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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Exams and enrollment for economics of socialism and communism. Edward Cummings, 1893-1900

The father of the American poet E.E. Cummings, Edward Cummings, taught courses in sociology, labor economics, and socialism at Harvard during the last decade of the 19th century before he resigned to become the minister at Boston’s South Congregational Church. In this post I have included all the exams for his course on ancient and modern  utopias (a.k.a. communism and socialism) that I have been able to find. A course description and enrollment data are readily available from internet archives and included below as well. 

Note: for only the 1893-94 academic year and the single-term version of the course offered in 1895-96 are the exams complete. For the other academic years when the course was offered I have only found the first term exams.

Analogous courses on schemes of social reconstruction were taught in one form or another later by Thomas Nixon Carver, Edward S. Mason, Paul Sweezy, Wassily Leontief,  Joseph Schumpeter, and Overton Hume Taylor.

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Course Description
(1897-98)

*14. Socialism and Communism, — History and Literature. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.

[An asterisk (*) indicates that the course can be taken only with the previous consent of the instructor.]

Course 14 is primarily an historical and critical study of socialism and communism. It traces the history and significance of schemes for social reconstruction from the earliest times to the present day. It discusses the historical evidences of primitive communism, the forms assumed by private ownership at different stages of civilization, the bearing of these considerations upon the claims of modern socialism, and the outcome of experimental communities in which socialism and communism have actually been tried. Special attention, however is devoted to the recent history of socialism, – the precursors and the followers of Marx and Lassalle, the economic and political programs of socialistic parties in Germany, France, and other countries.

The primary object is in every case to trace the relation of historical evolution to these programmes; to discover how far they have modified history or found expression in the policy of parties or statesmen; how far they must be regarded simply as protests against existing phases of social evolution; and how far they may be said to embody a sane philosophy of social and political organization.

The criticism and analysis of these schemes gives opportunity for discussing from different points of view the ethical and historical value of social and political institutions, the relation of the State to the individual, the political and economic bearing of current socialistic series.

The work is especially adapted to students who have had some introductory training in Ethics as well as in Economics. A systematic course of reading covers the authors discussed; and special topics for investigation maybe assigned in connection with this reading.

 

Source: Harvard University. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 35-36.

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1893-94

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Cummings. – Ideal Social Reconstructions, from Plato’s Republic to the present time. 1 hour.

Total 22: 7 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

 

 

ECONOMICS 14.
Mid-year examination, 1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.)

  1. What is a Utopia? and what significance do you attached to the recurrence of such literature at certain historical ethics?
  2. “For judging of the importance of any thinker in the history of Economics, no matter is more important to us than the view he takes of the laboring population.” Judge Plato, More and Bacon by this standard.
  3. “Moreover, it is hardly too much to say that Plato never got to the point of having a theory of the State at all.” In the Republic “man is treated as a micropolis, and the city is the citizen writ large.” Explain and criticize.
  4. “In More’s Utopia we have a revival of the Platonic Republic with additions which make the scheme entirely modern.… The economical element in the social body receives for the first time its proper rank as of the highest moment for public welfare.” Explain. To what extent have the ideals of Utopia been realized?
  5. “Then we may say that democracy, like oligarchy, is destroyed by its insatiable craving for the object which defines to be supremely good?” What, according to the Republic are the peculiar merits and defects of the several forms of political organization? and how are these forms related in point of origin and sequence?
  6. “Sir Thomas More has been called the father of Modern Communism.” How does he compare in this respect with Plato? How far do you trace the influence of historical conditions in each case?
  7. “But in your case, it is we that have begotten you for the State as well as for yourselves, to be like leaders and kings of the hive,– better and more perfectly trained than the rest, and more capable of playing a part in both modes of life.” Criticise the method and purpose of the educational system of the Republic. How far does Plato’s argument as to the duty of public service apply to the educated man to-day?
  8. “The religious ferment produced by the Reformation movement had begun to show signs of abatement, when another movement closely connected with it made its appearance almost at the same time in England and Italy, namely, the rise of a new philosophy.” How was this new philosophy embodied in the social ideals of Bacon and of Campanella? and what is the distinguishing characteristic of it?
  9. What essential contrast between pagan and Christian ideals have you found in schemes for social regeneration?
  10. Is there any recognition of “Social Evolution” in the Utopian philosophies thus far considered?
  11. What in a word, do you regard as the chief defect of the social reconstruction suggested in turn by Plato, Lycurgus, More, Bacon and Campanella? To what main problems suggested by them have we still to seek an answer?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers. Mid-Year, 1893-94.(HUC 7000.55).

 

ECONOMICS 14.
Final examination, 1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.)

  1. [“]The essential unity and continuity of the vital process which has been in progress in our civilization from the beginning is almost lost sight of. Many of the writers on social subjects at the present day are like the old school of geologists: they seem to think that progress has consisted of a series of cataclysms.” How far is this criticism true? Is the characteristic in question more or less conspicuous in earlier writers?
  2. “At the outset underneath all socialist ideals yawns the problem of population…. Under the Utopias of Socialism, one of two things must happen. Either this increase must be restricted or not. If it be not restricted, and selection is allowed to continue, then the whole foundations of such a fabric as Mr. Bellamy has constructed are bodily removed.” State carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. In which of the schemes for social reconstruction, ancient or modern, do you find any adequate recognition of the part which selection plays in progress?
  3. “If it is possible for the community to provide the capital for production without thereby doing injury to either the principle of perfect individual freedom or to that of justice, if interest can be dispensed with without introducing communistic control in its stead, then there no longer stands any positive obstacle in the way of the free social order.” Discuss the provisions by which Hertzka hopes to guaranteed this “perfect individual freedom.” Contrast him with Bellamy in this respect.
  4. “I perceive that capitalism stops the growth of wealth, not – as Marx has it – by stimulating ‘production for the market,’ but by preventing the consumption of the surplus produce; and that interest, though not unjust, will nevertheless in a condition of economic justice becomes superfluous and objectless.” Explain Hertzka’s reasoning and criticise the economic theory involved.”
  5. What is the gist of “News from Nowhere”?
  6. The condition which the social mind has reached may be tentatively described as one of realization, more or less unconscious, that religion has a definite function to perform in society, and that it is a factor of some kind in the social evolution which is in progress.” How far have you found a recognition of this factor in theories of social reconstruction?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28). Box 2, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894.

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1894-95

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Cummings.—Philosophy and Political Economy.—Utopian Literature from Plato’s Republic to the present time.  2 hours.

Total 8: 5 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-95, p. 62.

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1895-96

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 141. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.—Communism and Socialism.—Utopias, ancient and modern. Hf. 2 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 15: 1 Graduate, 10 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1895-96, p. 63.

 

ECONOMICS 14.
Mid-Year Examination, 1895-96.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.)

  1. The different senses in which the word Socialism is used. Where do you intend to draw the line between Socialism proper, and familiar forms of government interference and control – such as factory legislation, municipal water works, and government postal, telegraph or railroad services? Why?
  2. “National communism has been confused with the common ownership of the family; tenure in common has been confused with ownership in common; agrarian communism with village commons.” Discuss the evidence.
  3. “Just as Plato had his Republic, Campanella his City of the Sun, and Sir Thomas More his Utopia, St. Simon his Industrial System, and Fourier his ideal Phalanstery…. But the common criticism of Socialism has not yet noted the change, and continues to deal with the obsolete Utopias of the pre-evolutionary age.” What do you conceive to be the character of the change referred to? How far did earlier Utopias anticipate the ideals of the modern social democracy?
  4. What indication of Socialistic tendencies are to be found in the discipline of the Christian church? Explain the triple contract and its bearing on the doctrine of the usury.
  5. “The Communistic scheme, instead of being peculiarly open to the objection drawn from danger of over-population, has the recommendation of tending in an especial degree to the prevention of that evil.” Explained Mill’s argument. Do you agree?
  6. To what extent are the theories of Karl Marx indebted to earlier writers in the 19th-century?
  7. How far are the economic series of (a) Lasalle, (b) Marx related to the theories of the so-called orthodox Economists? Explain critically.
  8. How far do you trace the influence of historical conditions in the social philosophies of Plato, More, Bacon, Rousseau, St. Simon, Karl Marx?
  9. What connection do you see between the teachings of Rousseau and (a) modern Socialism, (b) modern Anarchism?
  10. What, according to Hertzka, is the economic defect of the existing social and industrial system, and what is the remedy? Contrast “Freeland” with “Looking Backward.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers. Mid-Year, 1895-96.(HUC 7000.55).

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1896-97

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.—Communism and Socialism.—History and Literature.2 hours.

Total 13: 10 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1896-97, p. 65.

 

ECONOMICS 14.
Mid-Year Examination, 1896-97.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.)

  1. The different senses in which the word Socialism is used. Where do you intend to draw the line between Socialism proper, and familiar forms of government interference and control – such as factory legislation, municipal water works, and government postal, telegraph or railroad services? Why?
  2. “National communism has been confused with the common ownership of the family; tenure in common has been confused with ownership in common; agrarian communism with village commons.” Discuss the evidence.
  3. “Just as Plato had his Republic, Campanella his City of the Sun, and Sir Thomas More his Utopia, St. Simon his Industrial System, and Fourier his ideal Phalanstery…. But the common criticism of Socialism has not yet noted the change, and continues to deal with the obsolete Utopias of the pre—evolutionary age.” What do you conceive to be the character of the change referred to? How far did earlier Utopias anticipate the ideals of the modern social democracy?
  4. What indication of Socialistic tendencies are to be found in the discipline of the Christian church? Explain the triple contract and its bearing on the doctrine of the usury.
  5. The contributions of Greek writers to the development of economic thought.
  6. To what extent are the theories of Karl Marx indebted to earlier writers in the 19th-century?
  7. How far are the economic series of (a) Lasalle, (b) Marx related to the theories of the so-called orthodox Economists? Explain critically.
  8. How far do you trace the influence of historical conditions in the social philosophies of Plato, More, Bacon, Rousseau, St. Simon, Karl Marx?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers. Mid-Year, 1896-97.(HUC 7000.55).

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1897-98

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor E. Cummings.—Communism and Socialism.—History and Literature.2 or 3 hours.

Total 12: 3 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 78.

 

ECONOMICS 14
Mid-Year Examination, 1897-98

Outline briefly the characteristics of socialistic theory and practice in ancient, medieval and modern times, — devoting about an hour to each epoch, and showing—

(a) so far as possible the continuity of such speculations; the characteristic resemblances and differences;

(b) the influence of peculiar historical conditions;

(c) the corresponding changes in economic theory and practice.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers. Mid-Year, 1897-98.(HUC 7000.55).

 

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Not offered 1898-99

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1898-99, pp. 72-73.

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1899-1900

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.—Communism and Socialism.—History and Literature.Lectures (3 hours); 6 reports or theses.

Total 22: 2 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1899-1900, p. 69.

