Carl E. Solberg, a member of the History Department of the University of Washington since 1966, died on April 7, 1985, after an extended illness. Professor Solberg, the only child of Helen and Walter Solberg, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on April 4, 1940. After receiving his bachelors degree in History and Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1962, he attended Stanford University, where he worked primarily under the direction of John J. Johnson and received his Ph.D. in 1966.
Except for one year, when he taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, and visiting professorships at Simon Fraser and Stanford Universities, Professor Solberg spent his entire career at the University of Washington, where he concentrated on the histories of modern Latin America, especially Argentina.
Solberg was the author of three books: Immigration and Nationalism: Argentina and Chile, 1890-1914 (Austin, 1970); Oil and Nationalism in Argentina (Stanford, 1979); and (tentatively) The Prairies and Pampas: Agrarian Development and Agricultural Policy in Canada and Argentina, 1880-1930, which Stanford University Press will publish with the assistance of his friends. This is perhaps his best, and clearly his most ambitious, undertaking. Encouraged by John Fogarty, the Australian economic historian, to do this book, Carl deepened his interest in Canadian history and in recent years taught both Latin American and Canadian history at the University of Washington. In fact, Carl volunteered to teach both an undergraduate and a graduate course on Canada when it was mandated by the state legislature. Knowing how the British imperial system had affected Argentina, Carl linked North and South and entered a field that gave him much satisfaction. The book explains why the Argentine wheat economy stagnated while the Canadian wheat economy rose to world leadership. Comparison brings the two cases into sharp focus, enabling Solberg to show how different state policies and especially divergent land tenure systems allowed two nations with similar access to world wheat markets to produce such varying outcomes.
When Solberg was initially considered for appointment by the University of Washington his mentor stated: “I am extremely hot on Solberg. He is bright and alert. The material he covers is honestly fantastic.” Professor Solberg consistently lived up to that enthusiastic recommendation. He was the recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Woodrow Wilson, NDFL, NDEA, SSRC, ACLS, and the American Philosophical Society.
A dedicated, productive scholar, he was also an outstanding teacher. He attracted and inspired large numbers of enthusiastic students who twice recommended him for one of the distinguished teaching awards offered by his university. He took special pride in the training of graduate students, both those who worked primarily under his supervision (his boys, as he called them) and those who took a portion of their work with him. Although he found committee assignments burdensome, he accepted his share of such duties and discharged his responsibilities with the efficiency, judiciousness, and good cheer that always characterized his work. Active in the CLAH, he served a two-year term as executive secretary of the Committee on Río de la Plata-Chile Studies and chaired the Robinson Prize Committee in 1976. More recently, he was appointed to the Board of Editors of Business History Review, and also to the American Historical Association-Canadian Historical Association Joint Committee.
Carl Solberg will be remembered both as an outstanding Argentinist and as an unusually able comparativist. A vibrant personality, he will be profoundly missed by friends and students.
