Daniel Aaron
American writer and academic who helped found the Library of America
About Daniel Aaron
Lived 1912 – 2016 (aged 103). Daniel Aaron was an American historian of Modern Age, americanist, university teacher, literary scholar, writer and academic.
Education Daniel Baruch Aaron, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia, was born in 1912. Aaron received a BA from the University of Michigan, and later did graduate studies at Harvard University. In 1937, Aaron became the first to graduate with a degree in "American Civilization" from Harvard University. He edited the diaries of American poet Arthur Crew Inman (1895–1963): some 17 million words from 1919 to 1963. He wrote a number of articles for the New York Review of Books.
Teaching Aaron taught at Smith College for three decades and at Harvard from 1971 to 1983. He was the Victor S. Thomas Professor of English and American Literature Emeritus at Harvard. he helped found the Library of America, where he served as president to 1985 and board member and remained an emeritus board member.
Recognition Aaron was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1973 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1977.
He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Harvard University in 2007.
In 2010, he was a National Humanities Medalist, whose citation reads:
Selected works
Writing Commonplace Book, 1934-2012 (Pressed Wafer 2015) American Notes: Selected Essays (1994). Cincinnati, Queen City of the West: 1819-1838 (1992) 1974 and 1992 ) Men of Good Hope (1951)
Editing Arthur Crew Inman, From a Darkened Room: The Inman Diary, ed. Daniel Aaron (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996) Arthur Crew Inman, The Inman Diary: A Public and Private Confession (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985) Paul Elmer More, Shelburne Essays on American Literature, ed. Daniel Aaron (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963)
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Important facts
People in Daniel Aaron's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Daniel Aaron's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Daniel Aaron?
American writer and academic who helped found the Library of America (1912–2016)
When was Daniel Aaron born?
Daniel Aaron was born on 4 August 1912 in Chicago, United States.
When did Daniel Aaron die?
Daniel Aaron died on 30 April 2016 in Cambridge.
What was Daniel Aaron's occupation?
Daniel Aaron was a historian of Modern Age, americanist, university teacher, literary scholar, writer and academic.
What nationality was Daniel Aaron?
Daniel Aaron was American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Daniel Aaron. https://biography.guide/daniel-aaron/
MLA: "Daniel Aaron." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/daniel-aaron/.
Chicago: "Daniel Aaron." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/daniel-aaron/.
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