Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — Michael R. Auslin, the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, has been named a distinguished visiting scholar by the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.
Auslin, who previously was an associate professor of history at Yale, will be finishing a history of the Declaration of Independence while in residence at the Library of Congress.
“The Kluge Center was founded to bring some of the world’s leading scholars to the world’s largest library,” noted Dr. Kevin Butterfield, director of the Kluge Center. “We’re thrilled to be able to support Dr. Auslin’s work on the Declaration of Independence. It’s hard to believe that no one has ever told the full story of the document itself, including at the Library of Congress. We’re looking forward to learning more from him about our own past.”
Previous distinguished visiting scholars at the Kluge Center have included the eminent American historians Bernard Bailyn, John Hope Franklin, and Robert V. Remini.
Timed for the 250th anniversary of American independence, Auslin’s book will be the first complete history of the Declaration, focusing on the little-told story of the document’s material and symbolic history.
“It is an honor to be invited to join the Kluge Center’s extraordinary fellowship and have access to the Library of Congress’s unparalleled resources while I complete this study,” Auslin said. The book will be published in spring 2026 by Simon & Schuster’s Avid Reader Press.
Previously an associate professor of history at Yale University, Auslin is an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and serves on the board of the American Ditchley Foundation. His prior academic work has focused on the history of US-Asian relations.
At Hoover, Auslin participates in a variety of research programs and teams including the Military History in Contemporary Conflict Working Group, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions, and the Hoover History Lab.
He also maintains the Patowmack Packet blog, which focuses on the historical development of Washington, DC, from 1800 through the twentieth century.
For coverage opportunities, contact Jeffrey Marschner, 202-760-3187, jmarsch@stanford.edu.
