Department of American Studies ELTE
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Eötvös Loránd University
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Tibor Frank Tibor Frank, PhD, DLitt,
Professor Emeritus of History, former Head of Department 1992-1994, former Director of SEAS (1994-2001, 2006-2014)

E-mail: tzsbe@hu.inter.net
Homepage: www.franktibor.hu
Phone: +36 1 460 4213, +36 1 460 4416
+36 1 485 5200 / *4213, *4416
Office: Room 310







CV

Born in 1948 in Budapest, Hungary, Tibor FRANK is Professor of History at the Department of American Studies and was Director of the School of English and American Studies, at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary (1994–2001, 2006–2014). He was one of the founding members of the Department of American Studies at ELTE and Chair from 1992 to 1994. In Spring 2000 he set up a new Ph.D. program in American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University which he serves as program director.

Tibor FRANK was educated as a student of History and English at ELTE and in Cambridge, England (Christ’s College 1969, Darwin College 1980–81). He has been teaching at ELTE since graduating in 1971 with an M.A. in History and English, obtaining his Dr. Univ. in Modern History (1973). He received his Ph.D. in History at the Hungarian Academy of Letters and Science (1979), his Habilitation in History at ELTE in 1996, and his D.Litt. at the Hungarian Academy of Letters and Science in 1998. In 2013 he was elected corr. member, in 2019 full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Between 1988 and 1990 Tibor FRANK taught as a Fulbright Visiting Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and also at UCLA. In 1990–91 he was invited to the University of Nevada–Reno as an NEH Distinguished Visiting Professor of History, sponsored by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Between 1988–97 he taught History courses every Summer at UCSB Summer Sessions; between 1994 and 1997 he was founder and director of UCSB’s The New Europe program. He was an István Deák Chair Visiting Professor at the History Department of Columbia University in the City of New York in 2001, 2007, and 2010.

Since 1992 he has been a regular visiting professor at the Education Abroad Program of the University of California in Budapest, Hungary (1992–2008), at the Center for the Study of American Culture and Language in Salzburg, Austria (1995), in the Nationalism Studies Program of the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary (1999–2001), in the UNESCO-sponsored Minorities Studies Program of the Institute of Sociology of ELTE (1995, 1997), and the IES Abroad Vienna (formerly Institute of European Studies) in Vienna, Austria (1999–). He has lectured in over 40 U.S., Canadian, British and European universities and contributed to over 80 conferences in both Europe and the United States. His books, articles and chapters have been published in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States.

Between 2003 and 2009 he acted as a teamleader, with Frank Hadler (GWZO, Leipzig) of the European Science Foundation Programme “Representations of the Past: The Writing of National Histories in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Europe” (Team 4: “Overlapping National Histories”), published by Palgrave Macmillan as Disputed Territories and Shared Pasts: Overlapping National Histories in Modern Europe in 2011.

Professor Frank is chairman of the Commission of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2017–), chairman of the 2nd Bolyai Grant Program (2016–) and a member of the Book and Journal Commission of the Academy. Dr. FRANK founded Hungary’s Modern Language Association in 1983; he served the Association as Secretary General between 1983 and 1996, and had been its Vice President between 1996 and 2007. He (co–)organized over twentyfive major multidisciplinary conferences between 1972 and 2015, many of them international. He has been on the boards of Historical Abstracts (Santa Barbara–Oxford, 1989–93, 2000–2008), Nationalities Papers (New York, 1989–), Polanyiana (Budapest, 1994–), and the European Journal of American Culture (Nottingham, England, 1998). He was co–president (1994–2001), and is currently honorary president (2004–), of the Hungarian Association for American Studies and was a board member of the European Association for American Studies (1994–2001). He was a member of the Board of the U.S.–Hungarian Fulbright Commission between 1999–2002, 2009–2011, 2013–); in 2010–2011 he was Chairman of the Board, he is again chairman since 2017. Between 2007 and 2015 he was Vice President of Magyar Történelmi Társulat [Hungarian Historical Association], in 2015 he was elected Editor of its journal Századok. Between 2008 and 2013 he was founding editor–in–chief of the Trefort–kert (later Trefort Campus) magazine of the Faculty of Humanities, ELTE.



Publications: For a selected list of publications see the Wikipedia article on Professor Frank and his own web page.
For a full list of publications, complete with journal articles and book chapters see the SEAS bibliographic database or www.mtmt.hu.