 

ECONOMICS 14
Mid-Year Examination, 1899-1900

  1. How, according to Plato, are economic organization, and the problems of production and distribution related (a) to social development; (b) to social and political degeneration?
  2. What do you conceive to be his most permanent contribution to social philosophy? What his chief defect?
  3. How far do the teachings of the Christian church and the Canon Law throw light on the gradual development of our fundamental economic ideas in regard to wealth, capital, trade, commerce?
  4. How far is there ground for the contention that the writings of Rousseau have been the chief arsenal of social and political revolutionists?
  5. “The right to the whole produce of labor—to subsistence—to labor:”
    What, according to Menger, have been the most important contributions to the successive phases of this discussion?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers. Mid-Year, 1899-1900.(HUC 7000.55).

Image Source: University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), pp. 155-156.

 

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Economists Germany Harvard

Harvard. Thomas Nixon Carver’s German Summer of 1902.

 

Preparing the previous blog post which provides the syllabus with reading assignments for Thomas Nixon Carver’s 1902-03 Harvard course, Economics 14 “Methods of Social Reform, including Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.”, I came across the following brief description of his trip with his family to Germany during the summer of 1902. In his autobiography, Carver briefly recounted his contact with colleagues at economic seminars in Halle and Berlin.

For visitors who can read German, I strongly recommend the website “Die Geschichte der Wirtschaftswissenschafte an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin”. During the Winter Semester of 2012, Till Düppe harnessed raw student seminar power to assemble much interesting material about people, organizational structures and the developing curriculum in the Berlin University and its East Berlin successor, the Humboldt University.

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Thomas Nixon Carver’s European Summer Vacation (1902)

I had never been abroad and had always wanted to see something of Europe. At the end of the academic year 1901-1902 we decided to make the trip. I got permission from President Eliot to leave Cambridge as soon as examinations were over without waiting for commencement. Just a few days before sailing, I came down with the grippe, as it was then

called. It looked for a day or two as though we might have to cancel the trip, but with Dr. F. W. Taylor’s help I recovered sufficiently to undertake it. I had a Ph.D. examination to conduct during the afternoon of the evening we had to start. The rest of the family called at the University for me with a hack, on the way to the South Station, where we took the train for New York, from which we sailed for Antwerp.

… We went armed with a supply of Baedeckers, American Express Company checks, and several letters of introduction….

Our destination was Germany where we planned to spend a few weeks first at Eisenach and then to Berlin….At Eisenach we stayed at a pension which had been recommended by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart. …

After a week or two I … went on to Berlin, stopping for a few days at Halle, where I visited Professor [Johannes] Conrad and attended one meeting of his seminar. There I met George Thomas, who had been at Harvard but was about to take his Ph.D. at Halle and who has since become president of the University of Utah. One afternoon I went with him to call on Professor Conrad at his home. He offered us beer or cold tea, both in bottles. He had been in America, had a daughter living in Buffalo, New York, and knew that many Americans did not drink liquor. He himself drank no liquor except wine.

I also took time to visit the breeding farm attached to the University of Halle where they were experimenting with all sorts of crossbreeding of animals brought from the ends of the earth.

In Berlin I took rooms in a pension and found it pretty well filled with American students, with a few from Russia, Romania, and Hungary. Edwin F. Gay had been recommended for a position in economic history, to follow Professor Ashley, at Harvard. He was in Berlin finishing his work for the Ph.D. degree at the university. I looked him up almost at once, called on him, and we had several talks. He had made a distinguished record at the university and was soon to take his final examination, which he passed with flying colors. His appointment as instructor at Harvard was confirmed by the Governing Boards and he began his teaching the following autumn.

While in Berlin I attended seminars by Professors [Adolph] Wagner in taxation, Schmoller in economic history, Ausserordentlich Professor [Adolph von] Wenckstern on socialism, and Professor [Max] Zering on Agrarpolitik. Wenckstern, a young man, had been in the army and still held the rank of lieutenant. One night after one of our sessions he invited me with the seminar group to his country place. We left the university about 10 p.m., took a train and traveled nearly half an hour, got off at a country station, walked a mile or so through fields and came to a sizable country house. …

Professor Wagner was getting along in years but seemed fairly vigorous. He was reasonably courteous when he was convinced that I was really an assistant professor at Harvard. My visiting card had merely said “Mr. Thomas N. Carver,” after the American custom, whereas a German would have had all his titles and degrees embossed on his visiting card. Schmoller was genial but dignified. His classes were crowded and he was very busy conferring with his students.

After about four weeks Flora and the children joined me in Berlin. Soon after they arrived Professor and Mrs. Charles J. Bullock turned up in Berlin, also a Miss McDaniels of Oberlin, who had been one of my students. Together we visited Dresden, mainly for the purpose of seeing the famous Art Gallery….

Source:   Thomas Nixon Carver, Recollections of an Unplanned Life (1949), pp. 135-139.

Image Source: The Friedrich Wilhelm University in the old Palace of Prince Heinrich (ca. 1820)

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings and Exams for Methods of Social Reform. Carver, 1902-03

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

“The trouble with radicals is that they only read radical literature, and the trouble with conservatives is that they don’t read anything.”

Thomas Nixon Carver quoted by John Kenneth Galbraith (A Life in Our Times)

This conservative Harvard economic theorist regularly taught the course on schemes of economic reform at Harvard early in the 20th century. He was certainly more forgiving than sympathetic to his radical subjects. 

Variations of this course syllabus have been transcribed earlier here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

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Course Description

[Economics] 14. Methods of Social Reform, including Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Tu.,Th, at 1.30. Professor Carver.

The purpose of this course is to make a careful study of those plans of social amelioration which involves either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with an historical study of early communistic theories and experiments. This is followed by a critical examination of the series of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of Anarchism and Nihilism, of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths, Ely’s French and German Socialism, Marx’s Capital, Marx and Engels’s The Communist Manifesto, and George’s Progress and Poverty will be read, besides other special references.

The course will be conducted by means of lectures, reports, and classroom discussions.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics 1902-03. The University Publications, New Series, No. 55 (June 14, 1902), p. 42

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Course Enrollment
(Harvard, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 15: 2 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 67.

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Course Enrollment (Radcliffe, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Social Reform.

Total 6: 4 Undergraduates, 2 Others.

Source: Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College, 1902-03, p. 43.

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Economics 14
[handwritten note: 1902-03]

Topics and References
Starred references are prescribed

COMMUNISM

A
Utopias
1. Plato’s Republic
2. *Sir Thomas More.   Utopia.
3. *Francis Bacon.   New Atlantis.
4. *Tommaso Campanella.   The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
5. Etienne Cabet.   Voyage en Icarie.
6. Wm. Morris.   News from Nowhere.
7. Edward Bellamy.   Looking Backward.

 

B
Communistic Experiments
1. *Charles Nordhoff.   The Communistic Societies of the United States.
2. Karl Kautsky.   Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
3. W. A. Hinds.   American Communities.
4. J.H. Noyes.   History of American Socialisms.
5. J. T. Codman.   Brook Farm Memoirs.
6. Albert Shaw.   Icaria.
7. G.B. Landis.   The Separatists of Zoar.
8. E.O. Randall.   History of the Zoar Society.

 

SOCIALISM

A
Historical
1. *R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
2. Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
3. John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
4. Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
5. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism.
6. Wm. Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
7. [Jessica Blanche] Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.

 

B
Expository and Critical
1. *Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
2. Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
3. *Karl Marx. Capital.
4. *Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels. The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
5. Frederick Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
6. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
7. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
8. Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
9. The Fabian Tracts.
10. R. T. Ely. Socialism: An Examination of its Nature, Strength, and Weakness.
11. Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
12. Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
13. Sydney and Beatrice Webb. Problems of Modern Industry.
14. Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
15. Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
16. Vandervelde. Collectivism [and Industrial Evolution].

 

ANARCHISM

1. *Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
2. Wm. Godwin. Political Justice.
3. Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
4. Kropotkin. The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22:149.
5. Elisée Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 45: 627. [May 1884]

 

RELIGIOUS AND ALTRUISTIC SOCIALISM

1. Lamennais. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
2. Charles Kingsley. Alton Locke.
3. *Kaufman. Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
4. Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
5. Josiah Strong. Our Country.
6. Josiah Strong. The New Era.
7. William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of William Morris.
8. Ruskin. The Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
9. Carlyle. The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s various works. [Volume 1; Volume 2]

 

AGRARIAN SOCIALISM

1. *Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
2. Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
3. Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.

 

STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, usually made to include all movements for the extension of government control and ownership, especially over means of communication and transportation, also street lighting, etc.

1. R. T. Ely. Problems of To-day. Chs. 17-23.
2. J. A. Hobson. The Social Problem.

 

WORKS DISCUSSING THE SPHERE OF THE STATE IN SOCIAL REFORM

1. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
2. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
3. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
4. *Herbert Spencer. The Coming Slavery.
5. W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1902-1903”.

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Economics 14
Mid-year Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give an account of More’s Utopia.
  2. Is there any ground for supposing that Utopian schemes have influenced social development? Give reasons.
  3. What were the periods of greatest activity in the founding of communistic settlements in America? What stimulated the activity in each period, and what were the general conditions favorable to such activity?
  4. Does the history of communistic experiments in America throw any light on the probable success or failure of socialism on a large scale? Give reasons.
  5. Give an account of the communistic plans and activities of Etienne Cabet.
  6. Describe the Communist Manifesto. What place does it hold in socialistic literature, and why?
  7. Compare the socialism of Rodbertus with that of Karl Marx.
  8. Outline Marx’ theory of surplus value.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

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Economics 14
Year-End Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give some account of Fourier and the Fourieristic experiments in the United States.
  2. Distinguish between Utopian and Scientific Socialism.
  3. What part has religion played in the history of Communistic Experiments?
  4. How does Karl Marx explain the existence of poverty?
  5. Trace briefly the history of the German Social Democratic Party.
  6. Distinguish between land and other forms of property.
  7. How do you account for the share of the capitalist in distribution?
  8. Is there any relation between the unequal distribution of workers among different occupations and the unequal distribution of wealth?
  9. What is meant by the term “Natural Monopolies.”
  10. Define “Christian Socialism” and explain how it differs from Marxian Socialism.

Source:  University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1906.

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Economists Gender Harvard Transcript

Harvard/Radcliffe. Economics PhD alumna and Wharton professor, Anne C. Bezanson, 1929

 

The materials in this post are presented in the opposite order that they were actually assembled. I began with three pieces of correspondence and a transcript of economics courses for a Radcliffe graduate who was ABD (= “all but dissertation”) and still interested in submitting a thesis more than a decade after her last course work at Harvard. The economics department chairman, Harold H. Burbank, made no fuss and we can see from the record that Annie Catherine Bezanson was indeed awarded an economics Ph.D. in 1929.

After I filled in the course titles and professors for her transcript, I then proceeded to gather biographical/career information for Bezanson. It of course did not take very long to discover that shortly after being awarded her Ph.D. she was promoted to a  professorship with tenure, the first woman to have cleared that professional hurdle at the University of Pennsylvania. What turned out to be more challenging was to find any photo whatsoever. Fortunately I stumbled upon a genealogical site that posted a picture of Anne Catherine Bezanson along with the obituary that begins the content portion of the post…

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Obituary from Bezansons of Nova Scotia

Died, Feb. 4, 1980, Dr. Anne Bezanson bur. Riverside Cemetery, Upper Stewiacke. Professor Emeritus, Wharton School of Finance & Commerce, U. of Pennsylvania, d… Hanover, Mass.

