Category: Gender

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Curriculum Gender Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics Course Offerings, 1906-1910

 

Pre-Radliffe economics course offerings and the Radcliffe courses for  1893-94,  1894-1900 , 1900-1905 have been posted earlier.

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1905-1906
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professor ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

17 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 20.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

62. Asst. Professor GAY.— The Economic History of the United States. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates. Total 3.

11. Asst. Professor GAY.— The Modern Economic History of Europe.  2 hours a week (and usually a third hour).

3 Graduates. Total 3.

14a1. Professor CARVER.— The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 8.

14b2. Professor CARVER.— Methods of Social Reform. — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2nd half-year.

3 Graduates, 2 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 9.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a.  Asst. Professor GAY. — The Expansion of English Trade in the Mediterranean, and the Levant Company.  1 hour a week.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

20.  Professors CARVER and RIPLEY. — Seminary in Economics. Thesis subjects: “The Basis of Taxation” and “The Industrial Education of the Fourteen Year Old Girl.”

1 Graduate (1st half-year only), 1 Special student. Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1905-06, pp. 44-45.

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1906-1907
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professors ANDREW and Mr. DAGGETT. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

25 Undergraduates. Total 25.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Mr. J. A. FIELD.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

3 Undergraduates. Total 3.

6a1. Asst. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

2 Graduates, 6 Undergraduates. Total 8.

6b2. Asst. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year [sic].

2 Graduates, 3 Undergraduates. Total 5.

20a. Asst. Professor GAY. — (a) Foreign Merchants in England in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.  1 Graduate. (b) The Finances of English Boroughs in the Middle Ages.  1 Graduate.

Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1906-07, p. 46.

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1907-1908
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAGGETT. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Railroads, Trusts, Foreign Trade, Banking, and Public Finance.

19 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 21.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates. Total 3.

6a1. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

2 Graduates, 6 Undergraduates. Total 8.

6b2. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

3 Graduates, 11 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 15.

8b2.  Asst. Professor ANDREW. — Banking and Foreign Exchange.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

2 Undergraduates. Total 2.

14b1.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates. Total 4.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

101. Professor GAY.— Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

3 Graduates. Total 3.

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Florentine Period of Italian Trade in Mediaeval England.  1 Graduate.
(b) The Finances of English Boroughs in the Middle Ages. 1 Graduate.
(c) Ad firmam manors in Domesday. 1 Graduate (2d half year).

1 hour a week each. Total 3.

20.  Professor RIPLEY. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice. Half-course.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1907-08, pp. 50-51.

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1908-1909
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAGGETT. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor, Railroads, Trusts, Foreign Trade, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

15 Undergraduates. Total 15.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

10 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 11.

6a1. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

4 Graduates, 2 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 7.

6b2. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

3 Graduates, 3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 7.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course.2 hours a week, 1sthalf-year.

2 Graduates, 3 Undergraduates. Total 5.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2nd half-year.

2 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Finances of English Boroughs in the Middle Ages. 1 Graduate (2nd half-year).
(b) Ad firmam manors in Domesday. 1 Graduate

1 hour a week each. Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1908-09, pp. 48-49.

 

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1909-1910
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. HUSE. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

29 Undergraduates, 9 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 39.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

15 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 16.

6a1. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

2 Undergraduates. Total 2

6b2. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

9 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 11.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 5 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 9.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2nd half-year.

8 Undergraduates, 5 Special students. Total 13.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — The Administration of the Factory Legislation of Massachusetts.

1 Graduate, Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1909-10, pp. 47-48.

Image Source:   Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. Radcliffe College, gymnasium & Fay House, Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge Cambridge. Massachusetts United States, 1904. [?] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016809164/.

 

Categories
Chicago Columbia Economists Gender

Chicago. Ph.D. Alumna, 1927. Mabel Agnes Magee. Professor at Wells College.

 

 

This post provides some biographical material for Mabel Agnes Magee who received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1927. As I was browsing through Chicago departmental records, I came across her name in a form submitted to hire her as an assistant for three quarters in 1927-28 at a salary of $500. I decided to put on my detective gumshoes and see what I could find about her pre- and post-Chicago life. From at least 1930 (U.S. Census) through her retirement, she taught at the sister college to Cornell, Wells College.  Mabel Magee was born in Massachusetts, did her undergraduate studies at Simmons College, received an M.A. from Columbia University, taught briefly at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, went on Chicago for her Ph.D. in economics. So except for her graduate training at Columbia and Chicago, Mabel Magee spent her academic life entirely in women’s colleges. She is mentioned in Wade L. Thomas’ “A Brief History of the New York State Economics Association” (New York Economic Review, Fall 2011) as the host of meetings at Wells College in May 1948 that constituted the beginning of the “Central New York Economics Conference” that was the predecessor to the New York State Economics Association.

Mabel Magee retired from Wells College to DeBary, Florida, a town just north of Orlando. I have found no indication that she either married or had children. Also, up to now I have not been able to determine when she died. 

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AEA Listing, 1957

MAGEE, Mabel Agnes, Box 469, DeBary, Fla. (1925) Wells Col., prof. emeritus, teach., gov. serv.; b. 1889; B.S., 1912, Simmons Col.; M.A., 1920, Columbia; Ph.D., 1927, Chicago. Fields 14abd, 8, 2b. Doc. dis. Women’s clothing industry of Chicago: study of labor relations. Pub. Trends in location of women’s clothing industry (Univ. of Chicago, 1931); “Constitutional and statutory limitations on local taxation,” 1936, 1938, 1944, “Constitutional and statutory provisions regarding local property taxation,” Tax Systems. Res. Role of federal property its local finance. Dir. Dir. of Amer. Schol.

 

Source: The American Economic Review, Vol. 47, No. 4, Handbook of the American Economic Association (Jul., 1957), p. 186.

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1912 Simmons Yearbook,  Microcosm

[Portrait and signature], 698 Salem Street, South Groveland, Massachusetts. Groveland High School.

Source: Simmons College. Microcosm 1912, p. 66.

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1923 Wheaton College 1923, Nike

Mabel Agnes Magee was listed as instructor in economics and history in the department of economic and sociology at Wheaton College

[Education] B.S. Simmons College; A.M. Columbia University.

[Previous Employment] Registrar’s Assistant, Simmons College; Private Secretary to president of South End National Bank, Boston; Teller at Haverhill National Bank; Private Secretary to William J. Mack, Impartial Chairman and Arbitrator Ladies’ Garment Industry, Cleveland, Ohio.

Source: Wheaton College yearbook Nike 1923  (edited by class of 1924, Wheaton College), p. 16.

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Miscellaneous Facts Drawn from U.S. Census Reports

1900.  Born December 1889.

1910.  Home on Salem Street in Groveland, Massachusetts. Parents: John and Hannah Magee, born in Canada and Massachusetts, respectively. Two brothers: George and Edward L. Magee.

1920.  [same information, without brother George in household, note: last name incorrectly transcribed as “Magie”]

1930. Home on Main Street South in Ledyard, New York. Occupation “Teacher” at Wells College. Head of household: Anne C. Jones (34 yrs). Also residing there: Mariam R. Small (31 yrs), Elisabeth G. Kimball (30 yrs), and Andrew McGardon (47 yrs).

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From other AEA published membership information

1928. Address given at Faculty Exchange, University of Chicago.

1938. Institutional affiliation given as Wells College.

1948. Institutional affiliation given as Wells College.

1966. No longer included in AEA membership directory.

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 Foreign travel

1952. Arrived in New York City from Amsterdam on a KLM flight on August 25.

1961. Arrived in New York City from Paris on Lufthansa 806. U.S. address given as 12 Estiella [sic, Estrella] Road, Debory [sic, DeBary], Florida.

Source:  From ancestry.org’s immigration and emigration data base.

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Image Source:  Senior portrait of Mabel Agnes Magee in the Simmons College Yearbook, Microcosm 1912, p. 66.

Categories
Courses Curriculum Gender Harvard Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics Course Offerings, 1900-1905

 

Pre-Radcliffe economics course offerings and the Radcliffe courses for  1893-94 and for 1894-1900 have been posted earlier.

