Harold Bell Hancock (1913-1987) was a native of Dover but spent most of his professional life outside Delaware. He earned a Ph.D. in history at Ohio State University, then taught for four decades at Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio. However, Hancock returned to Delaware most summers, wrote many books about the state, and often taught Delaware history during summer sessions at the University of Delaware.
He wrote histories of Kent and Sussex Counties as well as several downstate towns. His interests also included colonial Delaware and the Civil War, as shown by the following checklist of titles.
The Delaware Loyalists. Wilmington, The Society, 1940. 76 p.
Delaware During the Civil War a Political History. Wilmington, Historical Society of Delaware, [1961] 197 p., illus.
The History of Otterbein College, 1930-1972. [Westerville Ohio, 1971]. v, 197 p. illus.
History of Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church, Mill Creek., no place of publication listed, 1972?. 68 p. illus., map.
The History of Westerville, Ohio. [Westerville, Ohio] 1973. v, 289 p.
A History of Kent County Delaware. Dover, Del., Dover Litho Printing Co., 1976. 72 p., illus., map.
Liberty and Independence the Delaware State During the American Revolution. Wilmington, Delaware American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, c1976. 181 p.
The History of Sussex County, Delaware. c1976. viii, 159 p., illus.
The Loyalists of Revolutionary Delaware. Newark, University of Delaware Press, c1977. 159 p., illus.
Nineteenth Century Milford. Edited by Harold B. Hancock. Milford, Del., Chronicle, [1978]. ii, 60p.
A Preliminary Inventory of the Older Records in the Delaware Archives. Dover, Del. Bureau of Archives and Records, 1978. (With Joanne Mattern.) iv, 25 p.
Delaware Furniture Craftsmen, 1655-1880, a Directory. Westerville, Ohio, Otterbein College Print, 1980. ii, 83 p.
Slavery, Steamboats, & Railroads, the History of 19th Century Seaford, Del.. Junior Achievement Program of Seaford High School, 1981. (With Madeline Dunn Hite and Gerron S. Hite.) ix, 122 p. : illus.
Milton's First Century, 1807-1907. [re Milton, Del.] Westerville, Ohio, Milton Historical Society, printed by the Otterbein College Print Shop, 1982. (With Russell McCabe.) v, 348 p., illus.
The History of Nineteenth Century Laurel. [Laurel, Del.], Laurel Historical Society, 1983, vi, 438 p., illus., maps.
The Reconstructed Delaware State Census of 1782. Wilm., De., Delaware Genealogical Society, 1983. 233 p., maps
Proceedings of the Assembly of the Lower Counties on Delaware 1770-1776, of the Constitutional Convention of 1776, and of the House of Assembly of the Delaware State, 1776-1781. (Edited by Claudia L. Bushman, Harold B. Hancock, and Elizabeth Moyne Homesy. Introduction and addenda by Harold B. Hancock.) Newark, University of Delaware Press, c1986. 612 p.
Proceedings of the House of Assembly of the Delaware State, 1781-1792, and of the Constitutional Convention of 1792. Newark, University of Delaware Press London, Associated University Presses, c1988. (Edited by Claudia L. Bushman, Harold B. Hancock, and Elizabeth Moyne Homesy. Introduction by Harold B. Hancock.) 1020 p.