Born Mt. Dalhousie, N.S. daughter of the late John and Sarah (Creighton) Bezanson. Dr. Bezanson went to the United States in 1901, where she received her A.B. degree, A.M. & PhD. from Radcliffe…member of the Phi Beta Kappa…awarded an honourary doctor of science degree from University of British Columbia and from the University of Pennsylvania…served as Director of the Industrial Research Dept., Wharton School of Finance and Commerce; was professor at the Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania…served on the staff of the U.S. Coal Commission..member of Conference of Price Research, advisor to the Social Services Research Project, Rockefeller Foundation…wrote numerous articles in various professional economic journals …member American Economic Associationn; Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Economic History Association., serving as President from 1946-1948; American Statistical Association; Econometrics Society; Vice-President Delta Chapter Phi Beta Kappa, University of Pennsylvania.

Source: From the Website: Bezansons in North America

_______________________

PIONEER IN ACADEMIC BUSINESS RESEARCH
ANNE BEZANSON, PROFESSOR

ANNE BEZANSON had not yet completed her PhD in economic history in 1921, yet she was about to make history herself. At Wharton, the young Canadian helped establish the first business school research center, the Industrial Research Unit (later known as Industrial Research Department or IRD), with Professor Joseph Willits. The founding marked Wharton’s shift toward becoming an academic business research hub — defining a new role for business schools that continues today.

Bezanson’s 1921 article on promotion practices became the first product of the IRD. Bezanson continued her practical research in the early 1920s, writing a series on personnel issues, focusing on turnover, worker amenities, and accident prevention.

Willits and Bezanson designed an ambitious research program to explore and help civilize industrial working conditions, with the goal of social change. In 1922, Bezanson and Willits spent a year studying the earnings of coal miners at the U.S. Coal Commission. Employer associations, government agencies, and international organizations continued to look to the IRD for timely and practical knowledge.

In 1929, Bezanson finished her Harvard PhD and became the first female faculty member of Penn’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Under her leadership as co-director (which continued until 1945), the IRD had many women on its team and pursued research into the economic status of workers, revealing for the first time hard proof of the disparities in salaries and promotions for women and minorities across many industries.

Bezanson became the first woman to get full tenure at Penn, and in the 1930s sat on the National Bureau of Economic Research Price Conference. From 1939 to 1950 Bezanson was a part-time consultant at the Rockefeller Foundation, where she organized the first-ever roundtable on economic history in 1940. As a result of this involvement, Bezanson played a crucial role in the creation of the Economic History Association in the early 1940s, serving as president between 1946–1947. She died in 1980.

Source:  University of Pennsylvania. The Wharton School.Wharton Alumni Magazine, 125th Anniversary Issue (Spring 2007).

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Harvard/Radcliffe Academic Record

A.B. magna cum laude in economics.

 Source:  Report of the President of Radcliffe College for 1914-1915, pp. 10,13.

 

A.M. Annie Bezanson….Southvale, N.S. [Nova Scotia]

Source:   Report of the President of Radcliffe College for 1915-1916, p. 12.

 

June 1929 Doctor of Philosophy

Annie Catherine Bezanson, A.B. (Radcliffe College), 1915; A.M. (ibid.), 1916. Subject, Economics. Special Field, Labor Problems. Dissertation, Earnings and Working Opportunity in the Upholstery Weavers’ Trade.

Source: Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1928-29, p. 321.

_______________________

Economics Coursework

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
(Inter-Departmental Correspondence Sheet)

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Miss Anne Bezanson, A.B., Radcliffe 1915; A.M., 1916.

1911-12

Ec 1….B [Principles of Economics, Prof. Taussig et al.]
Ec 5….B, A- [Economics of Transportation, half course. Prof. Ripley]

1912-13

Ec 23….A- [Economic History of Europe to the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. Dr. Gray]

1913-14

Ec 11….B [Economic Theory. Prof. Taussig]
Ec 24….A [Topics in the Economic History of the Nineteenth Century. Prof. Gay]

1914-15

Ec 7….. [Theories of Distribution. Prof. Carver, Excused for Generals.]

1914-15

Ec 13….A [Statistics: Theory, Method and Practice. Asst. Prof. Day]
Ec 34….A [Problems of Labor. Prof. Ripley]
Ec 12….B+ [Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course. Prof. Carver]
Ec 33….B [International Trade and Tariff Problems in the United States. Half-course. Prof. Taussig]
Ec 20….A- [Course of Research. Probably Economic History with Prof. Gay]
Ec 14….A [History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Prof. Bullock]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950. Box 3.

_______________________

Handwritten letter from Bezanson to Burbank

January 2, 1928 [sic]

My Dear Prof. Burbank:

A long time ago, I talked with Professor Young, as well as Professors Carver and Gay about submitting one of my studies in part fulfillment of the requirement for a doctor’s thesis. This request is the result of the difficulty of leaving my present work to complete the study upon which I was at work from 1915 to 1918 on the Industrial Revolution in France. This month when I completed the first analysis of the Earnings of Tapestry Weavers, I sent it to Professor Gay with the hope that it would be, or could be, made acceptable to the Department of Economics.

All this discussion has been informal and, of course, unofficial. I am now writing to you for advice about the official steps: should I apply to the Dean of the Graduate School for permission to change the thesis subject? or should this request go from you? Do you advise such a request and if so can it be made without changing my field of concentration?

Briefly my difficulty is that though I passed the General Examination in October, 1916, I have since not completed the thesis and final examination requirements. A degree seems to have some value in promotion here. Yet, I am engaged on studies which I cannot drop and go back to a subject as remote as French conditions. Dean Gay has been in touch with the progress of Tapestry Earnings and I am acting upon his suggestion in asking for an opinion upon the possibility of offering that study as a thesis.

Very sincerely yours
[signed]
Anne Bezanson

Industrial Research Department
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pa.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950. Box 3.

_______________________

Copies of responses by H.H. Burbank to Bezanson

 

January 7, 1929

Miss Anne Bezanson,
Index Research Department,
University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pa.

Dear Miss Bezanson:

I see no reason why the program which you have offered for the Ph.D. cannot be changed to allow you to present your study on “Earnings in the Upholstery Weavers Trade”.

There will be some red tape about it. I expect I shall have to secure the consent of the Dean of the Graduate School and of the Department, but I foresee no difficulties in either direction.

I will write you as soon as there is a definite decision.

One question that is certain to be raised is whether or not the research is entirely your own work or whether it was carried on by an organization. I should like to have your reply to this as soon as possible. Your preface throws some light on this. I note that you say: “All analysis and interpretation of material has been made by the Index Research Department”. Does this mean that your own work was strictly limited to the writing of the report in the preparation of the material on which the investigation was based?

Very sincerely,
[H.H. Burbank]

 

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January 9, 1929

Miss Anne Bezanson,
Index Research Department,
University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pa.

Dear Miss Bezanson:

This is more or less a continuation of the note I sent to you yesterday. Last evening I talked to the members of the Department regarding your request. I think something can be worked out for you without very much trouble.

For your General Examination you presented Theory, Statistics, International Trade, Labor, and American History, reserving Economic History as your special field. It is my guess that you have done very little indeed with the literature of the field of Economic History during the last ten years, and that to prepare this field for a special examination would involve an inordinate amount of work. Further, it would require quite a stretch of the imagination to include your study of “The Upholstery Weavers” as Economic History.

Would it not be more within your general field of interest to present Labor problems as the subject for intensive examination. In spite of the fact that you presented this subject in your General Examinations it could be included as a special field. By a stroke of good fortune the Department put into effect this fall a ruling whereby candidates for the PhD may present an honor grade in an approved course in lieu of an oral examination in a subject. Ordinarily you would be required to stand for examination in Economic History as well as in Labor Problems, but under this new ruling we are able to accept the grade of A in Economics 24 taken in 1915.

Briefly then, it is my suggestion that your special field be Labor Problems, within which the dissertation which you are now presenting naturally would fall.

Please let me know if this meets with your approval.

Very sincerely,
H. H. Burbank.

HHB:BR

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950. Box 3.

Image Source: Website Bezansons in North America.

 

 

 

Categories
Economists Harvard Radical Salaries

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. alumnus. Not hired as a teaching assistant. W. H. Crook, 1928

 

The meat of the following post is found in the correspondence regarding a one year appointment of a Harvard graduate student in 1922 as Thomas Nixon Carver’s assistant for Economics 8 (Principles of Sociology). Wilfrid Harris Crook’s appointment was shot down by the Harvard Corporation over the express positive recommendation of the department chairman (who happened to be Thomas Nixon Carver himself). There were two economics faculty members (unnamed) who voted against hiring Crook, and one suspects that one or both had raised red flags of pacifism and socialism in their dissent high enough for President Lowell to have seen them. I am simply amazed that any candidate for a humble teaching assistantship would have been vetted by the President of the university himself.

For those interested in what had become of Crook, who eventually went on to complete his Ph.D. in 1928, I have assembled a few snippits of biographical and career data. His irregular employment is consistent with both a difficult personality (“In a world of teetotalers Crook would be a conscientious drunkard”) and the challenges posed by dual academic careers.

Small world:  The above image of Crook’s calling card from his time as Assistant Minister, Central Congregational Church, Boston, 1916-1918 was found in the online material from the W.E.B. Du Bois archive.

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Scraps of information from the life and career of Wilfrid Harris Crook

Born: May 16, 1888 in Swinton, Lancastershire, England.

Married: Lucy Mildred Cluck, Sept. 1 1917 in New London, New Hampshire. (still together in 1930 according to the U.S. Census)
Son: Sydney L. Crook (b. ca. 1919)

Married: Evelyn Buchan Sept 8 1931 in Glens Falls New York. She was a professor at the University of Maine at the time according to the Bangor Maine City Directory, 1931.

1929-30. Bowdoin College Catalogue. Listed as Assistant Professor of Economics and Sociology. Besides listed with the other members of the department of economics and sociology, he is listed for the three semester courses in sociology (Principles of Sociology, Applied Sociology, and Social Evolution of the Hebrew People)

1930-31. Bowdoin College Catalogue. Listed as Associate Professor of Economics and Sociology on leave of absence.

1933-34 Boston City Directory: Wilfrid H. Crook and Evelyn B.  instr. Simmons College (see item below)

1935 Haverhill, Mass. City Directory.  Crook Wilfrid H. inst. Bradford Junior College.

1935 Wilkes-Barre, Penn. City directory. Wilfrid H. Crook and Evelyn B. instr. Bucknell University Jr. College.

Bucknell Junior College, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (1942, Draft registration of Wilfrid H. Crook)

Wilfrid H. Crook born 16 May 1888, Social Security Claim date 30 April 1956.

Died April 16, 1963 in DeKalb, Georgia

Two details about Wilfrid H. Crook’s second wife Evelyn Buchan

From a UP report, Sept. 17 1946, Albany in the Dunkirk Evening Observer (Dunkirk, New York)

“Three professors of sociology join the faculty today of the Associated Colleges of upper New York. They are Mrs. Evelyn Buchan Crook, who has taught at five other universities….The associated college [is] located at Sampson…”

From The 1962 Yearbook of the Westminster Schools, Atlanta, Georgia (Vol. V):  Mrs Wilfrid Harris Crook, Testing and Counseling, Ph.B. and M.A., University of Chicago. (Note how in 1962 women still lost both their first and last names upon marriage!)