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1900-1901
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. SPRAGUE and Dr. ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange. — Lectures on Social Questions, Banking and Monetary Legislation. 3 hours a week.

19 Undergraduates, 5 Special students. Total 24.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. —Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 9.

10. Professor ASHLEY. — The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. 2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 9.

92. Mr. WILLOUGHBY. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 8 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 11.

81. Dr. ANDREW. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 4 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 6.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1900-01, p.44.

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1901-1902
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange. — Industrial Organization, Labor Questions, Banking and Monetary Legislation. 3 hours a week.

28 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 32.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Asst. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. —Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week.

6 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 8.

92. Mr. DURAND. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 6 Undergraduates. Total 7.

6.  Dr. SPRAGUE. — The Economic History of the United States. 2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates. Total 6.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

20. Asst. Professor CARVER. — Seminary in Economics. Thesis-subject: Motives in Politics.

1 Special student. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1901-02, pp. 37-38.

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1902-1903
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Drs. ANDREW and MIXTER. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

18 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 21.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

32. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. —Theories of social progress. Half-course. 2 hours a week.  2d half-year.

10 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 11.

14. Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform. — 2 hours a week.

4 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 6.

112. Dr. GAY. — The Modern Economic History of Europe and America. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 1 Undergraduate. Total 2.

51.  Mr. MEYER. — Railways and Other Public Works under Corporate and Private Management. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 4 Undergraduates. Total 5.

8a1.  Dr. ANDREW. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 7 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 11.

8b2.  Dr. SPRAGUE. — Banking and the history of the leading Banking Systems. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

3 Undergraduates. Total 3.

 

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

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1903-1904
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professor ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

36 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 38.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 1 Undergraduate, 2 Special students. Total 4.

11. Asst. Professor GAY. — The Modern Economic History of Europe and America. 2 hours a week (and occasionally a third hour).

2 Undergraduates. Total 2.

6.  Dr. SPRAGUE. — The Economic History of the United States. 2 hours a week.

7 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 9.

9a2.  Professor RIPLEY. — Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates. Total 7.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

131.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year. [Graduate course in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty]

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates. Total 3.

20.  Professors CARVER and RIPLEY. — Seminary in Economics. Thesis-subjects: “Labor Organizations among Women” and “The Defective Child in its own home.”

1 Graduate, 1 Special student. Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1903-04, pp. 50-51.

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1904-1905
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professors ANDREW and SPRAGUE. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

14 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 18.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. — Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, with a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 6.

6.  Asst. Professor SPRAGUE. — The Economic History of the United States. 3 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 1 Undergraduate, 1 Special student. Total 4.

 

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a.  Asst. Professor GAY. — The Expansion of English Trade in the Mediterranean, and the Levant Company.  1 hour a week. [Graduate course in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty]

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1904-05, p. 56.

Image Source: Gymnasium and Fay House, Radcliffe College ca. 1904. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-D4-10778 R (b&w glass neg.)  Copy from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Categories
Columbia Courses Economists Gender Germany Harvard Social Work

Harvard, Boston University & Berlin. Career of alumnus Edward Everett Ayers

 

From the E.R.A. Seligman papers at Columbia I came across an unsolicited application for employment in economics and sociology submitted to the President of Columbia University by a man who received his A.M. from Harvard and a pair of doctorates from Boston University and the University of Berlin (I suspect the dissertation did double duty since both degrees were apparently awarded in 1901, but have not checked that out). Edward E. Ayers turns out to be a nice example of the mixture of economics, sociology and social reform that was found in economics departments around the turn of the 20th century. Before getting to the document-artifacts found in the Seligman papers, I have included information about Ayers’ life and career and a review of his German doctoral dissertation. The post ends with course descriptions for Ayres’ non-Biblical teaching at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. 

From his yearbook portrait for Greensboro College (The Echo) 1927 we see that Edward E. Ayers appears to have switched into Religious Education and entirely dropped economics/sociology/social reform at the end of his teaching career.

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Rev Edward Everett Ayers

Bio by: David Ayers

BIRTH:           16 Jul 1865. Egypt, Belmont County, Ohio, USA

DEATH:         20 Apr 1939 (aged 73). Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA

BURIAL:        Fort Hill Memorial Park, Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA

 

Edward Everett Ayers was the 9th of 14 children of Philander and Nancy (Eagon) Ayers. He grew up on their farm in Kirkwood Twp, Belmont Cty, Ohio.

Despite these humble beginnings he obtained an amazing education – B.C.S. from Mount Union College in Ohio in 1891 and then a Ph.B. from the same institution a year later, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Boston University in 1896, then an A.M. from Harvard University in 1898, then separate Ph.D.s from both the University of Berlin (Germany) and Boston University in 1901. He published a small book on worker’s insurance and care for the poor, in German, in 1901. He also studied at Andover Theological Seminary from 1901-1903.

In the midst of all that he served 4 churches in and around Boston, MA between 1894 and 1908 as a Methodist Episcopal clergyman.

He married Caroline Eleanor Elder in Boston in 1899.

He then obtained another degree — S.T.D. – from Mount Union College in 1908.

In 1908 he secured a faculty position at Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, and remained there until 1925. He was Professor of Sociology and Bible. The later-famous Pearl Buck graduated from there in 1914, and given her interests and the size of the college he almost certainly had her as a student. He then accepted a faculty position at Greensboro Women’s College in 1926, staying there until he retired in 1936. He kept his home in Lynchburg during this time and it appears that his wife Caroline, stayed there. His daughter Virginia was in Wellesley College when he made this shift to Greensboro (1924-28). He appears in yearbooks for Greensboro Women’s College and appears to have been very well liked by students. He was certainly amazingly well-educated. Given his subject area, while he was studying in Berlin he almost certainly would have attended lectures by the great Georg Simmel.

 

Source: Memorial page for Rev. Edward Everett Ayers at the Find a Grave website. Includes pictures.

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Review of Ayres’ German dissertation

Arbeiterversicherung und Armenpflege. Von Edward E. Ayres, Ph.D. Berlin: E. Ebering, 1901.

Dr. Ayres belongs to an increasing number of young American clergymen who supplement their training in theology with a course in sociology. In selecting the above subject for his doctor’s thesis at Berlin he has appropriated one of the very choicest bits from the great social laboratory which the German states seem to have become. It appears that the German compulsory insurance — against sickness, accident, and old age — applies, in these different classes, to about 9,000,000, 16,500,000, and 12,000,000 of German working people, respectively. Dr. Willoughby, in his book on Workingmen’s Insurance, which appeared in 1898, explained the spirit and the letter of these experiments in paternalism, and now, after about twenty years of testing, it is time we were told something of the incidents, and it is to be  hoped that Dr. Ayres will turn his little book into English.

The chief thesis of the essay is that compulsory insurance has had a salutary influence upon conditions of dependency. This conclusion is reached after a study of the number of applicants for relief, for different periods, in a selected group of twenty-one towns, averaging in population about 40,000. The first discovery is that the number of cases of relief on account of sickness falling to women, who are less protected by the insurance, increased between 1880 and 1893 by about 20 per cent., while the population increased by nearly 50 per cent., and on account of sickness falling to men, who are more protected, there was an actual falling off in the number of cases. The showing is not quite so favorable in the class of relief on account of accident; but it is much more favorable in the class of relief on account of old age. The author’s conclusion is buttressed by a remarkable consensus of opinion, on the part of the administrators of the poor funds in the cities from which the figures are taken, that the burden of poor relief is greatly lightened as a result of measures of state insurance, and a number of them offer statistical reasons for their faith.

The general favorable view of the author is further strengthened by reports showing an increase of small savings-bank accounts, by different evidences of a higher standard of living, by the increased average annual income of insured persons from 641 marks in 1886 to 735 marks in 1898, and by a decline in emigration from 120,089 in 1891 to 20,837 m 1898.

