[2] The son of a lawyer, George W. Dupree, and his wife, Sarah Hunter, he attended Oberlin College, where he earned his bachelor of arts degree (summa cum laude) in 1942.
In addition, he served as project director on grants at the National Science Foundation, 1953-55.
Despite being a competent academic, Dupree's tenure in the Bancroft Library directorship was brief and stormy.
He was appointed to the directorship in June 1965 but clashed repeatedly with the staff over library internal policy, which sparked a near-revolution among its employees.
He also required an accounting for long-term projects on which the library devoted resources but could show few actual results.
[8] In 1968, Brown University appointed Dupree George L. Littlefield Professor of History, a position he held until his retirement in 1981.
While in this post, he served as a consultant to the Panel on Science and Technology and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, 1969–73; trustee of the American Textile History Museum, a member of the NASA Historical Advisory Committee, and the Atomic Energy Commission's Historical Advisory Committee.
• 'Science vs. the Military: Dr. James Morrow and the Perry Expedition', The Pacific Historical Review, vol.
(1963) • Some general implications of the research of the Harvard University Program on Technology and Society edited by Emmanuel G. Mesthene.
1, (1969) • Science and society: past, present, and future edited by Nicholas H. Steneck with a contribution by A.