William G. Wagner (1950–2021): Pioneering New Fields

Abstract

The recent and premature passing of William G. Wagner (1950–2021) evoked deep sorrow among his colleagues, as is duly attested in the professional obituaries.1 This essay examines his contribution to the field, focusing on the three phases of his evolving scholarship: legal history, women’s history, and religious history. It includes his forthcoming monograph and draws upon his personal papers in the special collections at Williams College.2 After graduating from Haverford College in 1972 (with a B.A. in an independent major in Russian studies), Wagner studied at Oxford University, with a focus on Russian legal history, and earned a M.Phil. (1974) and doctorate in modern history (1981). In 1976, he published his first article on tsarist legal policies and four years later defended a doctoral thesis on tsarist law on property and inheritance after the judicial reform of 1864.3 The thesis