The thesis certainly contains an interesting marshaling of pertinent coincidences, but in weighing the causal elements Germany’s phenomenal industrial awakening during the period studied should be considered, and this the author seems to neglect. Here he might shift his ground a trifle and say, “if insurance paternalism, as its enemies assert, leans in the direction of a slothful content (the future being cared for), it does not press sufficiently heavy to prevent the present era of industrial prosperity, and it has not proven to be as bad as some have prophesied.” But to say that “it was the cause of the industrial awakening” — not even Dr. Ayres would go that far. And that the industrial growth has been a factor in all the phenomena enumerated he would probably agree.

James H. Hamilton.
Syracuse University

 

Source: Review of Arbeiterversicherung und Armentpflege von Edward E. Ayres (Berlin, 1901) by James H. Hamilton in The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 7, No. 2 (September 1901), pp. 281-282.

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Cover letter to President Butler
and Ayers’ c.v.

College Park, Lynchburg, Va.
Feb. 1, 1915.

Pres. N.M. Butler, LL.D.
New York

Dear Sir:-

Please find enclosed some personal testimonials of my preparation and work in economics and sociology. I would be very much pleased if you would keep these on file and, in case of a vacancy in this department of your institution, communicate with me.

Yours very truly,
[signed] Edward E. Ayers

* * *

            With a desire to make larger provision for my family I wish to be considered for any vacancy in the department of Economics or Sociology in your institution.

The following is a brief account of my education and experience: I spent five years in Mt. Union College, having received my preparatory education in the public schools of Ohio. In the college I completed the business course, the teacher’s course, and the philosophical course, and received the degrees C.S.B. and Ph.B. in 1892. Entering immediately upon a course of study in Boston University, I remained four years and completed a theological course, receiving the degree S.T.B. During my stay there I also took all the philosophy taught by Professor Borden P. Bowne and all of the economics and sociology offered in the University. In 1896 I entered Harvard University to specialize in sociology and remained there two years, and received the degree A.M. in 1898. Much of my time while in Boston University and Harvard was spent in a study of the practical social problems of Boston and vicinity. In 1899 I entered Berlin University, Germany, and spent two years in special work on sociology and economics under Professors Schmoller, Wagner, Sering and Von Halle. In connection with my university work I made excursions over Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France to study social questions and economic conditions. I took all the courses offered in agricultural economics, and with the professors made excursions out to the farms to study actual conditions. My early life until entering college was spent on a farm in Ohio. In 1901 I received the degree Ph.D. from Berlin. In the same year I also received Ph.D, from Boston University.

From 1901 to 1908 I spent in directing church work in the following cities or their suburbs: Lawrence, Mass., Boston and Springfield, Mass., at the same time continuing my work and interest in economics and social subjects.

In 1908 I received a call to Randolph-Macon Woman’s College of Lynchburg, Va., as head professor of the department of Bible and Sociology. My work has been a pleasure from the beginning. I am now offering courses in economics, money and banking, pathology, labor movement and socialism.

In 1908 I received the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from my Alma Mater, Mt. Union College.

Trusting that I may hear from you, I am

Yours very sincerely,
[signed] Edward E. Ayers

[Note: testimonials have not been included here because they are not particularly informative]

Source:   Columbia University Archives. E.R.A. Seligman Collection. Box 98B [now in Box 36], Folder “Columbia, 1913-1917 (unarranged and incomplete)”.

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Faculty listing for E.E. Ayers at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College

Edward Everett Ayers, S.T.D.  Professor of Sociology and English Bible.

B.C.S., Mount Union College, 1891; Ph.B., 1892; S.T.B., Boston University, 1896; A.M., Harvard University, 1898; Ph.D., Boston University, 1901; Ph.D., University of Berlin, 1901; S.T.D., Mount Union College, 1908; Student, Andover Theological Seminary, 1901-03; Professor of Sociology and Bible, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, 1908—.

* * *

Economics/Sociology Courses taught by Ayers at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College

SOCIOLOGY
Professor Ayers.

            Course 1. Introduction to Economics.— This course deals with the rise of modern industry and its expansion in the United States; production, distribution and consumption; value, price and the monetary system of the United States; tariff, labor movement, natural and legal monopolies; American railroads and trusts; economic reform; government expenditures and revenues; taxation and economic progress.

The last half of this course deals with the development of economic thought. This will include a brief survey of economic thought in classical antiquity and its development in Europe, England, and America. Mill, Turgot, Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, and other writers will be considered.

The members of the class will be taken on tours of inspection through industrial institutions in and about Lynchburg.

Lectures, recitations, and discussions. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 2. Introduction to Social Science.— This course deals with early social development, achievement, civilization, and the growth of modern social institutions; elimination of social evils; the social ideal; charities, compulsory insurance, and corrective legislation.

Particular problems of city and country life will be discussed. Students will be directed in personal investigation of social conditions in Lynchburg.

Prisons, almshouses, and other institutions will be studied. The aim of the course is to prepare students for social service.

One thesis is required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 3. Socialism.— The purpose of this course is to acquaint the student with the various Utopian schemes of government in order to separate the transient from the permanent in political society. Some attention will be given to such writers as Plato, Fourier, Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Thomas More, and Edward Bellamy; but most of the time will be given to present socialistic theories and development. The nature, strength, and weakness of socialism will be considered; the golden mean of practical reform will be studied. Lectures, recitations, and discussions. One thesis will be required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 4. The Labor Movement.— This course embraces a brief survey of the conditions of labor in the nations of antiquity and in mediaeval Europe. Most of the time will be given to modern labor movements in Europe, England, and America; the rise of labor organizations, strikes, boycotts, and injunctions, the sweating system, woman and child labor; wages, hours of labor, sanitary and safety devices. The labor of factories, farms, and stores will be studied to furnish concrete examples for the course. One thesis required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

Any student taking two courses in sociology may be allowed to concentrate her work in writing one thesis instead of two.

 

Source: Randolph-Macon Woman’s College Catalogue 1913-1914 (Announcements 1914-1915), pp. 6, 61-2. Lynchburg, Virginia.

Image Source: Edward E. Ayres. Greensboro College. The Echo, 1927.

Categories
Gender Harvard

Harvard. Martha P. Robinson, secretary of tutorial office, ca. 1935-

 

From time to time I come across something that provides a glimpse into the administrative infrastructure that supports the educational mission of an economics department. When I think of the Yale economics department in the early 1970s where I worked as a bursary boy for the chairman, Merton J. Peck, I remember three women who were essential to the smooth running of the economics department:  Mrs. Virgina Casey (secretary to the chairman), Mrs. Mary Doody (Finances and bookkeeping), and Mrs. Eleanor Van Buren (secretary to the director of graduate studies, Professor William Parker). At M.I.T. Del Tapley long-served as the right-hand-woman of the chairman of the department. This of course doesn’t even mention the secretaries who served in the trenches. With only two exceptions (and these are first in the 1980s) I recall only women in all such staff positions.  For this reason, this post has a “gender” tag.

Today we have an excerpt from a longer article published in the Harvard Crimson in 1954 that provides a few testimonials to the work done by one, Martha P. Robinson, who ran the tutorial office for the division of History, Government, and Economics. About Mrs. Robinson I have only been able to generate the following leads: according to the 1944 Cambridge City Directory Mr. Seth B. Robinson Jr. and Martha P. Robinson lived at 25 Grozier Road and that in 1953-54 a Martha Robinson lived at Bancroft Court apartments, #33, at 12 Ware Street according to Manning’s Cambridge Directory. Perhaps some genealogical sleuth can come up with more.

Recently in the history of economics community on Twitter there has been some back-and-forth about the women statistical research assistants for major economics research projects. We might want to keep an eye on the evolution of administrative infrastructure of departments too.

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The Secretaries: Keepers of the Wheels
Coterie of Influential Women Make Harvard a Matriarchy

By STEPHEN R. BARNETT
Harvard Crimson, June 17, 1954

Harvard has been the object of much name-calling during its 318 years of existence, dubbed with epithets ranging from “hotbed of Puritanism” to “haven for Communists.” But perhaps the most objective appraisal of the University, and one that emphasizes a quite unheralded aspect of its daily functioning, is the one-word description suggested by an unknown Social Relations man. He simply said, “Harvard is a matriarchy.”

