Former Professor Sets Standard For British Naval and Maritime History

Eugene L. Rasor receives the E&H Maiden Award at the 2010 graduation.

Emory & Henry College emeritus professor of history Eugene L. Rasor might live more than 200 miles from the nearest sea, but you will be wading through high seas to find anyone more educated about maritime and British Naval history.

Exeter University in Cornwall, United Kingdom, the premier British University focusing on maritime history, is publishing Rasor’s British Naval and Maritime History Bibliography. The online bibliography is a culmination of over 40-years worth of research.

The Rasor Bibliography, as it is commonly called, contains over 26,000 entries from published books, important articles and dissertations covering both British naval history and general maritime history from the earliest times (55 B.C.) to the present. The bibliography is open to the general public and is free of charge.

“Publication on the Internet is the best of all possible worlds,” Rasor commented. “We can now periodically update the site with the most recent journals and periodicals about British naval and maritime history.”

The Rasor Bibliography is being praised for its user friendly features. The site is currently searchable with a “Google-like” process, and future plans call for a more extensive categorization of subjects covered in the bibliography.  Currently the site is regularly updated with new entries, corrections and deletions.

“There was nothing out there like this before,” Rasor stated. “I have been told that this bibliography is now the standard.”

Eugene L. Rasor served 23-years in the United States Navy. He is an emeritus professor of history at Emory & Henry College, where he taught classes for 33-years before retiring in 1997. The Rasor Bibliography is his 15th bibliography, but by far his most extensive.