_______________________

Economics Ph.D. awarded 1928

Wilfrid Harris Crook, A.B. (Univ. of Oxford, England) 1911, A.M. (ibid.) 1914. Subject, Economics. Special Field, Labor Problems. Thesis, “The General Strike in Theory and Practice to 1914.” Assistant Professor of Economics and Sociology, Bowdoin College.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1927-28, p. 113.

_______________________

Instructorship at Simmons College

Wilfrid Harris Crook, Special Instructor in Economics. B.A., Lincoln College, Oxford, 1911; M.A., 1914; Hibbert Scholar, 1915; Harvard, 1914-16, 1921-1923; Ph.D., 1928.

Formerly: Assistant Minister, Central Congregational Church, Boston, 1916-1918; Editorial work, New York, 1919-1920; Special Instructor in Economics, 1922-1923; Assistant and Associate Professor of Economics and Sociology, Bowdoin College, 1923-1931.

Publications: The General Strike, 1931; articles in Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, The Survey. The Nation.

Source: 1933 Microcosm, Simmons College Yearbook, p. 35.

_______________________

The case made against hiring Wilfrid Harris Crook as a teaching assistant at Harvard in 1922…in spite of the departmental recommendation to hire him

Economics department’s recommendation to hire

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Oct. 23, 1922

The Division Department of Economics respectfully recommends to the Corporation the appointment of W. H. Crook [as] Assistant [in] Economics for one year from Sept. 1, 1922 at a salary of $400. Courses in which instruction or assistance is to be given: Economics 8.

Remarks:  See letter to President Lowell.

[Signed|
T. N. Carver
Chairman.

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Letter to President Lowell from the economics department chairman

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
October 24, 1922

Dear President Lowell:

At a meeting of the Department of Economics held Monday afternoon, October 23, it was voted to recommend to the President and Fellows that W. H. Crook be appointed Assistant for one year in Economics 8, and that C. N. Burrows be appointed as Assistant for the first half-year in Economics 9a.

Sincerely yours,

[signed]
T. N. Carver
Chairman

President A. Lawrence Lowell

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Elaboration by economics department chairman regarding the case of W. H. Crook

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
October 24, 1922

Dear President Lowell:

The case of W. H. Crook was pretty thoroly [sic] discussed at the Department Meeting before the vote was taken. The vote stood eight in favor of the recommendation, two against it, the Chairman not voting.

When I talked with you about the case several days ago you stated that if new information could be furnished regarding the case you would take it into consideration. I asked Dean Sperry to write you what he knew about it. Mr. Crook has given me some documents, including his certificate of discharge from military service on the ground of physical unfitness, his correspondence with the Hibbert Trustees, etc. The information is pretty well summarized in the enclosed copy of a letter which he wrote to Professor Bullock in 1921. I think that this correspondence with the Hibbert Trustees and other documents which he submits support every important statement which he makes in the letter. It appears that his anti-war attitude in this country was by no means so positive as it has been made out to be. Being a pacifist he could not do otherwise than urge peaceful mediation on the part of this country rather than actual war. After war was declared he seems to have quite accepted the situation, did not take advantage either of the fact that he was an ordained minister or a conscientious objector to evade the draft. In fact I think he showed a much finer spirit in refusing to enjoy the luxuries of peace in war time than many of our people who pass as respectable.

I should be glad to hand you the other correspondence which Mr. Crook gave me if you care to be bothered with them. Their only value, however, would be to verify what Mr. Crook has said.

Very sincerely,
[signed]
T. N. Carver
Chairman

President A. Lawrence Lowell

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President Lowell’s letter to Harvard Corporation member John F. Moors

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE

PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

October 25, 1922

Dear John:

Would you mind looking over these papers and sending them back to me as soon as you can, for it is a question that will come up at the next Corporation meeting. Professor Bullock evidently thinks Crook a rather blatant propagandist for socialism and pacifism; and of course this is one of the cases where we shall be somewhat blamed whatever we do. But while protecting free speech on the part of our professors, I do not think that we are obliged to appoint to the instructing staff men who would bring us into unnecessary criticism, or people of a quarrelsome disposition. This last impression of Crook I derive rather strongly from the enclosed letter from Dean Sperry. This is a question of balance of judgment. What do you think?

Very truly yours,
[stamp] A. Lawrence Lowell

John F. Moors, Esq.
111 Devonshire Street
Boston, Mass.

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Theology Dean’s assessment of Wilfrid Harris Crook

The Theological School in Harvard University
Andover Hall, Francis Avenue
Cambridge, Mass.

Office of the Dean

October 20, 1922

My dear President Lowell:

Professor Carver tells me that the name of Wilfrid Harris Crook has been suggested as an assistant in one of the economics courses, and that objection to this appointment has been filed with you, on the ground that he was an ‘English draft dodger’, etc. Professor Carver asks me to send you a word on the matter.

I know Mr. Crook well. He was my assistant for two or three years in Central Church, Boston.

The basic fact about Crook is this. He comes of a long line of English dissenters and Non-conformists. And the ‘dissidence of dissent’ is bred in his blood and bone. He had been, for years, a more or less doctrinaire pacifist of the Tolstoian type.

But he is not a ‘draft dodger’ in any correct sense of the word. In the spring of 1914 he had received from the Hibbert Trustees and Manchester College, Oxford, their Hibbert Fellowship for foreign study. He had intended to take the academic year 1914-15 doing economics in Germany, and was caught there at the outbreak of the War.

He came back at once to England, and with the consent of the Hibbert Trustees transferred his fellowship to this country and to Harvard. The draft was not then in force in England. Whether he ought to have stayed and volunteered, or faced the ultimate consequences of not volunteering is another matter.

He has been in this country ever since. He remained a ‘doctrinaire pacifist’ all through the War. His native non-conformity, with its anti-imperialist heckling temper was not understood here at all. His best friends deplored a good many of his utterances, and found it hard to bear with him at times. While he made a good many enemies who did not hesitate to go far beyond the facts and accuse him of actual political irregularities of which he was technically quite innocent.

The whole case of the man was put in a nutshell by the Chairman of my Parish Committee, who once said that, “In a world of teetotalers Crook would be a conscientious drunkard.”

It seemed impossible for him to do much useful work in our Parish in Boston after we had entered the War and he eventually dropped out. His opinions on War in general were abhorrent to most of our people at that time. But I never heard anything but words of respect and affection for the man’s character, his personal charm and his transparent integrity.

He must have been under suspicion here during the War. But so far as I know he never ran foul of any actual trouble with the authorities.

He was, I think, in process of becoming an American citizen during the war, and was called for the draft but dismissed at once for a shockingly bad heart, the result of rheumatic fever.

My impression is that his citizenship has since been granted, and that if there had been any technical case against him it would have appeared at that time and would have held that matter up permanently.

Perhaps he ought to have gone back to England, perhaps he ought to have felt differently here. All that is debatable ground.

Technically, I think his case stands clear. As to the basic fact of the man himself, it is the problem of the rather remote idealism of the Tolstoian type.

He has been plugging along latterly for the Ph.D. degree in economics. My latest impressions of him are of a man somewhat sobered and reluctantly making concessions to the stubborn world of hard facts, which his dissenting heredity and romantic temperament incline him to regard as given over to Satan.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
Willard L. Sperry

President A. Lawrence Lowell
Harvard University

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President Lowell’s response to Theology Dean

October 24, 1922

Dear Mr Sperry:

Thank you very much for your letter about Mr Crook. He does not seem to be the kind of person the Corporation would like to appoint as a member of the instructing staff.

I asked Mr. Foote to inform me about the denominational relations of the members of the Faculty, and I think you would be interested in his answer, which you need not return. It shows very clearly that the School has not been Unitarian; but I am not sure that the publicity would do us any good.

Very truly yours,
[stamp] A. Lawrence Lowell

Rev. Willard L. Sperry
Andover Hall
Cambridge

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Harvard Corporation member John F. Moors responds to President Lowell

MOORS & CABOT
111 Devonshire Street
Boston, Mass.
Telephone Main 8170

Members
Boston Stock Exchange

John F. Moors
C. Lee Todd
Francis E. Smith
William Ferguson
Willis W. Clark

October 26, 1922.

President A. Lawrence Lowell,
Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Lawrence:

I have read and return herewith the documents received from you today about Mr. Crook.

Let me say at the outset that it speaks well for Carver, who himself analyzes socialism, to advocate a man of the Crook type, for Carver, we know, is himself so far from being a socialist that it would be very easy for him to feel prejudiced.

Our bookkeeper in this office is a prominent member of Mr. Sperry’s church. I have today asked him about Crook and find that, though he likes him personally and respects him as a man, he has pronounced abhorrence of his views and says that in thus speaking he feels sure that he reflects a vast majority of the congregation.

I have heard Crook speak and have addressed audiences in the Chapel of the Central Congregational church at which Crook as assistant minister has been present. His voice is soft, he is gentlemanly, he has no brilliant sparks such as Laski threw forth, he is, I think, very much as Sperry describes him, a natural dissenter of the outwardly rather meek but inwardly recalcitrant type. He would, I imagine, present socialism sympathetically rather than analytically.

While his letter to Bullock indicates that Bullock took a rough attitude toward him, which may have led him to feel sore, it seems to me that the first paragraph and the next to the last paragraph in his letter lack self-restraint; and I though this before I read the rest of the correspondence, my eye having caught this letter first.

Having seen Crook mostly in the pleasant relationship of a speaker being introduced (as speakers are introduced!) I should have said before I read the correspondence that I liked him. I suppose too that no one can really teach anything who does not heartily believe in it; and Carver’s reasonableness is the thing which most impressed me in the whole correspondence. I should like to back him up in it. But while all great men are cranks, all cranks are not great men. Judgment seems to lie in distinguishing which is the great man without the crankiness, which the crank without the greatness. I am inclined to think that Crook would get us into hot water without our being sure, when we were in it, that we were right.

Yours very truly,
signed]
John F. Moors

Dict. J.F.M.

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Department Chair T. N. Carver senses one or two other persons with a “vindictive disposition” are the source of Crook’s troubles

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
November 6, 1922

Dear President Lowell:

I have your letter of October 31 informing me that the Corporation did not think wise to appoint Mr. Crook as Assistant in Economics 8. The reason given must be based on information that was not in the possession of the Chairman of the Department. You state that it was not on account of his opinions but on account of his disposition, and that the Corporation felt that it would be a mistake to introduce into the teaching staff a man who has shown so much capacity for getting into trouble. So far as any information has come to the Chairman of the Department, Mr. Crook has had no trouble since early in the war on account of his own disposition. Such trouble as he has had seems to be due entirely to the vindictive disposition of one or two other persons.

I think that Mr. Crook would like to have the carbon copy of his letter to Professor Bullock which I enclosed with my letter to you of recent date. Will you kindly have some one return it to me and I will hand it to Mr. Crook?