Technically-as the Soc. Rel. man himself well knew-a matriarchy is “a state or stage in social evolution in which descent is traced in the mother’s line,” or, more generally, “a society in which women exercise the main political power.” In applying the term to Harvard, however, he was merely pointing out that the University is essentially run by its female employees.

Nicholas F. Wessell, associate director of Personnel, readily agrees that women play a major role in Harvard’s daily operation. Of 4,360 non-Corporation employees now on the University payroll, Wessell reports, 2,557, or more than half, are women. In addition, 153 of these woman employees have been with the University for more than 25 years, while only 141 men have comparable records of service.

And it is these 2,557 women-whether they be maids, file clerks, dining hall checkers, laboratory assistants, or Secretary to the President-who do the work that keeps all departments of the University functioning. “Male employees tend to get involved in policy decisions,” Wessell explains, “and thus the women must see that the work gets done.”

The credit for this accomplishment belongs, of course, to every woman on the Harvard payroll. But a few of these unheralded employees are particularly conspicuous for their invaluable service in “seeing that the work gets done.”

One of these women is Mrs. Martha P. Robinson, who has served nearly 20 years in the tutorial office of Government, History and Economics, and whom Carrol F. Miles, teaching fellow in Government describes as the secretary “who sort of came with Holyoke 8.”

Assigns Sophomores

As her main function, Mrs. Robinson keeps the tutorial records for all students who concentrate in any of these three fields-a group which last year numbered approximately 1,500, or nearly 40 percent of the whole Harvard-Radcliffe undergraduate body. Each spring she assigns all sophomores in these fields to appropriate tutors; she prepares the records of more than 200 honors candidates in the departments each year, to determine whether they will graduate summa, magna, cum, or sine; she makes sure that somebody reads and marks all the bluebooks that are turned in from general examinations in the fields; and she constantly answers such questions as “Who is my tutor?”, “Do I have to take this course next year?”, “Who is teaching Gov. 155 next year?”, and “What did I get on the Economics general?”.

In the words of Professor Charles H. Taylor, former chairman of the division of History, Government, and Economics, Mrs. Robinson is simply “indispensable to the work of the three largest departments in the College.”

But she does not confine herself to keeping records for the 1,500-odd students to whom she refers as “my concentrators” or “my boys.” In addition, she is the administrative secretary for both Government 1 and Economics 1, preparing the section lists for these courses, recording the grades, mimeographing reading lists, making sure the books are available, and telling countless anxious students that no, she does not have the results of their mid-year exams.

There is even more to Mrs. Robinson’s job; technically, she is also the personal secretary to Professor Taylor. This has now become the least time-consuming of her many functions, however, for as Taylor explains-with obvious awe of his secretary’s importance-“I try to bother her as little as possible.”

But the really unique thing about Mrs. Robinson is not her industriousness or importance; it is the fact that her job exists at all. For the Division of History, Government, and Economics, of which she is still secretary, became essentially non-existent several years ago when it was broken up into separate fields. Since that time, the three departments have dropped their common tutorial function, have developed different formulas for determining honors, and have stopped giving correlation examinations to honors candidates. Also, since Taylor’s period of service there has been no joint chairman for History, Government, and Economics.

Although the three departments had officially separated, however, they still felt it would be convenient to work together in various ways and to keep their tutorial records in the same office. Thus Mrs. Robinson’s job has been to know the members of the three fields within the Division, to reconcile differences between the respective head tutors, to keep the departmental chairmen informed, and-in Taylor’s words-“to keep the departments from forgetting they were part of a whole.” And somehow she has managed to maintain some semblance of unity between the three fields-an accomplishment which, according to Taylor, “could not possibly have been done by anyone without her years of experience, energy, tact, and intelligence.”

Mark-Seeking Students

Thus Mrs. Robinson is single-handedly responsible for the unique inter-departmental unity that still exists in the filing cabinets in Holyoke 8.

What she most likes about her job, however, is not the records and statistics, but the students themselves. Describing her year’s work, she cites the spring as the busiest time; “there is a steady crescendo of activity from mid-years on,” she says. And yet it is this period that Mrs. Robinson likes best, when theses are due and pile up in her office, when honors records must be prepared, and when mark-seeking students either line up far out into the Holyoke House hallway or just swarm wildly into Room 8. For it is then, she says, that “I can finally see some results coming out of my work.”

[…]

 

Categories
Exam Questions Gender Harvard Radcliffe Socialism Suggested Reading

Harvard. Exams and reading period assignment for Programs of Social Reconstruction (Socialism). Mason, 1933.

 

In the collection of final examinations in the Harvard archives, I came across both the Radcliffe and Harvard final examinations for the identical course with the title “Programs of Social Reconstruction” taught by Edward S. Mason. This course was one of the undergraduate staples offered earlier by Thomas Nixon Carver that was handed off to Mason starting 1926/27. 

A few things I find interesting from the materials I was able to find for this year (Note: a course reading list for 1928 needs some work, will be posted later):

  • The final examination questions only cover Marxian socialist theory and movements except for the question  on the reading period assignment that is dedicated to contemporary U.S./U.K. reform. It is possible that earlier utopian socialist literature, Henry George, and anarchism were tested in a mid-term examination, or of course the course description had not been changed. The exact same course description was used by Mason for the 1928-29 academic year.
  • From the Harvard President’s report and the final exam (note the superscript “1” which means first term), it would appear that Mason taught the course in the first term of 1932-33 and not during the second term as announced earlier in the Harvard Register. So it does appear that he taught the course one semester to Harvard men and the following semester to Radcliffe women, so having different final examinations makes sense.
  • The Harvard exam as printed can be compared to the Radcliffe exam to see that there is an obvious type:  the first question only be allocated one hour and the remaining four questions would fill the rest of the examination time.

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Radcliffe College Course Announcement

Economics 7c 2hf. Programs of Social Reconstruction

Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Asst. Professor E. S. Mason.

 

Source: Radcliffe College. Courses of Instruction, 1932-33. Page 87.

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Harvard Course Announcement with Course Description

Economics 7c 2hf. Programmes of Social Reconstruction

Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Associate 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 tendencies toward equality under liberalism in this country.

 

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1932-33 in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXIX, No. 32 (June 27, 1932), p. 74.

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Course Enrollment (Harvard)

[Economics] 7c 1hf. Associate Professor Mason.—Programs of Social Reconstruction.

Total 42: 26 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Others.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1932-33, p. 65.

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Reading Period Assignment

Economics 7c

Read one:

1. Norman Thomas, America’s Way Out.
2. Stuart Chase, A New Deal.
3. George Soule, A Planned Society.
4. Sidney and Beatrice Webb, A Constitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1932-1933”.

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1932-33
RADCLIFFE COLLEGE

ECONOMICS 7c
Final Examination

I

Allow about one hour.

  1. Write a critical review of the book you read for the reading period.

II

Answer four of the following questions.

  1. What position does technological change occupy in Marx’s theory of the decline of capitalism?
  2. What importance has economic imperialism for the tactics of a socialist party according to Marxian theorists?
  3. How do you explain the collapse of the Second International in 1914.
  4. Discuss the validity of the labor-hour as a unit of cost in a socialist planned economy.
  5. Can Marx’s theory of value be reconciled with his explanation of the tendency toward an equal rate of profit in all industries? Discuss.

Final. 1933

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, Finals 1933 (HUC 700028, No. 75). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. January—June, 1933.

____________________

1932-33
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 7c1
Final Examination

Allow about one hour.

  1. Write a review of the book you read for the reading period assignment.
  2. “The essence of the Marxian contribution to socialism was and is the discovery of the proletarian path to power.” Discuss.
  3. What does Lenin mean by economic imperialism?
  4. Consider the position in the history of socialist thought of one of the socialist leaders before Marx.
  5. “With his ‘socially necessary labor time’ Marx anticipated the Technocrats by three quarters of a century and proposed a technological measure of cost and value whose use would immediately put an end to all the stupid absurdities of the price system.” Discuss.

Final. 1933.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, Finals 1933 (HUC 700028, No. 75). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. January—June, 1933.

