ARNSTEIN, WALTER LEONARD

ARNSTEIN, WALTER LEONARD (1930– ), U.S. historian. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Arnstein immigrated to the United States in 1939 and became an American citizen in 1944. He served in Korea with the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953 and earned his Ph.D. in 1961 at Northwestern University. He next taught at his alma mater as well as at Roosevelt University (1957–67). He was then appointed professor of history at the University of Illinois. Arnstein served as a member of the Department of History of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1968 to 1998, and holds the titles Professor of History Emeritus and Jubilee Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Emeritus. He served for four years as department chair and for four years as department director of graduate studies. In 1987 he won the all-campus award for excellence in undergraduate teaching.

A specialist in British history, Arnstein wrote The Bradlaugh Case: A Study in Late Victorian Opinion and Politics (1965, 1984); Britain, Yesterday and Today: 1830 to the Present (1966, 2001⁸); and Queen Victoria (2003). He also published two monographs on religious issues in Victorian England and 30 articles. Seven of the articles deal with Queen Victoria, whose papers he examined in the Royal Archives at Windsor.

Arnstein served as president of the Midwest Victorian Studies Association (1977–80), the Midwest Conference on British Studies (1980–82), and the North American Conference of British Studies (1995–97). In 1991 the annual Walter L. Arnstein Prize for Ph.D. students in Victorian Studies was established by the Midwest Victorian Studies Association.

[Ruth Beloff (2^nd ed.)]