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The Center for Presidential History sadly lost one of our own during the summer of 2024, when Dr. Aaron Crawford ended his long battle with cancer at the age of 49. A scholar and archivist extraordinaire, Aaron was an historian of American politics, particularly focused on the long 19th century. He was driven by a life-long passion to understand what divided, connected, and ultimately inspired Americans to make, and then remake, the United States time and again. The most generous of scholars, he also spent a considerable portion of his career helping others make their own scholarship possible, including as a critical member of the editorial teams that produced the Papers of Andrew Jackson, the Martin Van Buren Papers, the Correspondence of James K. Polk, and the Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, as well as an early editor and contributor to CPH’s Collective Memory Project focused on creating a filmed oral history archive of the George W. Bush presidency.

Aaron was the Center for Presidential History’s first post-doctoral fellow, and we will miss him very much. No one was as well read, nor as continuously fascinated by our nation’s past, as he. Arguably no one knew more.

To honor his work and memory we have established the , which will enable the next generation of American historians to visit the archives Aaron so profoundly loved, find the books he’d likely have already read, and present their findings far and wide. We thank you for considering a contribution in Aaron’s honor to a fund that will enable graduate students in SMU’s Clements Department of History to uncover more about the past, a goal which Aaron prized and dedicated his life to.