The artifact transcribed and linked for this post was found in last of ten boxes in the Harvard Archives collection “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003”. I had worked through the previous nine boxes containing folders chronologically ordered by academic year. Box 10 contained five folders of poorly sorted course materials that were undated, requiring some effort to establish a probable time range for any of the artifacts.
In the first folder I found an eight page typed list of courses, with the names and assigned readings (for most of the courses offered to both undergraduate and graduate students, though no reading lists for the courses that were primarily offered for graduate students) which was relatively easy to date by looking at the course staffing announced in the annual catalogue for the Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21. There is one reference to Taussig’s third edition (Dec. 1921) in the list which would suggest that the list was probably prepared for the 1921-22 or 1922-23 year using materials gathered from the earlier 1920-21 academic year. But the perfect correspondence of course staffing between the transcribed list below and the published announcement for 1920-21 is sufficient for me to assign the 1920-21 academic year to the post.
Square brackets […] have been used to distinguish additional information from the typed list. All explicit titles have been linked, increasing the value of this post considerably.
______________________
Course Descriptions for
Economics and Social Ethics,
1920-21
Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21 published in the Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XVII (May 22, 1920) No. 27.
______________________
One Harvard Graduate’s Memoir
of the 1920s
Carlson, Valdemar. “The Education of an Economist before the Great Depression: Harvard’s Economics Department in the 1920’s.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 27, no. 1, 1968, pp. 101–12.
______________________
ASSIGNED READINGS IN ECONOMICS
A. PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
[Assistant] Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank and assistants
Readings:
Taussig, [Frank William], Principles of Economics
[First Edition (1911): Volume I; Volume II]
[Second Edition, Revised (1915): Volume I; Volume II]
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]
[Fourth Edition (1939) requires readers to set up an individual account at archive.org for temporary access: Volume I; Volume II]
[Questions on the Principles of Economics by Edmund Ezra Day and Joseph Stancliffe Davis (Revised for the thrid edition of Taussig’s Principles of Economics) edition, 1922.]
* * * * * * * * * * * *
1a. ACCOUNTING
Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis
Readings:
[none listed]
* * * * * * * * * * * *
1b. STATISTICS
Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis
Readings:
Secrist, Introduction to Statistical Methods, 1-77, 116-424
King, Elements of Statistical Method, pp.1-19, 64-82, 167-196
Elderton, W. P. and E. M., Primer of Statistics, ch. 1-4
U.S. Census, The Story of the Census, 1790-1915
Field, “Some Advantages of the Logarithmic Scale in Statistical Diagrams,” Journ. Pol. Econ., Oct. 1917
Persons, W. M., Measuring and Forecasting General Business Conditions
Joint Committee on Graphic Standards, Preliminary Report
[Publications of the American Statistical Association 14, no. 112 (1915): 790–97. https://doi.org/10.2307/2965153]
Additional;
Unprescribed portions of King and Secrist
List of references appended to chapters in King and Secrist
References for Statistical Work (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)
Questions and Exercises in Statistics (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)
The Review of Economic Statistics
Lists of references in specific fields
* * * * * * * * * * * *
2a. EUROPEAN INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln
Readings:
See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library
* * * * * * * * * * * *
2b. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln
Readings:
See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library
* * * * * * * * * * * *
3. MONEY, BANKING, AND COMMERCIAL CRISES
Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young
Readings:
[none listed]
* * * * * * * * * * * *
4a. ECONOMICS OF TRANSPORTATION
Professor [William Zebina] Ripley
Readings:
Ripley, Railroad Rates, vol. 1, (not vol. II)
Ripley, Railway Problems
* * * * * * * * * * * *
4b. ECONOMICS OF CORPORATIONS
Professor [William Zebina] Ripley
Readings:
Ripley, Trusts, Pools, and Corporations
Haney, Business Organization and Combination
* * * * * * * * * * * *
5a. PUBLIC FINANCE, EXCLUSIVE OF TAXATION
Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank
Readings:
Bastable, Public Finance
Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]
Daniel [sic], Public Finance [Possibly: Winthrop More Daniels, Elements of Public Finance (1899)]
Adams, H. C., Public Finance [sic]
[Probably: The Science of Finance, An Investigation of Public Expenditures and Public Revenues (1912)]
Seligman, Essays in Taxation
Darwin, Municipal Trade
Stourm, The Budget
* * * * * * * * * * * *
5b. THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF TAXATION
Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank
Readings:
Bastable, Selections on Public Finance
Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]
Seligman, Essays in Taxation
Means, Methods of Taxation
* * * * * * * * * * * *
6a. TRADE-UNIONISM AND ALLIED PROBLEMS