Image Source:  Edward S. Mason in Harvard Album 1934.

Categories
Gender Harvard Michigan

Harvard. Ph.D. Alumna (1951). Michigan Professor Eva Mueller. 1920-2006

 

One probably would have forecast that Eva L. Mueller who was awarded her economics Ph.D. (Radcliffe College) in 1951 with the dissertation “Business Savings and the Business Cycle” would have gone on to become a macroeconomist. Arthur Smithies was the chairman of the Harvard economics department at the time she received her Ph.D. and when asked for his help in finding a job, Eva Mueller remembered him saying “…he couldn’t help me, since economics wasn’t a woman’s field”. She did find a job at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research where she transformed herself into a population and development expert.

I have copy-and-pasted a variety of biographical memoirs and obituaries for this post. One cannot help but be touched by the deep affection and respect of her Michigan colleagues that one can read in and between the lines. Macro’s loss was development economics’ gain.

_____________________

Professor Eva Mueller, 1920-2006

Professor Eva Mueller died on November 19, 2006 at the age of 86.

Dr. Mueller, a U-M Professor Emerita of Economics and Research Scientist at PSC at the time of her death, had a long and fruitful career at Michigan. But she faced many challenges on her path to success.

Fifty-five years ago, when Mueller received a PhD in economics from Harvard University, she asked the chairman of the department for help finding a job. “He said he couldn’t help me, since economics wasn’t a woman’s field,” she recalled. Undeterred, Mueller found a research job at the Institute for Social Research (ISR), where she helped to pioneer the use of surveys to analyze consumer behavior. After six years, she received a tenure-track appointment as an assistant professor in the Department of Economics and in 1964 was named a full professor.

“The struggle isn’t over yet,” she said, accepting the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award Jan. 6, 2001 from the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.

Mueller was nominated for the award, given annually to an individual who has furthered the status of women in economics, by several former students, along with David Lam, professor of economics and director of ISR’s Population Studies Center, and Sherrie Kossoudji, associate professor of social work and adjunct associate professor of economics.

“Eva was really unusual as a woman breaking into the male-dominated field of economics,” noted Lam. “She was a real role model for many of us,” said Kossoudji. “She was also consistent in her support for young female students. And she made us tough. ‘You must do better,’ she told us. ‘You must work harder.’ That was always her approach.”

Born February 26, 1920, Mueller said she was influenced by the Great Depression in making her career choice. “It impressed me that what the world needed was to rescue its economies,” she said. Also, her mother, who had a PhD in chemistry, emphasized education for her children. “She had her mind set that all her children must get PhDs.”

During WWII, she said, when the Harvard Economics Department “was more or less closed down… because all of the faculty was in Washington working on the war effort,” she took a job at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

After the war, Mueller studied under Alvin Hansen, “at the time the number one Keynesian in the U.S.” Upon completing her PhD, she needed a job.

“I wrote some letters to people whose stuff I had read and thought they would be interesting to work for. One was George Katona. He happened to know George Garvey, for whom I had worked at the Federal Reserve, so he wrote to him and asked if I would be a plausible candidate. That’s how I came to Michigan to the Institute for Social Research.

I wanted to go to the economics department, but they would not accept me. Then I was sort of on the waiting list. John Lansing and, I think, even Jim Morgan, were on the waiting list ahead of me. They eventually got to me.”

In 1951 Mueller joined the staff of the Survey Research Center; in 1957 she joined the Department of Economics, where she became a full professor in 1964. Six years later, she became a research scientist at the Population Studies Center. Mueller had been a Professor Emerita since 1988.

During her long and active career at Michigan, Eva Mueller made important contributions in several areas of economic research. For the first two decades, her research emphasized analysis of consumer behavior in the U.S. She later moved on to work related to economic development and economic demography. Her published papers cover a wide range of topics and countries, including the impact of unemployment on consumer confidence in the U.S., the economics of fertility decline in Taiwan, and the time allocation of women and children in Botswana.

In addition to her contributions as a researcher, she played an important role in building the economic demography training program run jointly by the Population Studies Center and the Department of Economics. She served as an advisor to many PhD students in economic demography who have gone on to positions in universities, government, and international agencies.

The Eva Mueller New Directions in Demography and Economics Fund has been established to support research and training in demography and economics, especially projects focusing on low income countries and projects dealing with the socioeconomic position of women and investments in children’s health and human capital.

 

Source: Announcement of the death of Eva L. Mueller by the University of Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

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Select Career Publications

Dr. Mueller studied the interaction of economic and demographic change. One particular focus of her research was the relation between income change and fertility change. Within this context she was interested in the methodology of collecting useful employment statistics, including the methodology of time-use studies.

Journal Articles

Mueller, Eva. 1984. “The Value and Allocation of Time in Rural Botswana.” Journal of Development Economics, 15(1-3): 329-60. Abstract.

Watanabe, B., and Eva Mueller. “A Poverty Profile for Rural Botswana.” World Development, 12, no. 2 (1984): 115-27. Abstract.

Kossoudji, S., and Eva Mueller. “The Economic and Demographic Status of Female-Headed Households in Rural Botswana.” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 31, no. 4 (July 1983): 831-59.

Mueller, Eva. “The Impact of Demographic Factors on Economic Development in Taiwan.” Population and Development Review, 3, no. 1&2 (1977): 1-22. Abstract.

Mueller, Eva, and R. Cohn. “The Relation of Income to Fertility Decisions in Taiwan.” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 25, no. 2 (January 1977): 325-47.

MacDonald, M., and Eva Mueller. “The Measurement of Income in Fertility Surveys in Developing Countries.” Studies in Family Planning, 6, no. 1 (January 1975): 22-28. Abstract.

Mueller, Eva. “Economic Motives for Family Limitation.” Population Studies, 27, no. 3 (November 1972): 383-403. Abstract.

 

Chapters

Mueller, Eva. 1976. “The Economic Value of Children in Peasant Agriculture.” In Population and Development: The Search for Selective Interventions edited by Ronald Gene Ridker. Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins University Press.

 

PSC Reports

Mueller, Eva. “Time Use Studies: Their Potential Contribution to the Policy Dialogue in Developing Countries.” PSC Research Report No. 85-86. 9 1985.

Mueller, Eva, and Kathleen Short. “Income and Wealth as They Affect the Demand for Children in Developing Countries.” PSC Research Report No. 82-35. 9 1981.

Kassoudji, Sherrie, and Eva Mueller. “The Economic and Demographic Status of Female Headed Households in Rural Botswana.” PSC Research Report No. 81-10. 3 1981.

 

Source:  University of Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

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Eva L. Mueller
Memoir
1988

Eva L. Mueller, Professor of Economics and Research Scientist in the Population Studies Center and Center for Research on Economic Development, will retire from active faculty status on December 31, 1988, after a most productive career as a teacher and researcher.

A native of Germany, Professor Mueller became a naturalized citizen in 1944. She received her B.A. degree from Smith College in 1942, her M.A. degree from New York University in 1945, and her Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 1951.

From 1951-68, Professor Mueller was on the staff of the Survey Research Center at the Institute for Social Research. She joined the Department of Economics in 1957 as an assistant professor; she was promoted to associate professor in 1960 and to professor in 1964. Since 1968, she has also been affiliated with the Center for Research in Economic Development and the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, and in 1970, she accepted an additional appointment in the Population Studies Center. From 1974-78, Professor Mueller served as associate dean in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

For several years, Professor Mueller has directed the NIH-sponsored Economic Training Program in Economic Demography, which has attracted many of the brightest students in the Ph.D. program in economics. Several of the department’s most successful female students have been recruited into the program. They were attracted by the setting Professor Mueller created, which was encouraging and supportive, and in which Professor Mueller herself has acted as an extraordinary role model.

Professor Mueller has conducted exciting and important research in the area of fertility and female labor supply in developing countries. Some of her work has been conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development, taking her to India, Thailand, Brazil, and Botswana.

The Regents now salute this distinguished educator and researcher for her dedicated service by naming Eva L. Mueller Professor Emeritus of Economics.

