U.S. Indian Policy historian Francis Paul Prucha was the sixth scholar to hold the Bullitt Chair in United States history occupying the chair during the autumn quarter of 1988. With the exception of a brief period of time during which he taught high school and when he held the Bullitt Chair, Father Prucha has spent his entire teaching career at Marquette University joining the history department in 1960. At Marquette, Prucha received the Teaching Excellence Award in 1972, was awarded his emeritus appointment in 1988 and held the Reverend Francis C. Wade Chair from 1990-92.
Born in River Falls, Wisconsin on January 4, 1921, Father Prucha received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1941, his M.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1947 and his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1950. Between earning his B.A. and M.A., Prucha served in the United States Air Force. Following military service during WWII Prucha joined the Society of Jesus in 1950 and was ordained in 1957. Three years later he began teaching at Marquette. The author of numerous articles and reviews and over twenty books on Indian policy including American Indian Policy In The Formative Years: The Indian Trade And Intercourse Acts, 1780-1834 (1962), Indian Policy in the United States : Historical Essays (1981), and Atlas of American Indian Affairs (1990) Father Prucha is perhaps best known for his comprehensive work The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians (1984). In 1985 The Great Father was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history and received the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Ray Allen Billington Prize for best book in American frontier history.
Dr. Prucha has served on the board of directors of the Milwaukee County Historical Society, and in October of 2003 Marquette University dedicated the Francis Paul Prucha S.J. Reading Room in its new Raynor Library in his honor. Prucha was instrumental in helping Marquette acquire its research collection documenting Catholicism among Native Americans. Father Prucha currently resides at the Jesuit Residence at Marquette University.