Professor [William Zebina] Ripley
Readings:
Webb, Industrial Democracy
Commons, Trade Unionism
* * * * * * * * * * * *
7a. THEORIES OF VALUE AND DISTRIBUTION
Professor [Edmund Ezra] Day
Readings:
Marshall, Principles of Economics
Carver, The Distribution of Wealth
Taussig, Principles of Economics (1921 edition)
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]
Clark, The Distribution of Wealth
Walker, Political Economy
Fisher, The Rate of Interest
Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest
Fetter, Economic Principles
Davenport, Economics of Enterprise
Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise
Hobson, Work and Wealth
Anderson, Social Value
Anderson, The Value of Money
* * * * * * * * * * * *
7b. SOCIALISM, ANARCHISM, THE SINGLE TAX
Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver
Readings:
See printed circular on file in the Tutorial Library
* * * * * * * * * * * *
8. PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY
Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver
Readings:
Bristol, Social Adaptation
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress
Sumner, Folkways
Spencer, Principles of Sociology [Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3]
Carver, Essays in Social Justice
Giddings, Sociology
Tardl [sic], Social Gains [sic] [Looks like a typographical error. Probably Social Laws, An Outline of Sociology by Gabriel Tarde (1899 translation from the French)[
Kidd, Social Evolution
* * * * * * * * * * * *
9a. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE
Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver
Readings:
Carver, Principles of Rural Economics
Carver, Selected Readings in Rural Economics
Various bulletins and reports
* * * * * * * * * * * *
9b. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF POLICIES
Professor [Frank William] Taussig
Readings:
Taussig, Free Trade, the Tariff and Reciprocity
Mill, Principles of Political Economy
Smith, Wealth of Nations
State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff
Taussig, Selected Readings (to appear shortly)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
10. ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND INSTITUTIONS
Dr. [Arthur Eli] Monroe
Readings:
Aristotle, Politics, Bk. I, ch. 1-11; Bk. II, ch. 1-6; IV, ch. 11-13; V, ch. 1-9
Maine, Ancient Law, ch. 5-8
Ashley, Economic History of England, vol. I, ch. 3
Mun: England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade
Turgot, Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth
Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, 1-3, 5-9, 11 (secs. 1,2)
Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. II, 3-5; IV, 1, 2, 9
Malthus, Essay on Population, [Vol. I, 6th ed. ] Bk I, 1, 2; Bk. II, 13; [Vol. II, 6th ed.] III, 2, 3; Bk. IV, 1, 2, 3. (Or selections in Ashley’s Classics)
Mill, Political Economy [Vol. I], Bk. I, 5; Bk: II, 11; Bk. III, 1-5
Mill, Political Economy [Vol. II], Bk. IV, 3,4; Bk. V, 8, 10, 11 (sec. 1-9)
List, National System of Political Economy, Bk. II, 2-5, 7
Carlyle, Past and Present (selected chap.) or
Ruskin, Unto this Last, ch. 1, 3
Bücher, Industrial Evolution, chs. 3, 4
Ashley, Economic Organization of England, ch. 1-7
Wells, Mankind in the Making
(Several optional assignments to be announced later)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
11. ECONOMIC THEORY
Professor [Frank William] Taussig
[“Maurice Beck Hexter’s notes from Harvard University, 1921-22” and “Supplemental notes from F.W. Taussig’s Course in economic theory with contributions by A.A. Young” edited by Marianne Johnson and Warren J. Samuels in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 28-C (2010), pp. 11-176]
Readings:
Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy
[Third edition, 1821]
Mill, Principles of Political Economy
Marshall, Principles of Economics
Clark, Distribution of Wealth
Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital
Fetter, Principles of Economics
Hobson, Work and Wealth
Veblen, Theory of Business Enterprise
Divers separate articles and chapters in other books
* * * * * * * * * * * *
9a. THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH
Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver
Readings:
Carver, Distribution of Wealth
Marshall, Principles of Economics
Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital
Fisher, The Rate of Interest
Clark, The Distribution of Wealth
Taussig, Work [sic] and Capital [Wages and Capital]
* * * * * * * * * * * *
14. HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF ECONOMICS TO THE YEAR 1848
Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
15. MODERN SCHOOLS OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
31. PUBLIC FINANCE
Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
32. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AMERICAN CONDITIONS
Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
33. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF PROBLEMS
Professor [Frank William] Taussig
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
34. PROBLEMS OF LABOR
Professor [William Ripley] Ripley
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
35a. BUSINESS CORPORATIONS
Asst. Professor Davis
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
35b. BUSINESS COMBINATIONS
Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
36a. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP: HISTORICAL, THEORETICAL, AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS
Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