Books: The British Image of Hungary 1865-1870 (Budapest: L. Eötvös University, 1976); Marx és Kossuth (Budapest: Magvető, 1985), 165 p.; Egy emigráns alakváltásai. Zerffi Gusztáv pályaképe 1820-1892 (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó 1985), 330 p.; Aru bomeisha no henshin: Zerufi Gusutaavu Den (Tokyo: Sairyu Sha, 1994), 381 p.; Ethnicity, Propaganda, Myth–Making: Studies on Hungarian Connections to Britain and America 1848–1945 (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1999); From Habsburg Agent to Victorian Scholar: G. G. Zerffi 1820–1892 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000); Ein Diener seiner Herren: Werdegang des österreichischen Geheimagenten Gustav Zerffi (1820–1892) (Wien–Köln–Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 2002); (Ed.) Discussing Hitler: Advisers of U.S. Diplomacy in Central Europe, 1934–1941 (Budapest–New York: CEU Press, 2003); (Ed.) Ever Ready to Go: The Multiple Exiles of Leo Szilard (Berlin: Max–Planck–Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 2004); Picturing Austria–Hungary: The British Perception of the Habsburg Monarchy 1865–1870 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005); Hangarii Seiou–Gensou no Wana – Senkanki no Kaneibeiha to Ryoudomondai (ハンガリー西欧幻想の罠 — 戦間期の親英米派と領土問題; Hungary Trapped in Western Illusions – Anglophiles and treaty revision during World War II) (Tokyo: Sairyu Sha, 2008); (Hg.) Zwischen Roosevelt und Hitler. Die Geheimgespräche eines amerikanischen Diplomaten in Budapest 1934–1941 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2009); Double Exile: Migrations of Jewish–Hungarian Professionals through Germany to the United States 1919–1945 (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009); Tibor Frank and Frank Hadler (eds), Disputed Territories and Shared Pasts: Overlapping National Histories in Modern Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, paperback 2015); Kettős kivándorlás. Budapest–Berlin–New York 1919–1945 (Budapest: Gondolat, 2012, 2015/2); Szabadság és felelősség: Az Egyesült Államok és a németországi nácitlanítás a második világháború után (Akadémiai székfoglaló, 2013) (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 2014), 91 p.; Britannia vonzásában (Budapest: Gondolat, 2018), 306 p.; Amerika világai (Budapest: Gondolat, 2018), 600 p.

Textbooks: Tibor Frank and Tamás Magyarics: Handouts for British History: A Study Guide and Workbook (1st ed. 1992, 3rd ed. Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó, 1994), 329 p.; Tibor Frank and Tamás Magyarics: Handouts for U.S. History: A Study Guide and Workbook (2nd ed. Budapest: PANEM, 1999, 479 p.; 3rd revised ed. Budapest: Antall József Tudásközpont, 2018, 663 p.)

Edited books: Erzsébet Perényi and Tibor Frank, eds: Studies in English and American, Vol. 2 (Budapest: Eötvös University, 1975), 472 p.; Tibor Frank and Erzsébet Perényi, eds: Studies in English and American, Vol. 3 (Budapest: Eötvös University, 1977), 251 p.; Studies in English and American, Vol. 4 (Budapest: Eötvös University, 1978), 283 p.; Tanulmányok a Magyar Rádió történetéből 1925-1945 (Budapest: Tömegkommunikációs Kutatóközpont, 1975), 438 p.; Frank Tibor és Hoppál Mihály, szerk.: Hiedelemrendszer és társadalmi tudat (Budapest: Tömegkommunikációs Kutatóközpont, 1980), 341 + 301 p.; The Origins and Originality of American Culture (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1984), 801 p.; Values in American Society (Budapest: ELTE, 1995), 270 p.; Roosevelt követe Budapesten. John F. Montgomery bizalmas politikai beszélgetései 1934-1941 (Budapest: Corvina Kiadó, 2002), 351 p.; Discussing Hitler: Advisers of U.S. Diplomacy in Central Europe, 1934—1941 (Budapest—New York: CEU Press, 2003), 376 p.; Ever Ready to Go: The Multiple Exiles of Leo Szilard, Vols. 1-3 (Berlin: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 2004), 447 p.; George Pólya and the Heuristic Tradition (Berlin: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 2004), 210 p,; Angliától Nagy-Britanniáig. Magyar kutatók tanulmányai a brit történelemről (Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó, 2004), 405 p.; John F. Montgomery: Magyarország, a vonakodó csatlós, 2. kiadás (Budapest: Zrínyi Kiadó, 2004), 335 p.; Gál István: Magyarország és az angolszász világ (szerk. Frank Tibor, Gál Ágnes és Gál Julianna) (Budapest: Argumentum Kiadó-OSZK, 2005), 947 p. Honszeretet és felekezeti hűség. Wahrmann Mór 1831-1892 (Budapest: Argumentum Kiadó, 2006), 693 p.; Gyarmatokból impérium. Magyar kutatók tanulmányai az amerikai történelemről (Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó, 2007), 366 p.; Zwischen Roosevelt und Hitler. Die Geheimgespräche eines amerikanischen Diplomaten in Budapest 1934–1941 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2009), 401 p.; Frank Tibor és Károly Krisztina, szerk.: Anglisztika és amerikanisztika. Magyar kutatások az ezredfordulón (Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2009), 438 p. Frank Tibor és Károly Krisztina, szerk.: Gateways to English: Current Hungarian Doctoral Research (Budapest: ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, 2010), 376 p.; Tibor Frank and Frank Hadler, eds: Disputed Territories and Shared Pasts: Overlapping National Histories in Modern Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 430 p.; Németföldről Németországba. Magyar kutatók tanulmányai a német történelemről (Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó, 2012), 364 p.; Frank Tibor és Károly Krisztina, szerk.: 125 éves a budapesti angol szak. Doktorandusztanulmányok (Budapest: ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, 2012), 158 p.; Frank Tibor és Károly Krisztina, szerk.: Az angol tudománya. 125 éves az egyetemi angol szak, 1886-2011 (Budapest: ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, 2013), 360 p.; Az orosz birodalom születései. Magyar kutatók tanulmányai az orosz történelemről (Budapest: Gondolat, 2016), 414 p.


