Prosser Gifford (1929-2020)

A Rhodes Scholar, Gifford holded a law degree from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D in history from Yale. His academic career included teaching appointments at Yale University and at Amherst College, where he was Dean of the Faculty from 1967 through1979. In 1980, Gifford was appointed deputy director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where he worked until 1988. At the Library of Congress, he directed a variety of special programs and projects, including the exhibition Treasures from the Bibliotheque nationale de France (1995). He had extensive experience as an editor of volumes on African history and United States foreign policy. A third generation Woods Hole summer resident, Gifford was an active member of the community, serving as a member of the Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Corporation and as Chairman of the Marine Biological Laboratory Board of Trustees. Upon his retirement in 2005, he moved from Washington, D.C., to Woods Hole, and since 2007 was active on the Woods Hole Library Board. In 2011, he was honored with the Alumni Award by the Hotchkiss Alumni Association. The Hotchkiss School is an independent boarding school located in Lakeville, Conn., where Gifford graduated in 1947, before continuing his academic career at Yale University, Merton College in Oxford, UK, Harvard University, and again Yale.