University archives are very strict about releasing the academic records of their alumni. Every so often I find that one of the pack-rats I encounter in my archival visits kept a personal copy of his or her own transcripts. The economic historian Earl J. Hamilton had copies of his transcripts from his B.S. from Missippi State University, M.A. from Texas and his graduate work leading up to his Ph.D. from Harvard. Thus we are able to trace Hamilton’s academic progress from his high-school days (at least we know the courses for which he was given entrance credit) up through his Harvard A.M. I have added the course titles and instructors for Hamilton’s courses taken at Harvard.
Hamilton’s book American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501-1650 was assigned reading in my Yale undergraduate course on the economic history of Europe before 1750 taught by Professor Harry Miskimin.
_____________________________
Earl Jefferson Hamilton (1899-1989)
Earl Jefferson Hamilton was born on May 17, 1899 in Houlka, Mississippi. He received a B.S. with honors from Mississippi State University (1920), an M.A. from the University of Texas (1924), and a Ph.D. from Harvard (1929). In 1952, he received a Docteur Honoris Causa from the University of Paris and again from the University of Madrid.
Hamilton also held a Thayer Fellowship and a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship (Harvard University), a Social Science Research Fellowship, a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and a Faculty Research Fellowship from the Ford Foundation.
Hamilton was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Duke University (1927-1929), a Professor of Economics at Duke University (1929-1944), Professor of Economics at Northwestern University (1944-1947), and a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago (1947-1967).
Hamilton was the editor of the Journal of Political Economy from 1948 to 1954 and president of the Economic History Association from 1951 to 1952. His books include American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501-1650 (1934), Money, Prices, and Wages in Valencia, Aragon and Navarre, 1351-1500 (1936), War and Prices in Spain, 1651-1800 (1947), and Landmarks in Political Economy (1962). Late in his career Hamilton developed an interest in the work of John Law of Lauriston.
Source: Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. Guide to the Earl J. Hamilton Papers 1927-1975.
_____________________________
MISSISSIPPI AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE
A. AND M. COLLEGE, MISSISSIPPI
J.C. Herbert, Registrar
December 16, 1925.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
This certifies that Mr. E. J. Hamilton graduated with honors from the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Business and Industry in May of 1920.
Mr. Hamilton has on file in the office of the Registrar, the following entrance units and college credits:
[Graduated from Buena Vista High School, Mississippi in 1915]
| Entrance Subjects | Units |
| English | 4 |
| History | 2 |
| Latin | 2 ½ |
| Mathematics: | |
| Algebra | 1 ½ |
| Geometry | ½ |
| Science: | |
| Agriculture | 2 |
| Chemistry | ½ |
| Physiology | ½ |
| Physics | ½ |
| Credit Hours | Grades | |
| 1916-1917 | ||
| Commerce: | ||
| Bookkeeping 15 | 6 | 82 |
| Bookkeeping 16 | 4 | 68 |
| Bookkeeping 17 | 4 | 70 |
| Business Methods 24 | 10 | 80 |
| Typewriting 12 | 6 | 81 |
| English 1, Composition | 15 | 70 |
| Geology 15, Commercial Geography | 5 | 85 |
| History: | ||
| English 1 | 3 | 74 |
| Mediaeval and Modern 21 | 3 | 86 |
| American History Since 1750 22 | 3 | 94 |
| Markets 1 | 4 | 80 |
| Mathematics: | ||
| Plane Geometry | 10 | Credit |
| Solid Geometry | 5 | 65 |
|
1917-1918 (One Term) |
||
| Commerce: | ||
| Typewriting 2b | 2 | 90 |
| Stenography 2a | 3 | 70 |
| History: | ||
| American Government 1 | 5 | 90 |
| American Government 7 | 5 | 89 |
| Public Discourse: | ||
| Business Correspondence and Conversation 3 | 5 | 80 |
| 1918-1919 and Summer of 1918 | ||
| Commerce: | ||
| Business Organization 307 | 5 | 95 |
| Business Law 303 | 5 | 95 |
| Advanced Business Law 305 | 5 | 80 |
| Economics: | ||
| Outlines of Economics 1-3 | 6 | 94 |
| Money and Banking 7 | 5 | 95 |
| English 19, Composition | 3 | 94 |
| History 7, Europe Since the Reformation | 3 | 80 |
| Modern Language: | ||
| Spanish 1-215 | 10 | 93 |
| Spanish 205-213-219-225 | 16 | 95 |
| French 109 | 5 | 94 |
| French 101-103 | 8 | 94 |
| French 111-113-125 | 11 | 95 |
| Philosophy and Sociology: | ||
| Latin American Relations | 5 | 92 |
| International Relations 1-3-5 | 9 | 96 |
| Sociology 17 | 5 | 97 |
| 1919-1920 | ||
| Commerce: | ||
| Accounting 204 | 5 | 91 |
| Investments 315 | 5 | 95 |
| Typewriting 104 | 5 | 90 |
| Education: | ||
| The Educative Process 9 | 5 | 93 |
| Classroom Management 11 | 5 | 92 |
| Rural Schools 27 | 3 | 90 |
| Psychology 1 | 5 | 98 |
| Modern Languages: | ||
| French 107-115-119 | 11 | 94 |
| Spanish 215-219 | 10 | 96 |
| Italian 401a | 3 | 94 |
| Public Discourse: | ||
| Advertising 5 | 5 | 85 |
| Thesis 13 | 5 | 85 |
Note: One credit hour represents one recitation of not less than 45 minutes for theory and 100 minutes for laboratory, once a week for twelve weeks, prior to the session of 1917-1918. Since the session of 1917-1918, the lecture periods have been 50 minutes and the laboratory periods 110 minutes.