Very sincerely,
[signed]
T. N Carver

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Wilfrid Harris Crook’s request to speak with Harvard Corporation member John F. Moors

20a Prescott Street
Cambridge, Mass.
November 9, 1922

Mr. John F. Moors
32 Mr. Vernon St.
Boston, Mass.

Dear Mr. Moors

Professor Carver of Harvard, in a letter of Nov. 6th, writes me as follows: The Department of Economics recommended your appointment as assistant in Economics 8, but the President and Fellows, as you learned the other day when in my office, declined to make the appointment. Inasmuch as all appointments have to be made by the President and Fellows, there is nothing more that the Department can do about it.”

As you are the only member of the Corporation with whom I am to any degree acquainted, I take the liberty of inquiring, for my own satisfaction, what were the reasons for the attitude of the Fellows to my appointment as Professor Carver’s assistant. I am studying for a Ph.D. at Harvard, and am meanwhile acting as Special Instructor of Economics at Simmons College. The decision is, therefore, one that causes me some degree of regret and of interest as to its cause.

I wonder if you will give me the privilege of a brief personal talk with you on this matter? If so, I should be glad to meet your convenience any afternoon next week, or any hour on Tuesday or Saturday, on which days I have no class.

Faithfully yours,
[signed]
Wilfrid Harris Crook

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Harvard Corporation member J. F. Moors declines with “kindest personal feelings”

MOORS & CABOT
111 Devonshire Street, Boston

November 10, 1922.

Rev. Wilfrid Harris Crook,
20a Prescott St.
Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Mr. Crook:

I wish I could give you the information which you ask for. It is, however, essential that the views of the individual members of the Board on which I serve and the nature of our discussions should not be divulged except through the President of the University.

I have sent him your letter.

With the kindest personal feelings, I am,

Yours very truly,

 

Dict. J.F.M.

 

Source:   Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers 1922-1925, Box 189, Folder 188 (1922-25).

Image Source: Crook, Wilfrid Harris, b. 1888. W. Harris Crook, 1915?. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Programs of Social Reconstruction. Readings and Exam. Mason, 1929

Edward S. Mason took over Thomas Nixon Carver’s course (Economics 7b Programs of Social Reconstruction) beginning in the second term of 1926-27. According to the course description, the course nominally covered the radical programmes of “socialism, communism, anarchism and the single tax”, but the memory of Henry George had faded by this time. Utopian socialism and communism together with anarchism were the focus of the course.  Thanks to the student notes of Albert Gailord Hart from 1929, we are able to sketch an outline of this relatively popular advanced undergraduate/graduate course in the Harvard economics curriculum.

____________________

Thomas Nixon Carver on handing over his course

By bringing [John D.] Black and [Pitirim] Sorokin to Harvard I was helping to make myself unnecessary. They took over two courses which I had created and developed [for agricultural economics and sociology, respectively]. I contributed further to my own elimination by relinquishing another course which I had developed and made influential—my course on methods of social reform. The tutorial system brought into the department a number of young men who were not content to be mere tutors but were anxious to give courses of their own. Among these was a promising young man—Edward S. Mason. I yielded to the suggestion that I let him take over the above-mentioned course, while I concentrated on economic theory. I was planning a course on the economic functions of government, but before I had time to offer it the time came for me to retire. I had reached the retiring age in the year 1932.

Source:   Thomas Nixon Carver, Recollections of an Unplanned Life (1949), p. 212.

____________________

Edward S. Mason remembers…

…My doctoral dissertation had been in the field of international trade, dealing with a type of price discrimination designated by the not very attractive title of “dumping.” It was submitted in 1925 but the appearance, shortly before it was completed, of a book on the same subject, and with the same title, by Jacob Viner, precluded working over the manuscript for publication. I then interested myself in the writings of 19th century socialists and published a number of articles on them in the Quarterly Journal. This trend of thought culminated in the publication of a not very good book on the Paris Commune (of 1871) in 1930. Although I continued to be interested in this field and taught for a number of years Carver’s old course on Socialism and Social Reform, my attention shifted beginning around 1930 to the area of corporations, industrial organization, and the regulation of business….
Source:  Edward S. Mason, A Life in Development: An Autobiography (2004), p. 31. Copy in the Harvard Archive: Box 1 of Papers of Edward Sagendorph Mason.

____________________

Course Announcement

[Economics] 7b 2hf. Programmes of Social Reconstruction

Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor). Fri., at 10. Asst. Professor Mason.

A comparison of the various radical programmes, such as socialism, communism, anarchism and the single tax, the theories upon which they are based, and the grounds of their attack upon the present industrial system. An examination of the various criteria of distributive justice, and of the social utility of the institution of property. A comparison of the merits of liberalism and authoritarianism, of radicalism and conservatism. An analysis also of the present tendenccies toward equality under liberalism in this country.

Source:  Official Register of Harvard University Vol. XXV, No. 29 (May 26, 1928). Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1928-29, p. 68.

____________________

Course Enrollment

7b 2hf. Asst. Professor Mason.—Programs of Social Reconstruction.

6 Graduates, 38 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 1 Freshman, 5 Other: Total 77.

 

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1928-1929, p. 72.

____________________

Course Assignments
[from Albert Gailord Hart’s student notes]

Texts and Links

Bober, Mandell Morton. Karl Marx’s Interpretation of History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1927. (2nd edition, 1948).

De Man, Hendrik.  Psychology of Socialism, London, Allen & Unwin. 1928 Translation of  Zur Psychologie des Sozialismus. Jena, E. Diederichs, 1927.

Gide, Charles and Charles Rist. A History of Economic Doctrines from the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day. Translation from the second revised and augmented edition of 1913 by R. Richards. London: George G. Harrap & Company, 1915.

Skelton, Oscar Douglas. Socialism: A Critical Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1911. [Chicago Ph.D. dissertation].

Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party (English translation authorized by Engels, 1908).

Report of the Liberal Industrial Inquiry, Britain’s Industrial Future, 1928.

Kropotkin. The Conquest of Bread (1907).  Modern Science & Anarchism (1908).

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. A Constitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain (1920).

Lenin, V. Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916). The State and Revolution (1917).

Assignments as recorded in Hart’s notes

Gide & Rist II, I-III

Book II: The Antagonists.

Chapter I (Sismondi and the origins of the critical school);
Chapter II (Saint-Simon, the Saint-Simonians, and the beginnings of collectivism);
Chapter III (The associative socialists—Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, and Louis Blanc)]

M. M. Bober—[Karl] Marx[’s] Ec[sic] Int[erpretation of] Hist[ory]

Part I: The Material Basis of History
Part II: The Human Element in History
Part III: The Ideological Element in History]
Part IV. [The Trend of History]

De Man Psychology of Soc[ialism]  Part I;  IV  1-4. Finish De Man in April.

Communist Manifesto—Marx & Engels

Skelton’s “Socialism” I-III, VIII, IX

I: Introduction
II: The Socialist Indictment
III: The Indictment Considered
VIII: The Modern Socialist Ideal
IX: The Modern Movement

 

RP [reading period]

one [of]

  1. Report   Lib[eral] Industr[ial] Committee [sic, ]
  2. Kropotkin. Conquest of Bread  200 [pages]
    [Modern] Science & Anarchism 100 [pages]
  3. S. Webb—Plan of [“a Constitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Gr[eat] Br[itain]]
  4. V. Lenin—Imperialism
    The State and Revolution

Source: Columbia University Libraries. Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Papers. Box 60, Folder “Mason Micro 1929”.

____________________

Final Examination
1928-29
Harvard University
ECONOMICS 7b2

I

Write an hour on one of the following.

  1. Discuss the nature of the state in a capitalist and in a socialist society according to Levin.
  2. What does Kropotkin mean by anarchism?
  3. [✓] To what extent is the report of the Liberal Industrial Enquiry socialist?
  4. Do the essential changes proposed in Sydney Web’s “Plan,” seem to you uneconomic? Why or why not?
  5. Discuss Shaw’s case for the equal distribution of income.

II

Answer two including the first.

  1. [✓] “Marx’s recognition of the fact that profits percent tend towards equality sounded the death knell of his theory of value.” Discuss.
  2. [✓] “In competitive advertising we have a typical waste of the system of production for profit and one which a socialist society could quickly eliminate.” Discuss.
  3. “Granted the best intelligence on the part of mass production industries as to scientific analysis of demand, it still remains true that the domestic market cannot long hope to keep up with the rapidly advancing capacity of machines and skilled management to turn out goods.” Discuss.

III

Answer two including the first.

  1. [✓] De Man maintains that, “the desire for responsible self-government in industry, essentially democratic, is fundamentally alien to Marxist thought.” Why does he think so?
  2. What do the Socialists mean by economic imperialism and how do they explain it?
  3. [✓] Discuss the significance in socialist thought one of the following: Fourier, Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Sismondi, St. Simon.

Source:  Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Papers, Box 60, Folder “Exams CHI Qualifying [sic]”. Note: the checkmarks indicate which questions Hart chose to answer.

Image Source:  Edward S. Mason from the Harvard Classbook, 1934.

Categories
Harvard Sociology Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Sociology, Syllabus and Exams. Carver and Ripley, 1902

 

The discipline of sociology was only a subfield of economics at Harvard long after the University of Chicago had  established an independent department of sociology upon the founding of that university in 1892. William Z. Ripley and Thomas N. Carver were jointly teaching the course at Harvard at the turn of the twentieth century. This course was taught for nearly three decades by Carver, e.g. an earlier post with materials for Economics 8, Principles of Sociology taught by Thomas Nixon Carver in 1917-18.

Note: Updated 31 Jan 2023 with links to all the items on the reading list along with the semester examination questions. Colorized portraits of Carver and Ripley have also been added.

Cf. A few years later Thomas Nixon Carver compiled a book of course readings (over 800 pages!): Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1905.

________________

Course Announcement and Description

[Economics] 3. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professors Carver and Ripley.

The work of the first term will consist of an outline of the structure and development of social and political institutions, based upon a comparative study of primitive, barbarous, and civilized peoples. Among the topics considered will be the following, viz.: the physical and environmental factors in mental and social evolution, the racial elements in nationality and other social phenomena, with a discussion of modern racial problems in the United States and Europe, the interaction of mental and social evolution, the history and development of the family, and of religious, legal, and political institutions, and the relation of custom to religion and law. The principal authors discussed will be Tylor, Maine, Westermarck, and Spencer. The treatment will in the main be historical and comparative; aiming to afford data for the analytical and critical work of the second term.

In the second term this is followed by an analysis of the factors and forces which have produced modifications of the social structure and secured a greater degree of adaptation between man and his physical and social surroundings. The relation of property, the family, the competitive system, religion, and legal control to social well-being and progress are studied with reference to the problem of social improvement. Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Ward’s Dynamical Sociology, Giddings’s Principles of Sociology, Patten’s Theory of Social Forces, and Kidd’s Social Evolution are each read in part. Lectures are given at intervals, and students are expected to take part in the discussion of the authors read and the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1 [Outlines of Economics].

 

Source:  Harvard University, The University Publications (New Series, No 55). Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1902-03 (June 14, 1902), p. 41.

