Barbara Brightfield was born in
Belleville, Illinois, April 12, 1923. She earned three degrees in history from the
University of California at
Berkeley: an
A.B. honors degree in 1943, an
M.A. in 1944, and a
Ph.D. in 1948. In 1944, she married Croatian-American
Charles Jelavich (1922–2013), one of America's foremost Balkan, Habsburg, and South Slavic specialists; both engaged in multiple academic collaborations. They were jointly honored in 1992 with the
AAASS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Slavic Studies. During that same year, she was given the first Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Romanian historian Cornelia Bodea acknowledged Jelavich as an internationally "respected ruler in her territorial waters". in recognition of scholarship in 19th and 20th century southeastern European and Habsburg studies, as well as in Russian and Ottoman diplomatic history. ==Published works==