 

Source: Mueller named Emerita Professor at University of Michigan. Faculty History Project.

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 Obituary
Eva L. Mueller
1920 – 2006

Eva Mueller, Professor Emerita of Economics, died November 19, 2006, in Ann Arbor, at the age of eighty-six.

Professor Mueller received her B.A. in 1942 from Smith College with a major in economics. In 1951 she received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and joined the staff of the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center. In 1957 she joined the Department of Economics. She became associated with the Center for Research in Economic Development and the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies in 1968, and joined the Population Studies Center in 1970. Her many roles at the University of Michigan included service as Associate Dean in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Mueller received a number of distinctions during her career. She was a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. She served on the Board of Directors of the Population Association of America and was elected Vice-President of the Association. In 2001 she received the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the American Economics Association. This award is given by the AEA’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession “to an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession, through example, achievements, increasing our understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession, or mentoring of others.”

Mueller made important contributions in several areas of economic research. For the first two decades, her research emphasized analysis of consumer behavior in the United States. She later moved into research related to economic development and economic demography. Her published papers cover a wide range of topics and countries, including the impact of unemployment on consumer confidence in the U.S., the economics of fertility decline in Taiwan, and the time allocation of women and children in Botswana. In addition to her contributions as a researcher, she played an important role in building the economic demography training program run jointly by the Population Studies Center and the Department of Economics. She served as an advisor to many Ph.D. students in economic demography who have gone on to positions in universities, government, and international agencies.

—David Lam, Department of Economics

Source: Obituary for Eva L. Mueller, University of Michigan. Faculty History Project.

Image sources:  Early career portrait of Eva L. Mueller from University of Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research. Later portrait from University of Michigan, Faculty History Project.

Categories
Barnard Columbia Gender

Barnard B.A. and Columbia M.A. Labor economist Louise C. Odencrantz, 1907-1912

 

Rummaging through the digital archives of Barnard College in search of curricular materials, I was paging through scrapbooks of Barnard graduates in search of old syllabi and exams when I happened to stumble upon the five year self-reports of the class of 1907. There I found the story of an empirical labor researcher who after getting her B.A. went on to get an M.A. at Columbia University. While by today’s standards Louise Odencrantz would not technically be regarded as an economist, a glance at her work reveals an empirical labor economist with a focus on women’s labor force experience. I found her story compelling enough to transcribe for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror and then discovered that her papers were donated to the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University.

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Louise C. Odencrantz.
Biography

Louise C. Odencrantz was born on August 22, 1884, in Gothenburg, Nebraska; she received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1907 and her M.A. in Social Sciences from Columbia University in 1908. From 1908 to 1915 she was an investigator in industrial relations for the Russell Sage Foundation. From 1915 through 1919 she supervised both the New York State and the United States Employment Bureaus on the wartime employment of women in industry. As Personnel Director (1919-1924) for Smith & Kaufmann, Inc., a New York City silk ribbon company, she was active in labor negotiations and employee welfare programs. In 1922 she helped organize the International Industrial Relations Association and attended its congresses as United States delegate in 1922, 1925, and 1928. From 1927 to 1936 she was Director of the Employment Center for the Handicapped in New York. For the next three years she helped organize and train new staff for the New York State Division of Placement and Unemployment Insurance, and during World War II was Executive Director of the Social Work Vocational Bureau in New York City. She retired from the business world in 1946, remaining active in many volunteer programs until her death in April 1969.

Odencrantz was the author of Italian Women in Industry (1915) and The Social Worker in Family, Medical and Psychiatric Social Work (1927), and co-author of Industrial Conditions in Springfield, Ill. (1915) and Public Employment Services in the United States (1938).

 

Source: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. Louise C. Odencrantz Papers, 1909-1968.

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Selection of Publications

Louise C. Odencrantz. Irregularity of employment of women factory workers. Survey, 21: 196-210. 1909.

Louise C. Odencrantz and Zenas L. Potter. Industrial Conditions in Springfield, Illinois: A Survey by the Committee on Women’s Work and The Department of Surveys and Exhibits, Russell Sage Foundation. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, June 1916.

Louise C. Odencrantz. Italian Women in Industry: A Study of Conditions in New York City. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1919.

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Odencrantz’s Report in the 1907 Class Book. 1907—1912 (Barnard College)

Louise C. Odencrantz. “Writing one’s memoirs when she has been out of college five years is something like summarizing her life history at the age of five. At least, I feel as if life had just begun. (If indeed you could see how the handsome young Italian fellows roll “dem soulful eyes” at me, you’d think I was still Sweet Sixteen.) During these years you are in a sort of suspended state, not knowing for certain whether you want to stick to your present job or not for the rest of your working days. And in these years you rapidly discover that the work you took in college seems to be of little use, but the courses that you didn’t take would have been so helpful. For instance my head ached with Latin, French, Greek and German when I left college, and Italian is the only language I have ever had to use. And why didn’t I take a course in Statistics instead of Art Appreciation? It would have saved me many a worry. But how could I tell I was never going to teach?

My work has been practically the same since 1907, investigating always, but my employers have changed much. The first year it was for the College Settlements’ Association for which I held a fellowship. That same winter saw me one of two lone women in the Columbia Economics Seminar of some fifty Japs, Americans, Chinese, Russians and other miscellanies. If my mind had not been so full of the unemployment of factory girls, the seminar would have offered a good thesis on the immigrant question. The following year I was investigator for the Alliance Employment Bureau and for the last three years for the Committee on Women’s Work of the Russell Sage Foundation.

No one of my friends has ever been able to discover what I do other than that I go to see all sorts of factories and queer people, to discover what the trade conditions are for women in New York City. It is all most interesting to me as it is to every other investigator. What more absorbing than to enter almost into a working girl’s life, learn her ways of thinking, her ambitions, her sorrows and worries and her points of happiness? It is pathetic to find girls remembering you years after you have been to ply them with an hundred questions, and that your friendly visits have been epochs in their lives. There is Jennie, one of my staunch friends. She is an Italian flower maker, 34 years old, who had to go to work when she was 12 years old. “It must be lovely to know how to read and write”, she said. Now she supports three strong, grown brothers, her mother and herself. Why? Because her mother would not leave these sons tho they abuse and boss her, and Jennie would not leave her mother. To you she would appear only a large, stout, cross-eyed woman, ignorant and coarse, but get acquainted! Do you wonder I am a hot suffragist and am willing to wear out the asphalt on Fifth Avenue on May 4th?

It is indeed a life of motleyed experience, drinking wine almost by the quart, eating super with these people (oh, don’t mind if the macaroni is served from a wash bowl in the middle of the table, or that the glass you drink from has not been washed since the last imbiber), trying to persuade Angelina not to take back her good-for-nothing husband when he gets out in 6 months, or getting a place in the country for Katie, an Irish bookbinder, pale and worn out. She is 22 but tells you that she used to go to dances and weddings when she was young.

For the last months I have been playing statistician and I feel as if my legs were tables, my arms appendices, my body a census volume, covered with dollar marks and percents and diagrams. Even in writing this I can scarcely refrain from inserting a few tables and statistics.

I have no photographs to send of a husband, etc., as I have none. One married shirtwaist maker asked me the other night, “You got a fellow?” and when I replied “No,” she exclaimed, “What’s the matter?””

Louise received an M.A. in 1908 and the results of her investigation for C.S.A. were published in the Survey for May, 1909.

 

Source: Found in the Barnard Digital Collection. Mary Catherine Reardon Scrapbook, 1903-1911: 1907 Class Book. 1907—1912, Edited by Sophie Parsons Woodman, pp. 14-15.

Image Source: Class portrait of Louise Christine Odencrantz, Barnard Class of 1907 in Mortarboard 1907, p. 173.

Categories
Courses Gender Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics Course Offerings, 1894-1900

 

Besides documenting the course offerings available to Radcliffe students at the end of the 19th century, the post today offers us relatively thick course descriptions of what were essentially identical to Harvard economics courses that I have not found for that period. Pre-Radliffe economics course offerings and the first actual Radcliffe courses for  1893-94 have been posted earlier.

