Publication Details

The Life and Work Of Dee Garrison

Historian of Women and Peace (1934-2009)

Dee Garrison was a gifted, lively, engaging, and totally dedicated historian and activist. An active scholar and teacher, her causes were social justice, women’s rights, peace, and disarmament. She was a pioneer in women’s studies and an expert on the ‘60s and the peace and labor movements. A co-creator of the women’s studies program at Rutgers, she served as Chair of the program and trained numerous graduate students in women’s history as well as in peace history.



Born in Cleburne, Texas, in 1934 and raised in the Corpus Christi area, Dee married a military officer, had two sons, and traveled widely with her family, even as she worked to complete a B.A. from California State College at Fullerton and a Ph.D. in History at the University of California at Irvine.

In 1972, she accepted a position in the History Department at Livingston College, a newly opened, innovative, undergraduate component of Rutgers University committed to “Strength through Diversity.”

Dee championed the rights of the working class, especially working women, and the causes of peace and social justice. She published a number of influential books on women and on peace. These included, Apostles of Culture: the Public Librarian and American Society 1876-1920; the Pulitzer-Prize nominated, Mary Heaton Vorse: The Life of an American Insurgent, a vivid portrayal of a fiery labor journalist, feminist, and crusader against war and oppressive working conditions and for women’s suffrage and other rights in the first half of the 20th Century; and Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked.

The recipient of many awards, she was perhaps proudest of two she received in 1995: a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant for research on peace and international cooperation, and the Livingston College Alumni Teaching Award for inspirational teaching.

After teaching at Rutgers for 33 years, Dee retired in 2005 as Professor Emerita of History and Women’s Studies.

As an active member of the Peace History Society (PHS), Dee served from 1993 to 1998 on the national selection committee for the Charles DeBenedetti Prize, and she was elected a member of the PHS Board of Directors, 1999-2002.

She was an inspiring scholar, teacher, colleague, and friend. Dee’s first marriage ended in divorce, and she later married John Leggett, a Professor of Sociology at Rutgers. She was deeply attached to John and to her children. Dee also loved her friends and the conversations, meals, and ideas she shared. Her humanity, wit, and radiant spirit will be missed by all.

Below is a link to an interview (two versions) with Dee Garrison done in February 2009 by Louise Michaels, a filmmaker/photographer from New England.  Ms. Michaels was inspired to do the interview after reading Dee's book on Mary Heaton Vorse.

http://www.wingspread.tv/categories/index.html?menuID=5&subMenuID=0&flvID=0