Earlier postings about Edward Cummings, a sociologist in the Harvard Economics department at the turn of the twentieth century, included a newspaper account of his resignation of his professorship to become Unitarian pastor and a link to his papers. Harvard was not to establish an independent department of sociology until 1931, which was much later than in other leading American universities. For more about Cummings and the pre-history of the Harvard Department of Sociology, see: “The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard” by Lawrence T. Nichols in Science at Harvard University: Historical Perspectives, edited by Clark A. Elliott and Margaret W. Rossiter. Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 1992.
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CUMMINGS, Edward, 1861-
Born in Colebrook, N. H., 1861; graduated at Harvard; Instructor in English at Harvard; appointed to the Robert Treat Paine Fellowship in Social Science; studied Sociological questions in Europe; Instructor in Sociology at Harvard; Assistant Professor; Associate Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Economics; member of the Council of American Economic Association; Director of the Massachusetts Prison Association; Director of the Boston Associated Charities; member of the American Statistical Association and other organizations.
EDWARD CUMMINGS, A.M., Assistant Professor of Sociology at Harvard, is the son of Edward Norris and Lucretia Frances (Merrill) Cummings, and was born in Colebrook, New Hampshire, April 20, 1861. The Cummings family, originally of Scottish origin, settled in Massachusetts about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Merrill family, of English origin, came to this country about the same time. Up to the age of twelve Mr. Cummings was educated in the private and public schools of New Hampshire. After that he attended the public schools of Woburn, Massachusetts, and fitted for College in the High School of that city. He graduated at Harvard in 1883, but continued with graduate work at the University until the spring of 1888, serving as Instructor in English during the latter part of this period, and receiving the degree of Master of Arts in 1885. In the spring of 1888 he resigned his position as Instructor to accept an appointment to the Robert Treat Paine Fellowship in Social Science. This was the first Fellowship in Social Science at Harvard, and his appointment was the first to that fellowship. During the following winter he was a resident of the University Settlement at Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, London. For three years he continued sociological study in Europe as incumbent of the Paine Fellowship, spending a year in England and Scotland and two years in France, Italy and Germany. In 1891 he returned to America and was appointed Instructor in Sociology at Harvard. Two years later he became Assistant Professor. Professor Cummings is Associate Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Economics and a contributor to the literature of social and economic discussion. He is a member of the Council of the American Economic Association, a Director of the Massachusetts Prison Association, a Director of the Boston Associated Charities, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Reform Club, Secretary of the Advisory Committee appointed by the Mayor of Boston in 1899 to inquire into the penal aspects of drunkenness, besides holding membership in the American Statistical Association, the Twentieth Century Club, and the Round Table Club. He married June 25, 1891, Rebecca Haswell Clarke, and has one son: Edward Estlin Cummings [the poet E .E. Cummings].