________________

Course enrollment

[Economics] Professors CARVER and RIPLEY. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 44: 8 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 5 Special.

 

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President 1902-03, p. 67.

________________

Economics 3

To be read in full

  1. Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology. [3 vols., 3rd rev. ed., 1898]
  2. Walter Bagehot. Physics and Politics.
  3. Benjamin Kidd. Social Evolution.
  4. F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology.

Collateral Reading.
Starred references are prescribed.

I. Scope and Method of Sociology
  1. August Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Chs. 2—4.
  2. Herbert Spencer. Classification of the Sciences, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. II.
  3. _______*. The Study of Sociology. Chs. 1—3.
  4. J. S. Mill. System of Logic. Book VI.
  5. W. S. Jevons. Principles of Science. Ch. 31. Sec. 11.
  6. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. I.
  7. J. W. H. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Chs. 2 and 3.
  8. Émile Durkheim. Les Regles de la Méthode Sociologique.
  9. Guillaume de Greef. Les Lois Sociologiques.
  10. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Introduction.
II. The Factors of Social Progress
A. Physical and Biological Factors
  1. Herbert Spencer. The Factors of Organic Evolution, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  2. _______. Progress, its Law and Cause, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  3. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 6.
  4. Lester F. Ward. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 7.
  5. Simon N. Patten*. The Theory of Social Forces. Ch. 1.
  6. Geddes and Thompson. The Evolution of Sex. Chs. 1, 2, 19, 21.
  7. Robert Mackintosh. From Comte to Benjamin Kidd.
  8. G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 1—6.
  9. August Weismann. The Germ Plasm: a Theory of Heredity.
  10. George John Romanes. An Examination of Weismannism.
  11. Alfred Russell Wallace. Studies: Scientific and Social. [Volume 1; Volume 2]
  12. R. L. Dugdale. The Jukes.
  13. Oscar C. McCulloch. The Tribe of Ishmael.
  14. Francis Galton. Hereditary Genius.
  15. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Pt. III.
B. Psychic
  1. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 5.
  2. Jeremy Bentham*. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 1 and 2.
  3. Lester F. Ward. The Psychic Factors of Civilization.
  4. G. Tarde. Social Laws.
  5. _______. Les Lois de l’Imitation.
  6. _______. La Logique Sociale.
  7. Gustav Le Bon. The Crowd.
  8. _______. The Psychology of Peoples.
  9. J. Mark Baldwin. Social and Ethical Interpretations.
  10. _______. Mental Development in the Child and the Race.
  11. John Fisk. The Destiny of Man.
  12. Henry Drummond. The Ascent of Man.
  13. Simon N. Patten*. The Theory of Social Forces. Chs. 2—5.
C. Social and Economic
  1. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. II.
  2. _______*. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 10.
  3. Brooks Adams. The Law of Civilization and Decay.
  4. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
  5. A. G. Warner*. American Charities. Pt. I. Ch. 5.
  6. G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 7—15.
  7. T. R. Malthus. Principle of Population.
  8. Bosanquet. The Standard of Life.
  9. W. H. Mallock. Aristocracy and Evolution.
  10. T. V. Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class.
  11. W. S. Jevons. Methods of Social Reform.
  12. Jane Addams and Others. Philanthropy and Social Progress.
  13. E. Demolins. Anglo-Saxon Superiority.
  14. Thomas H. Huxley. Evolution and Ethics.
  15. Georg Simmel. Ueber Sociale Differencierung.
  16. Émile Durkheim. De la Division du Travail Social.
  17. J. H. W. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Ch. 6.
  18. Achille Loria. The Economic Foundations of Society.
  19. _______. Problems Sociaux Contemporains. Ch. 6. [English translation (1911)]
  20. E. A. Ross. Social Control.
D. Political and Legal
  1. Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 12—17.
  2. F. M. Taylor. The Right of the State to Be.
  3. W. W. Willoughby*. Social Justice. Chs. 5—9.
  4. D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
  5. W. S. Jevons. The State in Relation to Labor.
  6. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action, in Publications Am. Econ. Assoc. Vol. I. No. 6.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003.Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1902-1903”.

________________

Economics 3
Mid-Year Examination
1902-1903

  1. Contrast the status of marriage in the later Roman period, with that in the United States at present, distinguishing causes, direct and indirect results.
  2. What is the primary end of primitive law, and why?
  3. Criticise Spencer’s statement that “political organization is to be understood as that part of social organization which consciously carries on directive and restraining functions for public ends.”
  4. What is the significance of ceremonial in social life? Illustrate by a concrete example.
  5. Need customs be reasonable or logical to be necessarily defensible? Why?
  6. How does Giddings account for the change from metronymic to patronymic societies?
  7. What was the character of Morgan’s contribution to the study of domestic origins? What were its limitations?
  8. Discuss, with illustrations, some of the connections of religious belief and ceremonial with primitive society.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

________________

Economics 3
Year-End Examination
1902-1903

Discuss eight of the following topics: –

  1. The forms of primitive marriage.
  2. Spencer’s contrast of the industrial with the militant type of society.
  3. Gidding’s elementary social fact.
  4. Kidd’s position as to the function of religion in social development.
  5. The antagonism of interests among the members of society.
  6. Density of population as a condition of a high state of civilization.
  7. The sanctions for conduct.
  8. Social stratification.
  9. The storing of the surplus energy of society.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver (left). The World’s Work. Vol. XXVI (May-October 1913) p. 127.  William Z. Ripley (right) Harvard Library, Hollis Images. Portrait of William Z. Ripley, ca. 1920. Both images have been colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

 

 

Categories
Courses Gender Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics course offerings, 1915-1920

 

Here are six previous installments in the series “Economics course offerings at Radcliffe College”:

Pre-Radcliffe economics course offerings and Radcliffe courses for 1893-94,  1894-1900 , 1900-1905 , 1905-1910 , 1910-1915.

______________________________

 

An asterisk (*) designates Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

Economics
1915-16

Primarily for Undergraduates:

A. Asst. Professor DAY. — Principles of Economics.

9 Se., 20 Ju., 24 So., 1 Fr., 5 Unc., 2 Sp. Total 61

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

2a1 hf. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

2 Gr., 1 Se., 2 Ju., 1 So., 1 Unc., 2 Sp. Total 9

2b2 hf. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States.

3 Gr., 2 Se., 5 Ju., 1 So., 1 Unc., 1 Sp. Total 13

6a1 hf. Mr. P. G. WRIGHT.— Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

4 Se., 1 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 6

6b2 hf. Mr. P. G. WRIGHT.— The Labor Movement in Europe.

4 Se., 1 Ju., 1 So., 1 Unc. Total 7

7b2 hf. Asst. Professor ANDERSON.— The Single Tax, Socialism, Anarchism.

1 Ju., 2 So., 1 Sp. Total 4

8a1 hf. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.

2 Gr., 9 Se., 12 Ju., 1 So., 1 Unc., 3 Sp. Total 28

8b2 hf. Asst. Professor ANDERSON.—  Principles of Sociology.

2 Gr., 2 Se., 5 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 10

Accounting

Associate Professor COLE.— Principles of Accounting.

5 Se. Total 5

Economic Theory and Method

Primarily for Graduates:

*11 Professor TAUSSIG.— Economic Theory.

1 Gr., 1 Se. Total 2

*13. Asst. Professor DAY. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.

1 Se. Total 1

*14. Professor BULLOCK. — History and Literature of Economics to the Year 1848.

1 Gr. Total 1

Economic History

*23. Dr. GRAS (Clark College). — Economic History of Europe to the Middle of the Eighteenth Century.

1 Gr. Total 1

Course of Research

20a. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

1 Gr. Total 1

 

Source:  Annual Report of Radcliffe College for 1915-1916. Report of the Chairman of the Academic Board (September 1918), pp. 40-1.

______________________________

Economics
1916-1917

Primarily for Undergraduates:

1. A. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY.— Principles of Economics.

2 Gr., 7 Se., 23 Ju., 19 So., 1 Fr., 3 Unc., 2 Sp. Total 57

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

1a1 hf. Associate Professor COLE.— Accounting.

6 Se., 5 Ju., 1 Sp. Total 12

1b2 hf. Dr. J. S. DAVIS— Statistics.

3 Gr., 3 Se., 4 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 11

1c2 hf. Associate Professor COLE.— Accounting (advanced course).

2 Se., 3 Ju. Total 5

2a1 hf. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

3 Gr., 7 Se., 3 Ju., 1 Unc., 1 Sp. Total 15

2b2 hf. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States.

3 Gr., 8 Se., 6 Ju., 1 So., 1 Unc., 1 Sp. Total 20.

5. Dr. BURBANK, with lectures on selected topics by Professor BULLOCK.— Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

5 Se., 3 Ju. Total 8

6a1 hf. Mr. P. G. WRIGHT.— Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

3 Se., 2 Ju., 3 Unc. Total 8

6b2 hf. Mr. P. G. WRIGHT.— The Labor Movement in Europe.

1 Se., 2 Ju. Total 3

7. Asst. Professor ANDERSON.— Economic Theory.

3 Gr., 1 Se., 1 Ju. Total 5

8. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.

1 Gr., 4 Se., 10 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 16

Economic Theory and Method

Primarily for Graduates:

*11. Asst. Professor DAY.— Economic Theory.

1 Gr. Total 1

*121 hf. Professor CARVER.— The Distribution of Wealth.

2 Gr. Total 2

Applied Economics

*34. Professor RIPLEY.— Problems of Labor.

2 Gr., 2 Se. Total 4

Course of Research

20d. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

1 Gr. Total 1

 

Source:  Annual Report of Radcliffe College for 1916-1917. Report of the Chairman of the Academic Board (September 1918), pp. 91-2.

 

______________________________

Economics
1917-1918

Primarily for Undergraduates:

1. A. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY. — Principles of Economics.

1 Gr., 8 Se., 16 Ju., 29 So., 1 Fr., 7 Unc. Total 62

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

1a1 hf. Associate Professor COLE.— Accounting.

12 Se., 3 Ju., 3 So., 1 Unc. Total 19

1b2 hf. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY.— Statistics.

2 Gr., 5 Se., 3 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 11

1c2 hf. Associate Professor COLE.— Accounting (Advanced Course).

5 Se., 1 Ju., 3 So., 1 Unc. Total 10

2a1 hf. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

6 Gr., 6 Se., 1 Ju., 1 So., 2 Unc. Total 16

2b2 hf. Asst. Professor GRAS (Clark University).—Economic History of the United States.

2 Gr., 4 Se., 1 Ju. Total 7

32 hf. Dr. LINCOLN.— Money, Banking, and Allied Problems.

3 Gr., 7 Se., 4 Ju., 1 So. Total 15

5. Dr. BURBANK, with lectures on selected topics by Professor BULLOCK.— Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

1 Gr., 4 Se. Total 5

6a1 hf. Dr. LINCOLN.— Labor Problems.

2 Se., 1 Ju., 1 So. Total 4

7. Asst. Professor ANDERSON.— Theories of Social Reform.

4 Se., 1 Ju., 1 So., 1 Unc. Total 7

8. Professor CARVER.—Principles of Sociology.

2 Se., 5 Ju., 5 Unc. Total 12

Primarily for Graduates:

Accounting

Associate Professor COLE.— Accounting Problems.

