The University Record, August 14, 1995
OBITUARIES
Robert C. Juvinall
Robert C. Juvinall, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, died April 13 in Sarasota, Fla. He was 78.
He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Case Institute of Technology in 1939 and a master of automotive engineering degree from Chrysler Institute in 1941.
Juvinall joined the U-M in 1957 as an associate professor and was named professor in 1962. He also held a part-time appointment with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, where he was active in research, device design and teaching.
His anatomical force analysis study of the tendons of the hand was a major contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms of hand deformities in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and to improved management of these deformities. He retired from the University in 1984.
He published two textbooks, many papers and held nine patents. Juvinall was a member of the ASME, SEA, SESA and several honor societies. He also served as faculty adviser to such student organizations as Pi Tau Sigma, Engineering Council, Tau Beta Pi and ASME.
Juvinall is survived by his wife, Arlene; one sister, Mary (Russell) Larson; two daughters, Margaret Lee (Thomas) Robertson and Nancy (Paul) Jackson; three grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Southwest Florida or an organization of the donor’s choice.
Howard H. Peckham
Howard H. Peckham, professor emeritus of history and director emeritus of the Clements Library, died July 6 in Hendersonville, N.C. He was 84.
Peckham earned both a B.A. (1931) and an M.A. (1933) from the University, then served as manuscript curator for the Clements Library in 1936-1945.
In 1953, after a number of years as director of Indiana’s State Historical Bureau, he returned to the U-M as director of the Clements Library. As the Library’s second director, Peckham greatly expanded its holdings, adding depth to its colonial and revolutionary collections, acquiring important manuscripts for the early National, Ante-Bellum and Civil War periods. He served as director until his retirement in 1977. He also was named associate professor of history in 1953 and became professor of history in 1959.
“Professor Peckham has had an exceedingly productive career as a researcher, and the quality of his scholarship is widely recognized,” noted the Regents upon his retirement.
“Peckham was a skillful and prolific historian, though acutely sensitive that he lacked the Ph.D. which had become a standard academic qualification,” says history prof. and Clements trustee John Shy. “He produced informed and readable histories of the colonial wars, the American Revolutionary War, the state of Indiana and the University of Michigan.”
Peckham authored numerous articles and books in the field of early American history, including Pontiac and the Indian Uprising (1947), Captured by Indians (1954), The War for Independence (1958), The Colonial Wars, 1689-1762 (1964), The Toll of Independence (1974) and The Making of The University of Michigan (1967).
A founding member of the Society of American Archivists, Peckham’s articles describing the techniques he used to organize large, complicated groups of historical manuscripts, along with his Guide to the Manuscripts of the Clements Library (1942), contributed to the professionalization of archival methods. He also was a founder and contributor to American Heritage and president of the American Association for State and Local History.
He served as a member of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians and the Indiana Historical Society, and served on the Advisory Committee on Historical Publication, Navy Department.
“He is remembered by his colleagues and generations of scholars who first came to the Clements Library as graduate students working on doctoral dissertations as a kind and generous man whose courtly manner often enhanced his dry wit,” says Shy.
Peckham is survived by his wife, Dorothy Koth Peckham; son Stephen Peckham of Lexington, Ky; daughter Angela Hewett of Philadelphia, and three grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Director’s Fund, Clements Library.