____________________________________

1894-95
ECONOMICS.

(Primarily for Undergraduates.)

PROFESSOR CUMMINGS. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. This course gave a general introduction to Economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who had not further time to give to the subject. It was designed also to give argumentative training by the careful discussion of principles and reasoning. The instruction was given by question and discussion. J. S. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy formed the basis of the work. At intervals lectures were given which served to illustrate and supplement the class-room instruction. In connexion with the lectures, a course of reading was prescribed. The work of students was tested from time to time by examinations and other written work. — 13 students.

PROFESSOR ASHLEY. — The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. The object of this course was to give a general view of the economic development of society from the Middle Ages to the present time. It dealt, among others, with the following topics: the manorial system and serfdom; the merchant gilds and mediaeval trade; the craft gilds and mediaeval industry; the commercial supremacy of the Italian and Hanseatic merchants; trade centres, and trade routes; the merchant adventurers and the great trading companies; the agrarian changes of the sixteenth century; domestic industry; the struggle of England with Holland and France for commercial supremacy; the beginning of modern finance; the progress of farming; the great inventions and the factory system. Attention was devoted chiefly to England, but that country was treated as illustrating the broader features of the economic evolution of the whole of western Europe. Arrived at the 17th century, it was shown how English conditions were modified by transference to America. The opportunity was taken, throughout the course, to introduce the students to the use of the original sources. — 6 students.

 

(For Graduates and Undergraduates.)

PROFESSOR ASHLEY. — Aristotle to Ricardo. — Economic Theory. This course traced the development of economic theory from its beginnings to Ricardo. It was treated partly by lectures and partly by the discussion of selections from leading writers. The more important chapters of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, of Malthus’s Essays on Population, and Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, were read by students, and discussed in the class-room; and an attempt was made to show the relation of the “classical economists ” to more recent economic speculation. — 8 students.

PROFESSOR CUMMINGS. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of Modern State, and of its Social Functions. An introductory course in sociology, intended to give a comprehensive view of the structure and development of society in relation to some of the more characteristic ethical and industrial tendencies of the present day. The course began with a theoretical consideration of the relation of the individual to society and to the state, – with a view to pointing out some theoretical misconceptions and practical errors traceable to an illegitimate use of the fundamental analogies and metaphysical formulas found in Comte, Spencer, P. Leroy Beaulieu, Schaeffle, and other writers. The second part followed more in detail the ethical and economic growth of society. Beginning with the development of social instincts manifested in voluntary organization, it considered the genesis and theory of natural rights, the function of legislation, the sociological significance of the status of women and of the family and other institutions, – with a view to tracing the evolution of certain types of society based upon a more or less complete recognition of the social ideas already considered. The last part dealt with certain tendencies of the modern state, discussing especially the province and limits of state activity, with some comparison of the Anglo-Saxon and the continental theory and practice in regard to private initiative and state intervention in relation to public works, industrial development, philanthrophy, education, labor organization, and the like. Each student selected for special investigation some question closely related to the theoretical or practical aspects of the course; and a certain amount of systematic reading was expected. —  7 students.

PROFESSOR ASHLEY. — Economic Seminary. Here four graduate students investigated the present industrial organization of the U. S.; one giving particular attention to the Woollen and Cotton Industries of New England; a second to the Coal and Iron Industries of Pennsylvania; a third to the Petroleum business; and the fourth to the Labor movement, especially around Chicago.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1894-95, pp. 48-49.

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1895-96
ECONOMICS.

(Primarily for Undergraduates.)

1. PROFESSOR CUMMINGS. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. This course gave a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics. It was conducted mainly by questions and discussions, supplemented by lectures. Large parts of Mill’s Principles of Political Economy were read, as well as parts of other general books; while detailed reference was given for the reading on the application and illustration of economic principles. — 20 students.

 

(For Graduates and Undergraduates.)

10. PROFESSOR ASHLEY. — The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. The object of this course was to give a general view of the economic development of society during the Middle Ages. It dealt, among others, with the following topics: the manorial system in its relation to mediaeval agriculture and to serfdom; the merchant gilds and the beginnings of town life and of trade; the craft gild and the gild-system of industry, compared with earlier and later forms: the commercial supremacy of the Hanseatic and Italian merchants; the trade routes of the Middle Ages and of the sixteenth century; the merchant adventurers and the great trading companies; the agrarian changes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the break-up of the mediaeval organization of social classes; the appearance of new manufactures and of domestic industry. Special attention was devoted to England, but that country was treated as illustrating the broader features of the economic evolution of the whole of western Europe. — 6 students.

21. PROFESSOR ASHLEY. — Economic Theory, from Adam Smith to the present time.- Selections from Adam Smith and Ricardo. — 8 students.

22. PROFESSOR MACVANE. — Economic Theory. Modern Writers. — 4 students.

3. PROFESSOR CUMMINGS. — The Principles of Sociology. This course began with a general survey of the structure and development of society; showing the changing elements of which a progressive society is composed, the forces which manifest themselves at different stages in the transition from primitive conditions to complex phases of civilized life, and the structural outlines upon which successive phases of social, political, and industrial organization proceed. Following this, was an examination of the historical aspects which this evolution has actually assumed: Primitive man, elementary forms of association, the various forms of family organization, and the contributions which family, clan and tribe have made to the constitution of more comprehensive, ethnical, and political groups; the functions of the State, the circumstances which determine types of political organization, the corresponding expansion of social consciousness, and the relative importance of military, economic, and ethical ideas at successive stages of civilization. There was careful consideration of the attempts to formulate physical and psychological laws of social growth; the relative importance of natural and of artificial selection in social development; the law of social survival; the dangers which threaten civilization; and the bearing of such general considerations upon the practical problems of vice, crime, poverty, pauperism, and upon mooted methods of social reform. The student was made acquainted with the main schools of sociological thought, and opportunity was given for a critical comparison of earlier phases of sociological theory with more recent contributions in Europe and the United States. Regular and systematic reading was required. Topics were assigned for special investigation in connection with practical or theoretical aspects of the course. — 4 students.

 

(Primarily for Graduates.)

20. PROFESSOR ASHLEY. — Seminary in Economics. One student continued her investigation into mediaeval land tenure, and another began an inquiry into the relations between Adam Smith and Turgot. — 2 students.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1895-96, pp. 46-47.

____________________________________

1896-97
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates: —

1. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS and Dr. JOHN CUMMINGS. — Outlines of Economics. Principles of Political Economy. Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours a week.

15 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 18.

 

For Graduates and Undergraduates: —

11. Professor ASHLEY. — The Modern Economic History of Europe (from1400). 2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 1 Undergraduate, 1 Special student. Total 4.

9. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS and Dr. JOHN CUMMINGS. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. 3 hours a week.

1 Undergraduate, 4 Special students. Total 5.

3. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS. — The Principles of Sociology. Development of the Modern State and of its Social Functions. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 1 Undergraduate, 4 Special students. Total 6.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1896-97, p. 38.

____________________________________

1897-98
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates: —

1. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS and Dr. JOHN CUMMINGS. — Outlines of Economics. Principles of Political Economy. Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 20 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 26.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates: —

11. Professor ASHLEY. — The Modern Economic History of Europe (from1400). 2 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 3 Special students. Total 4.

9. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS and Dr. JOHN CUMMINGS. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 5.

3. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS. — The Principles of Sociology. Development of the Modern State and of its Social Functions. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

6. Dr. CALLENDER. — The Economic History of the United States. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 1 Undergraduate. Total 2.

22. Professor TAUSSIG. — Economic Theory. Half-course. 3 hours a week. 2d half-year.

3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

 

Primarily for Graduates: —

20. Professor ASHLEY. — Seminary in Economics. The Mediaeval History of certain English manors.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1897-98, pp. 38-39.

____________________________________

1898-99
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates: —

1. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS and Dr. JOHN CUMMINGS. — Outlines ofEconomics. Principles of olitical Economy. Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours a week.

16 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 20.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates: —

112. Dr. CUNNINGHAM. — The Industrial Revolution in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 11 Undergraduates, 7 Special students. Total 19.

