Barun De: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox person

| birth_place=[[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]], [[British India]]

| death_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]

| occupation    =Historian

| years active =1961-2001

|spouse = Romabai De (nee Dutta Gupta)

'''Barun De''' (বরুণ দে) (30 October 1932 – 16 July 2013) was an Indian historian and institution builder.

De, a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta<ref name="telegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/calcutta/story_17126553.jsp |title=Historian Barun De dead |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref><ref name="HT20130718">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |date=18 July 2013 |title=Historian Barun De passes away |publisher=Hindustan Times |accessdate=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010131755/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |archivedate=10 October 2013 }}</ref> was the son of [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]]<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref> and Pramila De (nee Gupta). His grandfather was [[Brajendranath De]].<ref name="vmh">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 'Obituary' in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'', 2014]</ref> He studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Calcutta]]. He completed his I.A. & B.A. (Honours) in History at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of [[Susobhan Sarkar|Susobhan Chandra Sarkar]]. He was a debate secretary of the student's union of the college.

De completed his 2nd B.A. (Honours School) at St. Catherine's Society, Oxford, where his tutors were George Holmes and Wilfred Knapp. He completed his D.Phil. thesis on "Henry Dundas and the Government of India, 1784-1801" under the supervision of Colin Cuthbert Davies<ref name="telegraphindia1">

{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/opinion/story_17126533.jsp#.vOvi_Tb9nIU |title=Clio's Disciple |first=Rudrangshu|last=Mukherjee |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2015-02-24}}</ref> on a Beit studentship at Nuffield College, Oxford. As the holder of this scholarship he took classes in the college. He was awarded the Curzon Memorial Prize for his essay "Macaulay and India". He was secretary, treasurer and president of the Oxford India Majlis.<ref name="thestatesman1">[http://www.thestatesman.com/news/6074-Historian-Barun-De-dead.html "Historian Barun De dead" - The Statesman, 18 July 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-05.</ref>  

After returning from Oxford, he formed a lasting friendship with [[Saiyid Nurul Hasan]].<ref name="thetelegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150405/jsp/opinion/story_12677.jsp#.V7E5UjgkrIU |title=State of Abounding Grace |first=Gopal Krishna|last=Gandhi |date=2015 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref>

De held various positions at various times, including a senior professorship at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta,<ref name="timesofindia1"/><ref name="businessstandard">[https://www.business-standard.com Rudrangshu Mukherjee, 'Ashok Mitra (1928-2018): A Voice of Dissent with a Tender Heart', Business Standard, 2 May, 2018]</ref> the founder-directorship of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> a membership, held for three terms, of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]], New Delhi, and the role of honorary state editor of the West Bengal District Gazetteers.<ref name="ihr1">[http://ihr.sagepub.com/content/41/1/147.full.pdf+html "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] Indian Historical Review. Retrieved 2015-03-15.</ref> He taught and worked abroad, among other places, at [[Duke University]] as a visiting [[associate professor]], the [[Indian Institute of Advanced Studies]], [[Shimla]], as a senior fellow,<ref name="thestatesman1"/> Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, [[Paris]] as a [[directeur]], [[University of Sydney]] and [[University of Milan]] as a visiting [[professor]], and the [[University of World Economy and Diplomacy]], [[Tashkent]] as the India Chair (in the rank of minister-counsellor) for three years, with attachment to the Indian Embassy of [[Uzbekistan]],.<ref name="businessstandard1">[http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/historian-barun-de-dies-at-80-113071700809_1.html "Historian Barun De dies at 80" - Business Standard] Retrieved 2015-03-06.</ref> He was secretary (1974-76), sectional president and general president (1988) of the Indian History Congress.<ref name="frontline1"/>

a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,<ref name="frontline1"/> and a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which capacity he was among several people who prepared a list of heritage buildings of West Bengal.<ref>[https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/downloads/Graded_List_of_Heritage_Buildings_Grade_I_IIA_IIB.pdf "Heritage Conservation Committee"] p. 3. Retrieved 2015-03-23</ref> ''[[The Times of India]]'' has described him as "a pioneer of the heritage movement of West Bengal",<ref name="timesofindia1">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Historian-scholar-Barun-De-dies-at-80/articleshow/21156245.cms "The Times of India" - Staff Reporter] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> From 2008-2011 he was honorary chairman (in the rank of minister-of-state) of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, of which he was a member from 2001–2008.<ref name="businessstandard1"/>

He was appointed as a Tagore National Fellow, which he held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta.<ref name="victoriamemorialnewsletter1">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf "Obituary" in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'' - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226153443/http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf |date=2015-02-26 }} Retrieved 2015-0317.</ref>

==Legacy==

After De's death the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta had instituted a memorial lecture in his name.<ref>[http://makaias.gov.in/Programme_BarunDe_Memorial_Lecture1.pdf Barun De Memorial Lecture] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref>  

The Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta has renamed its auditorium at the Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre after him.<ref name="jadunathbhavan">[http://jbmrc.cssscal.org/remembering-professor-barun-de/ Barun De Auditorium, CSSSC]</ref>