36b. PUBLIC REGULATION AND CONTROL OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PUBLIC SERVICE INDUSTRIES
Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
37. COMMERCIAL CRISES
Professor [Warren Milton] Persons
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
38. SELECTED MONETARY PROBLEMS
Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
* * * * * * * * * * * *
[ASSIGNED READINGS]
IN SOCIAL ETHICS
1. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL POLICY
Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster and Asst. Professor [James] Ford
Readings:
Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, vol. 1 of Series 1, 3-8, 24-73, 131-171
Conklin, Heredity and Environment, rev. ed. pp.197-242, 256-258, 297-306, 416-456, 475-497
Dewey, and Tufts, Ethics, ch. 15, pp. 297-304; ch. 18-26, pp. 364-606
Flexner, and Baldwin, Juvenile Courts and Probation, Pts.1, 2, pp. 3-78
Oppenheimer, The Rationale of Punishment, pp. 1-4, 171-175, 234-295
Spencer, Principles of Sociology, vol. 1, pt. 3, ch. 9 and 12, pp. 686-724, 745-756
Warner, American Charities, 3rd ed., ch. 4, 6-10, 12, 14-15, 17-22, pр. 64-90, 113-225, 248-284, 305-346, 363-476
Wines, Punishment and Reformation, ch. 8, 10, 12-14 (3rd ed.) pp. 133-167, 199-234, 265-412
Committee of Fifty to Study the Liquor Problem, Summary of Investigations, pp. 15-134
Burritt, Dennison, Gay, Heilman, and Kendall, Profit Sharing, pp. 159-257
Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation, pp. 1-414, 454-464
Fay, Cooperation at Home and Abroad, pp. 273-285, 310-354
Foerster, A Promising Venture in Industrial Partnership, Annals American Academy of Political and Social Science, Pub. 703, November 1912, pp. 97-103
Hoxie, Scientific Management and Labor, pp. 25-139
King, Industry and Humanity, ch. 7, 8, pp. 167-303; ch. 10, pp. 364-390
British Labor party, Sub-committee on Reconstruction, report, Labor and the New Social Order, reprint from the New Republic, Feb. 16, 1918, pp. 12
Lee, Play in Education, pp. 319-391, 423-494
Schaeffle, Quintessence of Socialism, pp. 39-127
Schloss, Industrial Remuneration, pp. 286-309
Spargo, Applied Socialism, pp. 87-325
Veiller, Housing Reform, pp. 3-190
Williams, Profit-sharing, pp. 17-42, 146-171
* * * * * * * * * * * *
4. AMERICAN POPULATION PROBLEMS: IMMIGRATION AND THE NEGRO
Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster
Reading:
Byington, Homestead: The Households of a Mill Town, ch. 9-11, pp.131-157
Fairchild, Immigration, ch. 1-5, 7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16, pp. 1-105, 123-143, 163-212, 233-368, 393-415
Foerster, The Italian Emigration of Our Times, ch. 21-24, pp. 415-525
Ibid. Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug.1913, Review of Hourwich’s book on immigration, pp. 656-671
Hourwich, Immigration and Labor, ch. 4, 5, 12-15, 18, 23, pp. 82-112, 284-352, 375-383, 489-501, 414-431 and in chapter 21, Report of the MASS. COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION, 1914, pp. 54-104
Millis, The Japanese Problem in the United States, ch. 1, pp. 1-29
Reely, Selected Articles on Immigration (Debaters’ Handbook) pp. 131-134, 200-204, 219-222, 225-229
Roberts, The New Immigration, ch. 9, 11-13, pp. 124-138, 156-199
Ross, The Old World in the New, ch. 1-4, 6, 11, pp. 1-92, 120-140, 259-281
U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 39, pp. 5-81, 127-129
Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, vol. 2, pp. 417-426
Warne, Slav Invasion, pp. 28-38, 47-83
U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 1, pp. 491-541; vol. 4, pp. 239-281, 337-348
Ovington, Half a Man, ch. 4-8, pp. 75-217
Shaler, The Neighbor, pp. 278-336
Stone, Studies in the American Race Problem, pp. 149-208
Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, Amer. Econ. Review, May 1902, pp. 28-45, 60-79, 102-170
* * * * * * * * * * * *
6. UNEMPLOYMENT AND RELATED PROBLEMS OF THE WORKING CLASSES
Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster
Readings:
Beveridge, Unemployment, pp. 1-237
Webb, Seasonal Trades, ch. 1, 2, pp. 1-90
U. S. Bureau of Labor, Report on Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. 7, pp. 43-60, 64-67, 177-192
Barnes, The Longshoremen, pp. 55-92, 199-206, 210-227
Chicago, Report of the Mayor’s Commission on Unemployment, 1914, pp. 107-165
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 206, B. Lasker, British System of Labor Exchanges, pp. 1-56
Kellor, Out of Work, Ch. 6, pp. 157-193
Gibbon, Unemployment Insurance, pp. 187-203
Dawson, Vagrancy Problem, ch. 4, 11, pp.104-132; 229-249
Ibid. Social Insurance in Germany, ch. 2-4, 7-9, pp. 22-127,182-265
Gibbon, Medical Benefit …Germany and Denmark, ch. 2, 6, 9, 12, 18 pp. 10-14, 43-52, 81-106, 125-131, 192-203
Rubinow, Standards of Health Insurance, Ch. 5-9, pp.67-152
Belloc, The Servile State, pp. 155-189
24th Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Labor, 1909, Vol. 2, pp. 1499-1530, 1540-1544
Foerster, The British National Insurance Act, Q. J. of Econ., Feb. 1912, pp. 275-298, 305-312
Bernhard, Undesirable Results of German Social Legislation, pp. 39-75
Mass. Commission on Old Age Pensions, 1910 Report, pp. 112-122, 164-203, 224-259, 268-284, 300-344
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 195, Unemployment in the United States, 1916
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 10, Folder “Economics, undated (1 of 5)”.
Image Source: Old Gate at Harvard College (Leon H. Abdalian, photographer). Boston Public Library Arts Department. [No Copyright – United States]