Category: Teaching

 

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

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

__________________

Taussig’s Cover Letter

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

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

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 22, 1911.

Dear Mr. Blake:

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

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

Mr. J. A. L. Blake

__________________

Frank W. Taussig and Edmund Ezra Day’s Courses

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

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

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

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

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

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

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Memorandum regarding Economics 1

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

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

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Courses of Thomas Nixon Carver

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

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

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

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

Information about the teaching assistant actually named by Carver

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

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

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

Additional biographical information.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

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

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Taussig:

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

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

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

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

Professor Taussig.

__________________

William Morse Cole’s Accounting Course

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

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

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

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

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 23, 1911

Dear Professor Taussig

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

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

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

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

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

Sincerely yours
[signed]
William Morse Cole

__________________

Economic history courses of Edwin F. Gay

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

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

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

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Office of the Dean

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 4, 1911

Dear Taussig:

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

I think this answer the points raised by your question.

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

Professor F. W. Taussig

__________________

Public Finance Course of Charles Bullock

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

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

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

Possible Harvard Undergraduate as a teaching assistant

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

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

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

Source: Harvard Crimson, May 17, 1911.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

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

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 7, 1911

My dear Taussig:

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

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

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

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

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

Professor Taussig

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Labor and Transportation Courses taught by W. Z. Ripley

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whitnack’s death in 1919

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

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

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

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

Cambridge, Massachusetts
24 February 1911.

Dear Professor Taussig,–

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

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

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

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

The correction of weekly papers is done by the assistant.

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

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

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Source for the memoranda: 

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

Source for course listings information:

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

Source for ex post staffing of courses:

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

Source for Harvard economics Ph.D.’s:

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

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