Respectfully,
(Signed) J. C. Herbert
Registrar
_____________________________
RECORD OF COLLEGE WORK
University of Texas
Hamilton, Earl Jefferson
Degree Obtained, M.A., 1924
| Course No. | Descriptive Title of Course | Value in Semester Hours | Clock hours: Lec. | Total Weeks | Grades Summer |
Session |
| Ed. 21 | Educational Organization, Administration and Supervision | 6 | 15 | 7 | ABA | 1922 |
| Gov. 15 | Comparative Municipal Government | 6 | 15 | 7 | BAB | 1922 |
| Eco.214a | The Labor Problem | 2 | 5 | 7 | A | 1923 |
| Eco. 117 | Socialism | 2 | 5 | 7 | A | 1923 |
| Eco.31ac | World Politics | 4 | 10 | 7 | AA | 1923 |
| Eco.148 | Land Problems | 2 | 5 | 7 | A | 1923 |
| Gov. 14b | American Diplomacy | 2 | 5 | 7 | A | 1923 |
| Thesis | 6 | 15 | 7 | Credit | 1924 |
Grades: A, 90-100; B, 30-89; C, 70-79; D, 60-69; E, condition; F, failure; G, failure too bad to continue the course; P, examination postponed. Passing grade is D.
_____________________________
COPY
Harvard University
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
24 University Hall, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Transcript of the record of Mr. Earl Jefferson Hamilton
| 1924-25 | |
| COURSE | GRADE |
| Economics 7b2 (½ course) [Programmes of Social Reconstruction, T.N. Carver] |
A |
| Economics 11 (1 course) [Economic Theory, F.W. Taussig] |
A |
| Economics 12a1 (½ course) [Problems in Sociology and Social Reform, T.N. Carver] |
A minus |
| Economics 14 (1 course) [History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848, C.J. Bullock] |
A |
| Economics 322 (½ course) [Economics of Agriculture, T.N. Carver] |
A |
| Economics 331 (½ course) [International Trade and Tariff Problems, F. W. Taussig] |
B plus |
| Summer of 1924 | |
| Economics S2a (½ course) [European Industry and Commerce since 1750, A. P. Usher] |
A |
| Economics S2b (½ course) [Economic History of the United States, A. P. Usher] |
A |
| 1925-1926 | |
| Economics 7a1 (½ course) [Theories of Value and Distribution, Williams] |
A |
| Economics 10a1 (½ course) [History of Commerce and Industry to 1500, A. P. Usher] |
A |
| Economics 10b2 (½ course) [History of Commerce and Industry, 1500-1750, A. P. Usher] |
A |
| Economics 151 (½ course) [Modern Schools of Economic Thought, A.A. Young] |
A |
| Economics 20 (1 course) [Economic Research Course] |
A |
| Economics 38 (1 course) [Principles of Money and of Banking, A.A. Young] |
credit |
| Received A. M. in March, 1926 | |
The established grades are A, B, C, D, and E.
A grade of A, B, Credit, Satisfactory, or Excused indicates that the course was passed with distinction. Only courses passed with these grades may be counted toward a higher degree.
(Signed) Lawrence S. Mayo
Assistant Dean.
_____________________________
COPY
Harvard University
Division of History, Government, and Economics
Cambridge, Massachusetts
September 29, 1928
To Whom It May Concern:
This is to certify that Mr. E. J. Hamilton has completed all the requirements for the degree of Ph. D. in Economics. The degree will be conferred in February, 1929.
(Signed) Gladys E. Campbell
Secretary of the Division
Source: Economists’ Papers Archive. Duke University, David Rubenstein Library. Papers of Earl J. Hamilton, Box 4, Folder “Correspondence: 1920’s-1960’s; 1980’s and n.d.”.
Image Source: Earl J. Hamilton (1937) from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation website.