981, ISBN   0313225621.
• The New Urban America: Growth and Politics in Sunbelt Cities. University of North Carolina Press, 1981. Revised ed., 1987, ISBN   0807841803.
• Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth Century City. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1983, ISBN   0803210086.
• Urban America in the Modern Age, 1920 to Present. H. Davidson, Arlington Heights IL, 1987. 2nd ed., 2007, ISBN   9780882952475.
• The Metropolitan Frontier: Cities in the Modern American West. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1993, ISBN   0816511292.
• Planning a New West: The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (with Sy Adler and Margery Post Abbott). Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, 1997. ISBN   0870713922.
• Political Terrain: Washington, D.C., from Tidewater Town to Global Metropolis. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1999, ISBN   080782478X.
• Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2001, ISBN   0812236122.
• Two Centuries of Lewis and Clark: Reflections on the Voyage of Discovery (with William L. Lang). Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, 2004, ISBN   0875952887.
• Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 2006, ISBN   0700614303.
• How Cities Won the West: Four Centuries of Urban Change in Western North America. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 2008, ISBN   9780826333148.
• Portland in Three Centuries: The Place and the People. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis 2011. ISBN   9780870716133
• Imagined Frontiers: Contemporary America and Beyond. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 2015, ISBN   978-0806148366
• Imagining Urban Futures: Cities in Science Fiction and What We Might Learn from Them. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 2016. ISBN   9780819576712

Personal life

Since 1967, Carl has been married to Margery Post Abbott, a Quaker scholar and teacher. ^[20]

References

1. "Carl Abbott Papers". Special Collections of the Old Dominion University Libraries. Dominion University Library. 1958–1977. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
2. "AHA Member Spotlight: Carl Abbott". Historians.org. American Historical Association. March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
3. "Past Leadership". Urban History Association. Retrieved September 4, 2025.
4. "Past Presidents of the PCB". Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
5. "Editors of the Journal of the American Planning Association and its predecessors". Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
6. "Front Matter". Pacific Historical Review. 81 (4): I–X. 2012. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
7. Noel, Thomas J.; Abbott, Carl; Leonard, Stephen J. (2011). Colorado: A History of the Centennial State (4th ed.). University Press of Colorado. ISBN   978-1-4571-0955-3 . Retrieved March 26, 2017.
8. "Profile". www.pdx.edu. Portland State University. Archived from the original on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
9. Abbott, Carl. "Political Terrain". University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
10. "Carl Abbott". LinkedIn . Retrieved March 28, 2017.
11. Abbott, Carl; Anderson, Virginia Dejohn (2000). The American Journey: A History of the United States. Prentice Hall. ISBN   978-0-13-088245-5 . Retrieved March 26, 2017. Blurb on Google Books.
12. "Community Events" (PDF). The Weekly Bulletin. University of Oregon: 3. January 15, 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
13. "Past Leadership". www.urbanhistory.org. Urban History Association. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
14. Abbott, Carl. "How Scanners Democratize History". www.historians.org. American Historical Association . Retrieved March 28, 2017.
15. "Editors of the Journal of the American Planning Association and its predecessors" (PDF). TandF.co.uk. Taylor & Francis Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
16. Front Matter. (2012). Pacific Historical Review , 81(4), I-X. doi : 10.1525/phr.2012.81.4.fm. JSTOR   phr.2012.81.4.fm.
17. "Past Awards". www.urbanhistory.org. Urban History Association. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
18. Carl, Abbott. "The Urban West". theurbanwest.com. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
19. "Authors of the Oregon Encyclopedia". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
20. Vogdes, Elizabeth (July 2013). "A Convergence of Friends – Swarthmore College Bulletin". Swarthmore College Bulletin. Retrieved March 25, 2017.