Research Grants and Awards, Visiting Professorships

Major research trips

  • Columbia University (2001, 2007, 2010)
  • Max–Planck–Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte in Berlin, Germany (2003–04), based on the Humboldt Forschungspreis (Research Award) from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for 2002
  • Washington, D. C. (1993, 1994)
  • UCSB (1988–97, every summer)
  • University of Nevada–Reno (1990–91)
  • Archival and Library Research Trips to 35 U.S. Collections (1988–1990)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles (UCSB and UCLA, 1987–90)
  • Archival Research, Moscow, IML, TsGAOR, (1977)
  • Archival Research, HHStA, Vienna (1972)
  • Cambridge University, UK (1980–81)

Research grants and awards

  • Humboldt Forschungspreis (Research Award) (2002)
  • Kellner Foundation short research grant (2000)
  • Széchenyi Professorial Grant, Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture (1997–2001)
  • Hungarian Ministry of Education (1997)
  • The Soros Foundation/Hungary (1996)
  • Pro Cultura Hungariae Renovanda Foundation (1995)
  • Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio, Italy, 1992)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities (University of Nevada–Reno, 1990–91)
  • UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (Santa Barbara, 1988–91)
  • Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington, D.C., 1989)
  • American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, PA, 1989–90)
  • Fulbright Visiting Scholar (UCSB, UCLA, University of Nevada–Reno, 1987–91)
  • The British Council (Cambridge, UK, 1969, 1980–81)

Awards

  • Corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2013–, full member since 2019
  • Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London (2006–)
  • Eötvös Ring of Eötvös Loránd University, (2017)
  • Szent–Györgyi Albert Prize (2005)
  • Humboldt Forschungspreis (Research Award) (2002)
  • Pro Neophilologia in Hungaria award (2002)
  • Pro Universitate award (2002)
  • Országh László Prize (2000)
  • Felsőoktatási Tanulmányi Érdemérem [Hungarian Higher Education Award] (1972)
  • C. E. Eckersley Prize (1970)
  • National Interschool Competition in History, 1st Prize (1965)

Visiting professorships

  • Visiting Professor, History Department, Columbia University in the City of New York (2001, 2007, 2010)
  • Institute of European Studies in Vienna, Austria (1999–)
  • The UNESCO–sponsored Minorities Studies Program of the Institute of Sociology of Eötvös Loránd University (1995, 1997)
  • Nationalism Studies Program of the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary (1999–2001)
  • Center for the Study of American Culture and Language in Salzburg, Austria (1995)
  • Regular visiting professor at the Education Abroad Program of the University of California in Budapest, Hungary (1992–)
  • Founder and director of UCSB’s The New Europe program (1994–97)
  • Visiting Professor of History, every Summer at UCSB Summer Sessions (1988–97)
  • University of Nevada–Reno as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of History (1990–91)
  • Fulbright Visiting Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and also at UCLA (1988–90)

Main Research Areas

Images, Stereotypes, and Propaganda
US Images of the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy and Hungary
Influencing the American Image of Hungary
US Politics and Propaganda
International Exiles after the Revolution of 1848–49: Lajos Kossuth in the US

Emigration/Immigration and the “Racial” Question
Mass Emigration from the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy to the US
Hungarian–American Intellectual and Professional Migrations
Step– and Chain–Migrations towards the United States
The Early History of American Brain–Drain
Migration of Scientists through Germany to the United States
Anti–Semitism and Migrations to the US

Transatlantic Relations
Austro–Hungarian and Hungarian Relations with the United States
Interwar Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Hungary
Weimar Germany (especially Berlin) in the Transatlantic Processes
German–American Cultural and Scientific Relations
The International Relations of Hungary
The United States and Europe: Influences and Connections
English as an International Language and US Language Policies
The Austro–Hungarian Monarchy and the US: A Comparative Approach

Historiography
Writing US History in Europe


Courses in American Studies at ELTE

For courses taught in American Studies at ELTE see the course catalogue of the School of English and American Studies.

Family

He is married to psychologist Zsuzsa F. Várkonyi, an honorary university professor; his son Benedek Frank is an economist, grandsons Bálint (12) and Benjámin (9) go to school.