The following letter (March 9, 1910) from the second President of the University of Chicago (Harry Pratt Judson) to the first Head of the Department of Political Economy (James Laurence Laughlin) provided a list of the Duties of a Department Head that was apparently unchanged since the founding of the University in 1891. From the tone of the letter, it does not appear to be intended as a reminder as much as a slightly whimsical juxtaposition of historical expectations with (implicit) contemporary administrative realities. One wonders of course, which duties on that list were actually still in effect in 1910 and which new duties had become a part of the “custom of the manor” in the meantime. In an earlier post the 1892 regulations for graduate education at the University of Chicago, give almost the same list of Department Head duties, but it is not identical. In the 1892 regulations the authority to determine textbooks for courses was not listed and the duty to serve in the University Senate was added.
In any event, we see that the role of the department chairman (at least at the University of Chicago in its early years) had more of a Dean-like quality than Player-Coach quality observed in departments today. Executive Committees of senior colleagues serve as a check or balance with respect to the power of the departmental chairperson, a tenured senior colleague in the department.
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Biographical Note: James Laurence Laughlin
James Laurence Laughlin was born on April 2, 1850 in Deerfield, Ohio. In the fall of 1869 he entered Harvard College and was graduated summa cum laude in history in 1873. He continued the study of history under Henry Adams at Harvard. He also taught at Hopkinson’s Classical School in Boston. In 1876 he received his Ph. D. degree for his thesis on “The Anglo-Saxon Legal Procedure.”
In the fall of 1878 Laughlin was appointed instructor of political economy at Harvard. After receiving graduate training in economics, he was appointed an assistant professor at Harvard (1883-1888); during this period, Laughlin organized and sponsored the Political Economy Club. He also completed his History of Bimetallism in the United States in 1885. In 1888 Laughlin left Harvard and became president of the Manufacturer’s Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia. He accepted a professorship in Political Economy at Cornell University in 1890.
Two years later President Harper appointed Laughlin Head Professor of Political Economy at the new University of Chicago. At Chicago, Laughlin introduced the seminar as a method of instruction and founded the Journal of Political Economy. In 1894, Laughlin proposed that the University establish a School of Commerce and Industry. The new professional school, which began undergraduate instruction in 1898, evolved into the Graduate School of Business.
In 1916 Laughlin became Professor Emeritus. He moved to East Jaffery, New Hampshire, where he completed his Credit of Nations, published in 1918. He also wrote numerous magazine articles, largely on labor questions, including “Monopoly of Labor.” He died on November 28, 1933.
Source:University of Chicago Library. Guide to the James Laurence Laughlin Papers 1885-1914.
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The University of Chicago
Founded by John D. Rockefeller
Office of the President
March 9, 1910
Dear Mr. Laughlin:-
I enclose copy of the original statute of the University, which has never been repealed, relating to the duties of Heads of Departments. This was printed in Bulletin #1, which we all read with so much interest at the opening of the University, and in accordance with which the original arrangements were all made. I thought you would be interested.
Very truly yours,
[signed] H. P. Judson
Mr. J. Laurence Laughlin,
The University of Chicago
Source: The Library of Congress, Manuscript Division.Papers of James Laurence Laughlin. Box 1, Folder “1910: Miscellaneous Correspondence”.
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From THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY.
[…]
Heads of Departments, who shall in each case
(1) Supervise, in general, the entire work of the department.
(2) Prepare all entrance and prize examination papers, and approve all course examination papers prepared by other instructors.
(3) Arrange, in consultation with the Dean and with other instructors in the department, the particular courses of instruction to be offered from quarter to quarter.
(4) Examine all theses offered in the department.
(5) Determine, in consultation with the instructors, the text-books to be used in the department.
(6) Edit any papers or journals which may be published by the University on subjects in the department.
(7) Conduct the Club or Seminar of the department.
(8) Consult with the librarian as to books and periodicals in the department needed in the University and Departmental Libraries.
(9) Consult with the President as to the appointment of instructors in the department.
(10) Countersign the course-certificates in the department.
[…]
Source: Ibid. and University of Chicago. Official Bulletin, No. 1 (January 1891), p. 11.
Image Source: J. Laurence Laughlin (standing left) and President William Rainey Harper (standing right) and John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (sitting, with top-hat) at the cornerstone laying for the University Press Building in 1901. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-05937, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.