1 Gr., 3 Se. Total 4

Economic Theory and Method

*11. Professors CARVER and BULLOCK.— Economic Theory.

1 Gr. Total 1

Economic History

*241 hf. Professor GAY. — Topics in the Economic History of the Nineteenth Century.

1 Se. Total 1

Applied Economics

*322 hf. Professor CARVER. — Economics of Agriculture.

1 Gr., 3 Se. Total 4

*34. Professor RIPLEY. —Problems of Labor.

1 Gr., 1 Se. Total 2

Course of Research

20d. Professor GAY and Asst. Professor GRAS (Clark University). — Economic History.

1 Gr. Total 1

 

Source:  Annual Report of Radcliffe College for 1917-1918. Report of the Chairman of the Academic Board (January 1919), pp. 44-45.

______________________________

Economics
1918-1919

Primarily for Undergraduates:

1. A. Dr. BURBANK. — Principles of Economics.

11 Se., 30 Ju., 16 So., 1 Fr., 13 Unc. Total 71

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

1a1 hf. Professor COLE. — Accounting.

1 Gr., 6 Se., 6 Ju., 3 So. Total 16

1c2 hf. Professor COLE. — Accounting (advanced course).

1 Gr., 2 Se., 4 Ju., 2 So. Total 9

2a1 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

1 Gr., 7 Se., 3 Ju., 1 So., 2 Unc. Total 14

2b2 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN. — Economic History of the United States.

8 Se., 1 Ju., 1 So., 2 Unc. Total 12

32 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN. — Money, Banking, and Allied Problems.

1 Se., 4 Ju. Total 5

5. Dr. BURBANK, with lectures on selected topics by Professor BULLOCK. — Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

3 Se. Total 3

6a1 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

5 Se., 3 Ju., 1 So. Total 9

7a. Professor BULLOCK. — Economic Theory.

9 Se., 3 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 13

8. Professor CARVER. —Principles of Sociology.

5 Se., 6 Ju., 1 So. Total 12

 

Primarily for Graduates:

Accounting

Professor COLE. — Accounting Problems.

1 Gr., 1 Se., 3 Ju., 1 So. Total 6

 

Economic Theory and Method

*13. Dr. PERSONS. — Statistics. Theory, Method, and Practice.

1 Gr., 1 Se., 1 Ju. Total 3

Applied Economics

*34. Professor RIPLEY. —Problems of Labor.

2 Se. Total 2

 

Source:  Annual Report of Radcliffe College for 1918-1919. Report of the Chairman of the Academic Board (January 1920), pp. 41-42.

______________________________

Economics
1919-1920

Primarily for Undergraduates:

1. A. Asst. Professor DAY. — Principles of Economics.

9 Se., 24 Ju., 23 So., 1 Fr., 6 Unc., 2 Sp. Total 65

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

1a1 hf. Professor COLE.— Accounting.

2 Gr., 10 Se., 3 Ju., 2 So., 1 Unc., 1 Sp. Total 19

1b2 hf. Asst. Professor J. S. DAVIS.— Statistics.

9 Se., 6 Ju., 2 So., 2 Unc. Total 19

1c2 hf. Professor COLE.— Accounting (advanced course).

1 Gr., 6 Se., 1 Ju., 2 So., 1 Sp. Total 11

2a1 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

2 Se., 1 Ju., 2 Unc. Total 5

2b2 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN.— Economic History of the United States.

1 Gr., 6 Se., 2 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 10

32 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN.— Money, Banking, and Allied Problems.

4 Se., 2 Ju., 2 Unc. Total 8

4b1 hf. Asst. Professor DAVIS. — Economics of Corporations.

1 Gr., 6 Se., 1 Ju. Total 8

5. Asst. Professor BURBANK. — Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

10 Se., 1 Ju. Total 11

6a1 hf. Dr. E. E. LINCOLN. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

1 Gr., 1 Se., 3 Ju., 1 Unc. Total 6

8. Professor CARVER. —Principles of Sociology.

2 Gr., 3 Se., 6 Ju., 1 So., 1 Unc. Total 13

Economic Theory and Method

Primarily for Graduates:

*11. Professor TAUSSIG. — Economic Theory.

2 Gr., 3 Se. Total 5

*121 hf. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.

1 Gr., 2 Se. Total 3

*14. Professor BULLOCK. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

2 Gr. Total 2

Applied Economics

*322 hf. Professor CARVER. — Economics of Agriculture.

1 Se. Total 1

*332 hf. Professor TAUSSIG. — International Trade and Tariff Problems.

1 Gr., 1 Se. Total 2

*341. Professor RIPLEY. — Problems of Labor.

3 Gr., 4 Se., 1 Ju. Total 8

Statistics

*41. Asst. Professor DAY. — Statistics: Theory and Analysis.

2 Gr. Total.2

*42. Asst. Professor DAY. — Statistics: Organization and Practice.

2 Gr. Total 2

Course of Research in Economics

*20. Professor CARVER.

1 Se. Total 1

 

Source:  Annual Report of Radcliffe College for 1919-1920. Report of the Chairman of the Academic Board (January 1921), pp. 41-42.

Image Source:  Barnard and Briggs Halls, Radcliffe College, ca. 1930-1945. Boston Public Library: The Tichnor Brothers Collection.

 

 

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. Alumnus, Hermann F. Arens, 1918

 

Besides being a typical addition to the collection of posts “Meet an Economics Ph.D. alumna/us”, we may consider the life/career of Hermann Franklin Arens (Harvard A.B., A.M., and Ph.D.) as that of a poster-child of a “non-survivor” in the history of economics. Serious historians worry about the survivor-bias in the accounts that are read that would systematically miss evidence of potentially productive scholarly/scientific paths not attempted. Evidence of what has actually happened to those who voluntarily or involuntarily separated from active careers in economic research will be haphazard and difficult to gather (e.g., I have been unable to find Arens’ date of death in a casual search), but at least Economics in the Rear-view Mirror can provide an occasional empirical reminder of these least-studied characters in the history of economics.

Even within the truncated autobiographical account of Arens’ post-Harvard career, we pick up the following self-deprecating and heavily ironic remark that points to his status as a “non-survivor”:

Outside of making a living for a family, I have accomplished practically nothing.

_________________

Harvard Class 1907, 25th Anniversary Report (1932)

HERMANN FRANKLIN ARENS

Born: Boston, Mass., May 3, 1882. Son of Edward Johannes, Adelma Sohmes (Atkinson) Arens.

Prepared at Dummer Academy, and Newburyport High School, Newburyport, Mass.

In College: 1903-06. Degrees: A.B. 1907; A. M. 1913; Ph.D. 1918.

Married Elizabeth Clare McNamara, Sept. 11, 1907. New York, N.Y. Children: Hermann Athanasius, May 4, 1911; Winifred Adelma, Feb. 16, 1914; Friederich Vincent, April 6, 1916; Mary Elizabeth, March 28, 1918 (died April 28, 1928); Konrad, Jan. 11, 1920 (died April 24, 1931).

Occupation: Economist.

Address: 2 Woodworth St., Neponset, Mass.

 

At present I am the staff economist and editor for the United Business Service, Boston, and instructor in economics at Northeastern University, Boston.

My most extensive travels were a trip to Japan and China in the winter of 1922-23.

I have a small wind-jammer, and yachting is the only sport that interests me.

Outside of making a living for a family, I have accomplished practically nothing.

 

Member: American Economic Association; Royal Economic Society (life fellow).

 

Source:  Harvard Class of 1907. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Report, Sixth Report. Norwood, Mass.: Plimpton Press, June 1932.

_________________

General Exam Report (1914)

Hermann Franklin Arens.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, May 15, 1914.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Sprague, Anderson, Foerster, and Yerkes.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1903-06; Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, 1906-08; General Theological Seminary, New York, 1908-09; Harvard Graduate School, 1912—. A.B., Harvard, 1907; A.M. ibid., 1913. Assistant in Economics, Harvard, 1912-13; Assistant in Social Ethics, 1913—.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Sociology. 3. Socialism and Labor Problems. 4. Philosophy. 5. Agricultural Economics. 6. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises.
Special Subject: Sociology.
Thesis Subject: (undecided).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1913-14”.

_________________

Harvard Ph.D. Report (1918)

Hermann Franklin Arens.

Special Examination in Economics, Monday, April 29, 1918.
General Examination passed May 15, 1914.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1903-06; Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, 1906-08; General Theological Seminary, New York, 1908-09; Harvard Graduate School, 1912-16. A.B., Harvard, 1907; A.M., ibid., 1913. Assistant in Economics, 1912-13; Assistant in Social Ethics, 1913-14; Assistant in Economics, 1914-15.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Sociology. 3. Socialism and Labor Problems. 4. Philosophy. 5. Agricultural Economics. 6. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises.
Special Subject: Sociology.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), Day, Anderson, and Foerster.
Thesis Subject: “The Relation of the Group to the Individual in Political Theory.” (With Professor Anderson.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Anderson, Carver, and Yeomans.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1917-18”.

_________________

1926 Directory of Harvard Ph.D.’s

1918. Arens, Hermann Franklin [Economics].

Thesis title: The relation of the group to the individual in political theory.

A.B. Harvard University, 1907; A.M. Harvard University, 1913.
1918. Economics Expert, Babson Statistical Organization, Wellesley Hills, Mass.
1926. Editor, United Business Service Co. 210 Newbury St., Boston, Mass.

Sources:

Harvard University. Doctors of Philosophy and Doctors of Science Who have received their Degree in Course from Harvard University, 1873-1926, with the Titles of their Theses. Cambridge: 1926.

Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, Reports of the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (available at the Harvard Archives Online Reference Shelf).

 

 

Image Source:  Harvard Class of 1907. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Report, Sixth Report. Norwood, Mass.: Plimpton Press, June 1932.

 

Categories
Harvard Teaching Undergraduate

Harvard. Memos on teaching assistants and grading in economics courses, 1911

 

Six memos primarily concerned with the supervision of teaching assistants in economics courses, but also other interesting incidental detail is revealed. Of the six professors listed on economics department letterhead, Taussig was able to get a memorandum from everyone except for O. M. W. Sprague.

I have provided additional information from the published course announcements, annual Presidential Reports, along with some additional information on the subsequent careers of some of the teaching assistants named.

__________________

Taussig’s Cover Letter

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 22, 1911.

Dear Mr. Blake:

You remember that you made some inquiries on the President’s behalf concerning the extent to which the work of assistants was supervised in the various courses. I enclose a batch of memoranda concerning the courses in our Department, and think they tell the whole story. If further information is desired, we shall be glad to supply it.

Very truly yours,
[signed]
F. W. Taussig

Mr. J. A. L. Blake

__________________

Frank W. Taussig and Edmund Ezra Day’s Courses

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 1. Principles of Economics. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Taussig, assisted by Drs. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Harvard Ph.D., 1907], [Edmund Ezra] Day [Harvard Ph.D., 1909],  and [Robert Franz] Foerster [Harvard Ph.D., 1909], and Messrs. Sharfman [not included in ex-post staffing report in President’s Report] and  [Alfred Burpee] Balcom [Harvard A.M. (1909), S.B. Acadia (1907), Nova Scotia].

