Manuscript of Reuben John Rath's The Provisional Austrian Regime in Lombardy-Venetia

R. John Rath, born December 12, 1910, in St. Francis, Kansas, received a Bachelor of Arts in 1932 from the University of Kansas, a Masters of Arts in 1934 from the University of California at Berkeley, and Ph.D. in 1941 from Columbia University. Following army service in 1945, he was named Chief, Division of Documentary Evidence, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, U.S. Zone in Germany, and later, chief of the same division, Austrian mission. He was granted a Social Science Research Council Fellowship in 1937-1938 for research in Austria and Italy and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1956-1957 for research in Italy.

Dr. Rath held teaching assignments at the University of Arkansas, Mississippi State College for Women, University of Georgia, the University of Colorado and the University of Texas as Professor of History before joining the Rice University faculty in 1963. At Rice University he was Chairman of the Department of History and Political Science from 1963 to 1968 and Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of History from 1969 to 1979.

Rath was co-founder and former president of the Conference Group for Central European History of the United States and Canada, former president of the Southwestern Social Science Association, and member and board member of numerous national and international historical associations. He wrote numerous books, articles and book reviews on European history. He also founded and edited the "Austrian History Yearbook."