6. Dr. CALLENDER. — The Economic History of the United States. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 6.

3. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS. — The Principles of Sociology. Development of the Modern State and of its Social Functions. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

9. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS and Dr. JOHN CUMMINGS. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. 3 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 8.

 

Primarily for Graduates: —

20. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS. — Seminary in Economics.

1 Special student. Total 1

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1898-99, pp. 35-36.

 

____________________________________

1899-1900
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates: —

1. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS and Dr. JOHN CUMMINGS. — Outlines of Economics. — Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions and Financial Legislation. 3 hours a week.

27 Undergraduates, 4 Special Students. Total 31.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates: —

11. Professor ASHLEY. — The Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1600). 2 hours a week (and occasionally a third hour).

8 Graduates, 7 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 17.

6. Dr. CALLENDER. — The Economic History of the United States.2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates. Total 7.

3. Asst. Professor CUMMINGS. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State and of its Social Functions. 3 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 6 Special students. Total 8.

 

Primarily for Graduates: —

**15. Professor ASHLEY. — The History and Literature of Economics to the close of the Eighteenth Century. 2 hours a week.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

**20c1. Professor Taussig. The Tariff History of the United States.Thesis. Half-course. 1 hour a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1899-1900, pp. 42-43.

Image Source:  Library in Fay House, 1890s. Schlesinger Library. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University Webpage.

Categories
Barnard Columbia Economists Gender Salaries

Columbia. Pay raise for Barnard lecturer Clara Eliot supported, 1941

 

Columbia economics Ph.D. alumna (1926), Clara Eliot published her dissertation as The Farmer’s Campaign for Credit (New York: D. Appleton, 1927). Looking at the Columbia Department of Economics budget proposal from 1941, I saw a statement of support for a salary increase for Clara Eliot and promotion to the rank of assistant professor at Barnard. A brief annex to the budget introduces Eliot. I have added at the end of the post her 1976 New York Times’ obituary to round out her life story.

Since I was looking at Columbia economists’ salaries, I thought it worth seeing how her actual 1941-42 salary of $2,700 and the proposed assistant professor salary for 1942-43 of $3,600 fit into the structure of salaries paid to men at those ranks. It turns out (see the attached budget lines for lecturers and assistant professors), there was salary parity at both ranks. I have been unable to confirm yet whether Clara Eliot actually got her promotion with that pay raise at Barnard then.

The other woman economist, Eveline M. Burns, and her husband Arthur R. Burns were both quite unhappy with the ceilings to their respective advancement in 1940/41. Their story is worth a future post or two. Today is dedicated to Clara Eliot.

_____________________________________

Women in the Columbia Economics Department Budget Proposal
November 26, 1941

[…]

(2) Last year my colleagues directed me to inform Dr. Eveline M. Burns that they found themselves unable to offer her any ground for hope that she could be granted professorial status and she indicated her unwillingness to continue on the basis of a full-time lecturer at the stipend available (viz., $3,000). Thereupon a temporary arrangement was entered into for part-time service for the current academic year, with the specification that no commitment was implied beyond June, 1942. In this budget letter it is recommended that the connection of Dr. Burns with the Department be terminated at that date. The question of the future of her field of social insurance in the departmental plans is being studied by the Mitchell Committee mentioned above. Moreover, this is a field in which the School of Business has an interest…It is therefore suggested that for the present the sum that has in previous budgets been allocated to Dr. Burns be tentatively reserved pending the formulation of a definite proposal which should be forthcoming within perhaps a fortnight [reduced from $2,500 to $2,300 reserve in final budget].

[…]

Should the Barnard budget, when submitted, include a recommendation that recognition be given Clara Eliot, such a recommendation would be supported by the department to the extent of promotion to an assistant professorship and an increase in salary of $900 (Miss Eliot is now a lecturer in Barnard College at $2, 700).

(See Annex G)

[…]

ANNEX G

Statement concerning the Professional Preparation
and Experience of Clara Eliot

 

A. B. 1917, Reed College (major in sociology)

1917-1918, Instructor in Sociology, Mills College, Calif.

1918-20, Research Assistant to Prof. Irving Fisher, Yale Univ.

1920-23, Assistant in Economics, Barnard College (salary, $1,000)

1923-28, Instructor in Economics, Barnard College
(salary: 1923-25, $2,000; 1925-27, $2,200; 1927-28, $2,400)

1926, Ph.D. in Economics granted by Columbia.

1928-29 On leave without pay, travel and study abroad — in Germany and Austria.

1929-36, Lecturer in Economics, Barnard (part-time) (salary, $1,200)

From April 1st, leave of absence without pay to join the Consumer Purchases Study (on a salary basis of $5,600). Despite urging by Dr. Monroe, Chief of the Economics Division of the Bureau of Home Economics, leave could not be continued in the Fall because of the situation in the Barnard Department, with others on leave or ill)

1936—to date, Lecturer in Economics , Barnard College (full-time)
(salary: 1936-37, $2,400; 1937-40, $2,400; 1940-41, $2,700)

 

Projected research:

  1. An analysis of family expenditure data (scale of urgency, “income elasticity of demand”, etc.).
  2. Compiling of materials for use in connection with an introductory course in statistics, non-mathematical, stressing the possibilities and limitations of the quantitative method, stating hypotheses in quantitative terms, illustrating problems of interpretation, relating statistics to logic.

 

Source: Department of economics budget proposal for 1942-43 (dated November 26, 1941) submitted to Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler by Robert M. Haig, Chairman, Department of Economics (pp. 2, 6 and Appendix G). Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 386, Folder “Haig, Robert Murray 7/1941—6/1942”.

_____________________________________

ANNEX A

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
The [Revised] Budget as Adopted for 1941-1942
Compared with the Budget as Proposed for 1941-1942.
December 30

 

Office or Item

 Incumbent 1941-1942
Appropriations

1942-43
Proposals
Assistant Professor Arthur R. Burns

$4,500

$5,0001
Assistant Professor Robert L. Carey

$3,600

$3,600
Assistant Professor Boris M. Stanfield

$3,600

$3,600
Assistant Professor Joseph Dorfman

$3,600

$3,600

1Promotion to rank of associate professor recommended.

 

Office or Item

 Incumbent 1941-1942
Appropriations

1942-43
Proposals
Lecturer Carl T. Schmidt

$3,000

$3,000
Lecturer (Winter Session) Robert Valeur

($1,500)

—
Lecturer Eveline M. Burns

$2,500

—1
Lecturer Louis M. Hacker

$3,000

$3,6002
Lecturer Michael T. Florinsky

$2,700

$3,000
Lecturer Abraham Wald

$3,000

$3,6004

1Not to be reappointed.
2Promotion to rank of assistant professor recommended.
3 Promotion to rank of assistant professor recommended.

 

Source: Department of economics revised budget proposal for 1942-43 (dated December 30, 1941) submitted to Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler by Robert M. Haig, Chairman, Department of Economics. Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 386, Folder “Haig, Robert Murray 7/1941—6/1942”.

 

_____________________________________

Clara Eliot (1896-1976)

Prof. Clara Eliot, who taught economics and statistics at Barnard College, Columbia University, for almost 40 years until her retirement in 1961, died Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif. She was 80 years old.

Dr. Eliot, who used her maiden name professionally, was the wife of Dr. Robert Bruce Raup, professor emeritus of philosophy of education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Dr. Eliot contributed to research in consumer economics. She was the author of “The Farmer’s Campaign for Credit,” a study of basic issues in credit theory as they were involved in United States agricultural policies early in this century.

She graduated from Reed College in 1917 and received her doctorate from Columbia in 1926. After teaching at Mills College in 1917-18 she was economics secretary to Prof. Irving Fisher at Yale University from 1918 to 1920.

Surviving, besides her husband, are a son, Robert B. Raup Jr.; three daughters, Joan R. Rosenblatt, Ruth R. Johnson and Charlotte R. Cremin; two brothers, a sister and eight grandchildren.

Source:  New York Times, January 19, 1976 (page 32).

Image Source: Barnard College, Mortarboard 1950.