Dr Alan Day

Alan Day was born on 23 May 1944 in Bristol. He received his BA from the University of Southampton in 1965. He went to North America to pursue postgraduate study, earning an MA from McMaster University in Ontario before heading to the United States for further study. Alan studied under Jack P. Greene at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He earned a second MA in 1969 and was awarded his PhD in 1976. Alan was part of a wave of early American historians who helped shift the historiographical attention away from New England to the Chesapeake region. His particular focus was the legal history of Maryland in the 17th and 18th centuries. As a postgraduate student Alan published a seminal article on the subject in the 'American Journal of Legal History'. He followed that with a monograph, 'A Social Study of Lawyers in Maryland, 1660-1775 (1989)', which a reviewer in 'The William & Mary Quarterly' lauded as "an important contribution to our understanding of Maryland’s colonial institutions and the evolution of the American legal profession."

One former student, Laura Maciver, recalled, "He was an exceptional teacher. His rich voice and fantastic compelling style of lecturing made the hours fly by. He was also a fatherly director of studies who would take time to listen to your worries and then offer what was always no-nonsense advice. He passed on his love of America and its history to us all. He was a brilliant, erudite, funny and kind man who was made to teach." 

Alan’s lectures in American History 2 were legendary. When I came to Edinburgh in 1997, I attended Alan’s lectures and the lecture theatre was filled beyond capacity with some students sitting on the stairs. I learned that many of those in attendance were not taking the course but had come to hear Alan at the urging of their friends and flatmates. As another former student told me, "I had no interest in America until I heard Alan Day’s lectures. He inspired my life-long interest in that big, bad, weird, wonderful place."

When I arrived in Edinburgh in 1997 junior lecturers weren’t allowed to teach honours seminars during their probationary period - those were the days! In preparation for honours teaching, I attended Alan’s year-long seminar on the history of slavery in America. I was treated to a master class in teaching and rigour. Alan was demanding, the level of teaching was akin to the graduate seminars I had attended when I was a PhD student. He respected students and demanded excellence from them (with good humour) and they responded accordingly. I often think of that seminar because it set a standard I’ve strived for in my own teaching. It is not surprising that a former student from that year’s seminar is now an eminent scholar of the history of enslavement in the United States.

Owing to his experience and intellectual interests Alan was a committed Atlanticist. He often spoke of his years in the US and Canada with great fondness. He had an outsider’s ability to render wise judgments about America and an insider’s love and appreciation for the place and its people despite their flaws. He was a huge fan of the Baltimore Orioles (he and I shared a mutual animus for the New York Yankees). That interest in and knowledge of the US was on display when Alan directed the undergraduate American Studies program at Edinburgh. That involved overseeing incoming and outgoing student exchanges. He spent a lot of time trying to match students, each of whom he knew well, with destinations that would suit them. According to Laura Maciver, "He’d visited the University of Miami and persuaded me to spend my time there to get some sunshine!"

Alan served as the Head of the History Department. During his tenure he sought to protect the interests of colleagues and students in the face of various efforts to restructure the university and its curriculum. Senior colleagues will recall that Alan and his close friend, Harry Dickinson, were at the heart of the History Department’s staff football team in the 1970s and 1980s. Alan was extraordinarily supportive of new colleagues. He and his wife, Kate, gave me and my young family a warm welcome to Edinburgh when we arrived in the city.

Dr Alan Day retired in 2009 after 38 years in the History Department.

Frank Cogliano, Professor of American History, 28 May 2025

Remembering Alan Day

Simon J. P. Fennell, MA History, 1992

There was before you walked into Alan’s room for the first time, and after. You weren’t to know of the change that was about to happen, and for some of us it clearly happened more slowly than he would have liked. But you left changed. The change was not easy, certainly in my case not immediate, and definitely not without challenge. But what emerged was a change of importance from a teacher of such depth and generosity that the lessons learned leave a lifetime of gratitude.

There seemed to be a lot of rules for a history class. No sitting in the same seat for consecutive tutorials. No skipping past the copyright page – when the text was written was of fundamental importance. No “presentism” to be allowed in any essay and woe betide anyone not knowing that weekend’s Baltimore Orioles box scores. The main rule for writing was that it should be done well – although there were few clues offered. He assumed you could write well and if you couldn’t – well then just read more and read better.

Alan made these great assumptions of his students with enormous generosity. He charitably implied that you were as intelligent as he was, and that the class could and would live up to his standards. The blunt reality of his essay grading was a shock to many, but he sharply drew the line of excellence, and the challenge was now clear.

That challenge was to see, write and appreciate American history with the same reverence that he gave it. He was able to impart the idea of America with excitement for its many gifts and the keenest of eyes on its numerous flaws. The great courses at the great universities don’t just happen. They are honed, curated and stewarded over time and Edinburgh’s American History 2 is a classic of its type. Alan’s fingerprints are all over it and its reach to students outside of the History Department remains evidence of its importance and influence.

Alan’s role in that course was to steer you through the American Experiment at a rapid pace while also imparting his enthusiasm for the American historical tradition. He was as entranced by the scholarship of America as by the place itself. His reverence for the Beards and Hofstadters left an impression on so many of his students that it was perhaps the idea of America where the real work needed to be done.

For all my Americanist wannabeism, I took many more courses with Harry Dickinson and Frances Dow than I did with Alan. Scheduling difficulties and sabbaticals limited some courses, but I remained close to Alan for my time at Edinburgh and beyond. His generosity extended far past Edinburgh to the lives of his students, and not just their need for a graduate school recommendation!

The idea for a Speaker Series in History was Alan’s and from Ian Kershaw’s first lecture in 2002 to Eve Troutt Powell’s in 2025, the fantastic legacy of bringing lecturing scholars to the University starts with his contribution. He was also deeply involved in the foundation of bursary and scholarship programs for undergraduates in History. It was an enormous privilege to be a student with Alan and to become friends with someone who embodied the best of the University’s scholarship, teaching and character.