[Economics] 18b 2hf. Banking and Foreign Exchange. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Dr. [Edmund Ezra] Day [Harvard Ph.D., 1909].

[Economics] 12 1hf. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. [Edmund Ezra] Day [Harvard Ph.D., 1909].

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Memorandum regarding Economics 1

The professor in charge lectures twice a week. For the third hour the men are divided into sections, conducted on the familiar plan. Every Thursday afternoon, throughout the year, I meet the section instructors and discuss the work of the week with them. Questions to be asked at the section meetings are proposed by the instructors, are approved, vetoed, or modified, by myself. Usually we come to an understanding as to the topics to be discussed in the sections after the papers have been written. Not infrequently we arrange for diagrams or figures to be used, identically in all the sections; these touching points which it is desired to make clear. Immediately after the mid-year and final examinations I always meet the instructors and we read a batch of blue books together; we compare our grades, questions by questions, and try to make sure that the same standard is applied in all cases. My experience is that there is substantial uniformity in the grading.

Some of my instructors, who have charge of large numbers in their own courses, have readers to assist them in the examination of the weekly papers. Dr. Day reports as follows concerning the weekly papers in his sections: “I always instruct the “reader” as to exactly what is expected in answer to the question assigned. Students are encouraged to refer to me any cases of grading where injustice seems to have been done and, where such cases disclose any error or inaccuracy in the grading, the matter is carefully reviewed with the reader.” I may add that Dr. Day reports that he personally grades all the papers both in Economics 12 and 8b.

__________________

Courses of Thomas Nixon Carver

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 3. Principles of Sociology.—Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver and an assistant [Lucius Moody Bristol listed in President’s Report 1910-11 as the course teaching assistant].

[Economics] 14a 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Thu., at 1.30.Professor Carver.

[Economics] 14b 2hf. Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Thu., at 1.30. Professor Carver.
Open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Economics 14a.

Information about the teaching assistant actually named by Carver

Harvard A.M. (1911), but no Harvard Ph.D.

Philip Benjamin Kennedy received his A.M. from Harvard in 1911; A.B. Beloit (Wis.) 1905; Litt.B. Occidental (Cal.) 1906.

Source: Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University 1636-1915.p. 574.

Additional biographical information.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Taussig:

In Economics 3 the class is divided into two sections for Friday conferences. Mr. Kennedy, the assistant, takes one section and I take the other, but we alternate. Each section has a fifteen-minute paper on the day when Mr. Kennedy has it. There is no paper in the section meeting when I conduct it.

As to blue book reading, etc., I do not read any of the Friday papers. I read hour and final examination papers only in those cases where Mr. Kennedy gives and A or an E, where he is doubtful, and where the student is dissatisfied with his mark. Then, too, I always read the paper for any student who asks me to. Mr. Kennedy and I go over all the grades together and make up the final return.

In Economics 14a and 14b, there are no section meetings. The blue books are marked and the term averages made out in the same way as in Economics 3.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
T. N. Carver
[initials:  O.H.]

Professor Taussig.

__________________

William Morse Cole’s Accounting Course

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 18. Principles of Accounting. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. Asst. Professor Cole and an assistant [Messrs. Johnson and Platt].
Course 18 is not open to students before their last year of undergraduate work. For men completing their work at the end of the first half-year, it may be counted, with the consent of the instructor, as a half-course.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 23, 1911

Dear Professor Taussig

With regard to the supervision of assistants’ work in Economics 18, I have to report as follows:

There are no section meetings in charge of assistants, though if competent assistants were available I might have such work done. The work of my chief assistant is reading short papers written in the classroom and reading outside written work and blue-books. I have attempted to keep a uniform standard where several men have been reading for me at once by having a bunch of papers read by all the readers and then by me in their presence for comparison and comment. Even then there has been some variation and I have sometimes myself reread all questions where variation seemed most likely to occur. For that reason, I have this year had all reading of short papers and blue-books done by one man, who has shown himself of unusually sound judgment. I have been over all short papers with him, and read after him a bunch of mid-year books—-after I had been through several books with him. In all cases where a few points would affect a man’s grade I have personally examined the blue-book in confirmation of my assistant’s judgment. This is his third year of work for me, and I have very great confidence in him, for after innumerable checks on his work I have never found it erring more than human frailty is bound to err.

His other work has been of two parts: assisting me occasionally in the voluntary conferences which I offer weekly for assistance to men who cannot keep the pace that I set for the class work as a whole (on the principle that the quick men should not be required to attend three meetings a week if the third is necessary only for those who do not take naturally to this sort of thing); and holding required conferences with thesis writers, and reading theses. I have not had much check on the conference work and the reading of theses, for two reasons: the theses are on reports of corporations, and since no man can be familiar with the annual reports of many score of such corporations, he can not determine omissions of facts (since there is no uniformity), but only the application of certain fundamental principles, which I know that my assistants are familiar with; the theses are written merely to give the men practice in reading between the lines of actual reports, and the result of that practice shows not only in the theses themselves but in all a man’s work, especially in the final examination, so that the reading of the thesis is done rather to determine whether a man has used the opportunity afforded him for practice, than to determine how much good he has got out of it—-for the amount of good is reflected in many ways, and to pass judgment on the correctness of the conclusions drawn in each particular thesis would require that the judge should have devoted long study to the reports with which the thesis is concerned.

The reading of theses, and the conference work in connection with them, is done by four or five assistants.

With the additional funds allowed by the contribution of the visiting committee, I shall have more short papers done in the third-hour meetings and shall make attendance required for men whose work shows that they need it.

Sincerely yours
[signed]
William Morse Cole

__________________

Economic history courses of Edwin F. Gay

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Fall term, 1910-11 taught by Professor Edwin Francis Gay, assisted by Julius Klein.

Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Spring term, 1910-11 taught by Professor Edwin Francis Gay, assisted by Julius Klein.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Office of the Dean

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 4, 1911

Dear Taussig:

I have assistance, as you know, in only one course, 6a and 6b. In this course as I have run it this year a half-hour test on reading is given every fortnight and a thesis is written. The reading of the papers for the half-hour test is left almost entirely in the hands of the Assistant. When I am breaking in a new man I usually look over some of the papers at the beginning to see that he gets the proper idea in regard to grading. He holds a series of conferences with the students in regard to their theses, referring them in cases of difficulty to me. The Assistant reads the theses but I myself make it a point to read them all in addition, since it is very difficult to grade these properly. The Assistant reads the final blue books in the course but I myself sample the final blue books and in all doubtful cases read the final blue book in addition to the thesis.

I think this answer the points raised by your question.

Very truly yours,
[signed]
Edwin F. Gay.

Professor F. W. Taussig

__________________

Public Finance Course of Charles Bullock

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 7 2hf. Public Finance, considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation. Half-course (second half-year) Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Professor Bullock and an assistant.

[Note: in the ex post staffing report in the President’s Report the instructor is listed as Dr. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Harvard Ph.D., 1907], assisted by Wilfred Eldred (Harvard Ph.D. 1919) and Roscoe Russell Hess (Harvard A.B. (1911) magna cum laude)]

Possible Harvard Undergraduate as a teaching assistant

Roscoe Russell Hess [I am guessing this was the teaching assistant in the public finance course]

Source: Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University 1636-1915.p. 449.

Bowdoin Prizes for dissertations in English for undergraduates: first prize of $250, Roscoe Russell Hess ’11, of Seattle, Wash., on “The Paper Industry and Its Relation to the Conservation and the Tariff”

Source: Harvard Crimson, May 17, 1911.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 7, 1911

My dear Taussig:

My arrangements with the assistants in Economics 7 are substantially as follows:

I meet with them on Wednesday at 3.30 and go over with them fully the work for the conferences on Friday and Saturday. We first select questions for the paper that we set the men at the sections, aiming of course to make the questions given the different sections a nearly as possible of equal difficulty. I also go over the subjects treated in the assigned reading for the week and indicate the points which I think the assistants would better emphasize in the oral discussion in the sections.

During the early part of the half-year I also meet the assistants each week to confer with them about the marking of the weekly papers. The method that we follow is to read together several papers in each of the divisions, discussing the proper marks to be assigned to the papers until we find that we have come to substantial agreement.

I think in general you can say that the method followed in 7 is substantially like the method followed in Economics 1.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
C. J. Bullock
[initials: O. H.]

Professor Taussig

__________________

Labor and Transportation Courses taught by W. Z. Ripley

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 5 1hf. Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Thu., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Whitnack.

[Economics] 9a 1hf. Problems of Labor. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Thu., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Whitnack.

Teaching assistant Whitnack probably never awarded Ph.D. from Harvard

According to the Quinquennial catalogue, Ralph C. Whitnack did receive an A.M. from Harvard in 1911. Ralph Cahoon Whitnack, formerly Ralph Cahoon Whitenack; A.B. Brown 1906; Prof. Pol. Eco., Keio Univ. (Japan) 1914-.

Source: Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University 1636-1915.p. 574.

Whitnack’s dissertation listed being “in progress” in 1915

Doctoral dissertation “Social stratification” in progress listed in the AER list of doctoral dissertations in progress American Economic Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 (June 1915), p. 477.

Whitnack’s death in 1919

Professor Ralph Cahoon Whitnack, formerly professor of economics at Keio University, Tokio, died April 14, 1919. At the time of his death Professor Whitnack was serving as joint revenue commissioner for the native state of Baroda, India. He had direct jurisdiction over the departments of excise and customs, agriculture and cooperative credit. During 1918 and until his death he was price controller and director of civil supplies.

Source:  Notes in American Economic Review, Vol. 9, No. 4 (December 1919), p. 946.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
24 February 1911.

Dear Professor Taussig,–

I have pleasure, in accordance with your note of even date, and in the absence of Professor Ripley, in submitting the following memorandum concerning the relations between instructor, assistant and students in Economics 5 and 9a.

The weekly section meetings are held under the direction of the assistant, after conference in each case between the assistant and instructor as to the issues to be discussed and general methods pursued.

Conferences concerning theses are held concurrently by the instructor and assistant at advertised hours. Each student is required to confer at least once with either instructor or assistant before handing in thesis.

The instructor has three hours per week, and the assistant one or more as required, for general conference with students who seek it.

The correction of weekly papers is done by the assistant.

The correction and grading of hour examinations, theses and blue books is done by the assistant under the supervision and in conference with the instructor. In particular all grades of E, A and D are scrutinized by the instructor, who goes over the blue-books and theses and assigns finalgrades in consultation with the assistant.

Very sincerely yours,
R. C. Whitnack
Austin J. Fellow: Ec. 5 and 9a.

__________________

Source for the memoranda: 

Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers, 1909-1914. Box 15, Folder 413 “1909-14”.

Source for course listings information:

Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1910-11.

Source for ex post staffing of courses:

Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, pp. 48ff.

Source for Harvard economics Ph.D.’s:

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s page “Harvard. Doctoral Dissertations in Economics, 1875-1926”.

Image Source: Harvard University #2, Cambridge, Mass, c1910. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.