Walter Rundell Jr.

Walter Rundell Jr. (November 2, 1928 – October 25, 1982) was an American author, academic, and historian who was distinguished in the field of Western American history.^[1][2][3]

Rundell was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Olive (née Spillar) and Walter Rundell.^[3] He grew up in Baytown, Texas, where he went to public schools.^[2] He attended to Lee Junior College (now Lee College) in Baytown, Texas, where his father taught and was a dean.^[3][4] At Lee College, he was editor of The Lantern, the student newspaper, a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, and received its Outstanding Student Award when he graduated in 1948.^[2] Then, he attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with honors in 1951 with a B.A. in music history, a B.J. in journalism, and a minor in history.^[2][3][4]

He loved choral singing and wanted to become a music critic.^[4] However, he first completed the required military service and was assigned to the U.S. Army Finance Corp as a historian with the Office of the Chief of Finance in Washington, D.C.^[4][5] While in the Army, he began working on a graduate degree in history at Georgetown University.^[4] He received an M.A. in 1955 and a Ph.D. in 1957.^[4] His dissertation was about the U.S. Army's management of money during World War II.^[4]

After leaving the military in 1957, Rundell taught at Del Mar College for one year.^[4] Next, he taught at the Texas Women's University for three years.^[4] While there, he published two books on the American west.^[4] From 1961 to 1964, he was the assistant executive secretary with the American Historical Association in Washington, D.C.^[4] He left that position to become the director of the National Archives' survey on the Use of Original Sources in Graduate History Training.^[4] This two-year long position included conducting 600 interviews and traveling across the country to various institutions.^[4]

Next, Rundell became a professor of graduate history at the University of Oklahoma.^[4][5] Two years later, he moved to the Iowa State University where he served as chair of the history department.^[4] At Iowa State, he had to fight to get recognition for the department and his research.^[4] In the spring of 1971, he accepted the position of chair of the department of history at the University of Maryland which was a step up because it had a Ph.D. program.^[4] He served in this capacity until 1976.^[4] He also taught at American University, Columbia University, and Emory University,.^[2]

Rundell was a "prolific and productive scholar."^[4] He conducted research on a variety of topics, including archival holdings, arts of the American West, biography, military finance, research methods, teaching history, and western oil fields.^[4]

Rendell published five books and wrote more than fifteen pamphlets and short books, and more than forty articles.^[2][5] When he died, Rendell was writing a biography of American historian Walter Prescott Webb.^[5] He published books are:

• Black Market Money: The Collapse of U.S. Military Currency Control in World War II (Louisiana State University Press,1964)^[3]
• In Pursuit of American History: Research and Training in the United States (University of Oklahoma Press, 1970)^[3]
• Early Texas Oil: A Photographic History 1866–1936 (Texas A&M Press, 1977)^[2][3]
• Military Money: A Fiscal History of the U.S. Army Overseas in World War II (Texas A&M Press, 1980)^[3]
• Oil in West Texas and New Mexico: A Pictorial History of the Permian Basin (Texas A&M Press,1982)^[3]

In 1961, Rendell was a founding member of the Western History Association, being described as "the James Madison of the group, charged with preparing the infant association's constitution and bylaws."^[4] He was also a member of the American Historical Association, the Cosmos Club, the Organization of American Historians, the Potomac Corral of the Westerners, the Society of American Archivists, and the Southern Historical Association.^[4][6]

Rundell was president of the Society of American Archivists from 1977-1978.^[3] In 1982, three days before his death, he became president of the Western History Association.^[4]

• Rundell won the Waldo G. Leland Prize in 1971 for his book, In Pursuit of American History.^[1] He received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Maryland.^[4]
• His writings and books are housed at Blumberg Memorial Library of Texas Lutheran College as the Walter Rundell Jr. Special Collection.^[2]
• The Western History Association created the Walter Rundell Graduate Student Award in recognition of his "commitment to graduate education in the field of Western History."^[7] The award is given to doctoral candidates whose dissertation subject on the North American West.^[7]
• He was included in Contemporary Authors, The Dictionary of International Biography, the Directory of American Scholars, Whose Who of American Education, and Whose Who of the South and Southwest.^[2]

Rundell married Deanna Alyce Boyd on June 12, 1959, in Lewisville, Texas.^[8] She was a graduate of Texas Women's University where Rundell was teaching.^[8] They had three children—Jennifer, David, and Shelley.^[4]

Rundell was a member of First United Methodist Church in Hyattsville, Maryland.^[1] Although he left music for history, he never lost his love of it.^[4] He joined the National Cathedral Choral Society, the University of Maryland chorus, and the choir of First United Methodist Church.^[1]

He died of a heart attack in 1982 at his home in University Park, Maryland.^[4][1]