{"id":240829,"date":"2026-09-17T14:42:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T00:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=240829"},"modified":"2026-09-17T14:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T00:44:09","slug":"in-memoriam-john-stephan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/17\/in-memoriam-john-stephan\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: John Stephan, historian of Russia in Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"polansky
Patricia Polansky delivers the Russian edition of John Stephan\u2019s Sakhalin: A History<\/em> in December 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John J. Stephan, a pioneering University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa emeritus professor of history whose scholarship advanced understanding of Russia\u2019s role in Asia, died August 12, 2026.<\/p>\n

Stephan came to Hawaiʻi<\/span> in 1964 after studying Russian and Japanese at Harvard. At 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, his interest in the Russian Far East grew through a course taught by Russian history professor John A. White and an intellectual community that included Patricia Polansky, now Hamilton Library\u2019s Russian Bibliographer.<\/p>\n

Stephan taught history at 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa from 1970 until his retirement in 2001, producing influential scholarship focused on Russia in Asia. His books included Sakhalin: A History<\/em> (1971), The Kuril Islands: Russo-Japanese Frontier in the Pacific<\/em> (1974) and The Russian Far East: A History<\/em> (1994).<\/p>\n

He also served as founding director of the Center for the Soviet Union in the Asia-Pacific Region, established at 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa in 1986 and later renamed the Center for Russia in Asia.<\/p>\n

\"polansky
Patricia Polansky shows John Stephan a 1930s Japanese geological map of Sakhalin during his final visit to Hamilton Library in September 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Landmark work published in Russian<\/h2>\n

Months before his death, Stephan received copies of a new Russian-language edition of Sakhalin: A History<\/em>. The books arrived at Hamilton Library in December 2025 after being printed in Beijing, a route necessitated by disrupted U.S.<\/abbr>-Russia postal connections amid the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

During the Soviet era, Sakhalin: A History<\/em> was denounced and restricted from general use. After the Soviet Union collapsed, portions were serialized in an independent Sakhalin newspaper.<\/p>\n

“It is especially meaningful that John lived to see Sakhalin: A History<\/em> translated into Russian,” Polansky said. “That a work once suppressed in the Soviet Union has now been published in Russian is a remarkable testament to the lasting importance of his research.”<\/p>\n

Hamilton Library legacy<\/h2>\n

For more than two decades, Stephan supported Hamilton Library collections reflecting his scholarly interests and Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s connections to Asia and the Pacific.<\/p>\n

“John understood the importance of libraries because he knew firsthand how much they could shape a scholar\u2019s work,” Polansky said.<\/p>\n

Read more at Hamilton Library.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian edition of landmark book highlights John Stephan\u2019s scholarly and Hamilton Library legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":240834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[777,225,756,207,128,158,9],"class_list":["post-240829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-asian-studies","tag-history","tag-in-memoriam","tag-library","tag-manoa-library","tag-publication","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t