Professor Robert William Heussler (1924-1984) was an American historian who made his special subject the history of the British Colonial Service in various parts of the Empire. His academic career in the United States included a doctorate from Princeton University, 1961, the Presidency of Trenton State College, 1968-1970, and the post of Professor of History at the State University of New York for ten years from 1973. Concurrent positions included consultant, Foreign Area Training Programme, London, from 1965, Visiting Fellow, Centre for International Studies, Princeton, 1970-1971 and Research Associate, St. Anthony's College, Oxford, 1972-1973. He was a member of the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Anglo American Association. His books include Yesterdays Rulers. The making of the British Colonial Service (London, Oxford University Press, 1963; Syracuse, N.Y., Syracuse University Press, 1963); The British in Northern Nigeria (London, Oxford University Press, 1968); British Tanganyika. An essay and documents on district administration (Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1971); British rule in Malaya. the Malayan Civil Service and its predecessors, 1867-1942 (Oxford, Clio Press, 1981); and Completing a Stewardship. the Malayan Civil Service, 1942-1957 (London/Westport, Conn., Greenwood, 1983). He married in 1957 and had four children.

• Letters and papers on thesis and in preparation for his book, Yesterday's Rulers. The making of the British Colonial Service (London, Oxford University Press, 1963; Syracuse, N.Y., Syracuse University Press, 1963), 1906-1977
• Letters concerning the Oxford Colonial Records Project, 1962-1969
• Papers relating to research on British Tanganyika, 1960-1974
• Papers relating to research on Northern Nigeria, 1961-1971
• Papers relating to research on Malaya, 1970-1984
• Malayan Civil Service history papers, 1929-1984
• Malayan Civil Service history papers and photographs, 1969-1981

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Listed as no. 585 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996). A handlist is also available in the library reading room.

A chapter from Professor Heussler's memoirs relating to his research into recruitment to the Colonial Service, [?1980s](ref. MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 510); correspondence between R. Heussler and John Hinton Carrow, 1965-1967 concerning indirect rule in Nigeria in the 1920s and 1930s (ref. MSS. Afr. s. 1489).

Heussler | Robert William | 1924-1984 | Professor | historian

Great Britain | Colonies | Administration

Tanzania | History | To 1964

Nigeria | History

Malaysia | History