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On April 10, 1945, the chairman of the University of Chicago’s economics department, Professor Simeon E. Leland, submitted a 77 page (!) memorandum to President Robert M. Hutchins entitled “Postwar Plans of the Department of Economics–A Wide Variety of Observations and Suggestions All Intended To Be Helpful in Improving the State of the University”.
In his cover letter Leland wrote “…in the preparation of the memorandum, I learned much that was new about the past history of the Department. Some of this, incorporated in the memorandum, looks like filler stuck in, but I thought it ought to be included for historical reasons and to furnish some background for a few of the suggestions.”
In a recent post I provided a list of visiting professors who taught economics at the University of Chicago up through 1944 (excluding those visitors who were to receive permanent appointments). For this post I have selected a few supporting tables from the memo providing data on the age distribution and educational backgrounds of the economics faculty along with time series on enrollments and registrations. A later post provides talent-scouting lists for possible permanent, visiting and joint appointments.
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In making his plea for administration support for new additional hires, Chairman Leland began by noting that in 1944 Professor Chester Wright “was transferred to the emeritus status”. Negotiations with Professor H. A. Innis of the University of Toronto to succeed Wright were taking place but Leland did not appear to be overly confident, having written “If he [Innis] does not [accept a Chicago offer], due to the scarcity of men in Economic History, the post occupied by Professor Wright will be very difficult to fill.”
Looking ahead over the six years before the retirements of Knight and Kyrk were scheduled, Leland hoped to get support to begin the process of hiring younger faculty (only three of the staff were under 40 years of age as of the end of 1944), so that (1) gaps in the existing program would not occur and (2) promising new fields could be covered.
Furthermore Leland argued “…the Department does not seem to have enough young men as instructors and assistant professors. As a result, the chores of running a department, including sharing in administration and advising students, fall heavily on the older, higher-salaried men on the staff.”
Ages of Staff Members
(as of December 31, 1944)
|
Name |
Rank | Age |
Came to University of Chicago |
| Bloch, Henry Simon |
Instructor |
29 |
1939 |
| Douglas, Paul Howard |
Professor* |
52 |
1920 |
| Harbison, Frederick Harris |
Assistant Professor |
33 |
1940 |
| Knight, Frank Hyneman |
Professor |
59 |
1917-19; 1927 |
| Kyrk, Hazel |
Professor; also Home Economics |
59 |
1925 |
| Lange, Oscar |
Professor |
40 |
1938 |
| Leland, Simeon Elbridge |
Professor; also Political Science |
47 |
1928 |
| Lewis, Harold Gregg |
Instructor* |
30 |
1939 |
| Marschak, Jacob |
Professor |
46 |
1943 |
| Mints, Lloyd Wynn |
Associate Professor |
56 |
1919 |
| Nef, John Ulric |
Professor; also History |
45 |
1929 |
| Schultz, Theodore William |
Professor |
42 |
1943 |
| Simons, Henry Calvert |
Associate Professor |
45 |
1927 |
| Viner, Jacob |
Professor |
52 |
1916 |
This list does not include part-time instructors (3), research associates (3), lecturers, or members of the college staff (3).
*On leave for military service
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To reassure the President that the department was not in danger of “inbreeding” the following table was included in the memo. Leland’s first comment was that the educational backgrounds of the economics faculty included some 18 U.S. and 13 foreign institutions. While noting a significant concentration of Harvard and/or Chicago training of the economics faculty, only five of the fourteen actually had advanced training at Chicago and of those just two held Ph.D.’s from Chicago as of 1945 (Kyrk and Leland).
Educational Institutions Attended by Members of the Department of Economics
| Name and Rank | Degrees or Advanced Training | Other Work | ||
| A.B. | A.M. | Ph.D. | ||
| H. S. Bloch (Instructor) |
Nancy* | Nancy | Strasbourg* Paris’ Nancy (Dr. en Droit) |
Acad. Int’l. Law The Hague |
| P. H. Douglas (Professor) |
Bowdoin | Columbia | Columbia | Harvard |
| F. H. Harbison (Asst. Prof.) |
Princeton | Princeton | Princeton | |
| F. H. Knight (Professor) |
Tennesee(B.S.) Milligan (Ph.B.) |
Tennessee | Cornell University | American University, Harriman, Tennessee |
| H. Kyrk (Professor) |
Ohio Wesleyan* Chicago (Ph.B.) |
Chicago | ||
| O. Lange (Professor) |
Poznan* | Cracow (LL.M.) | Cracow (LL.D.) | London |
| S. E. Leland (Professor) |
De Pauw | Kentucky | Chicago | Harvard Law School |
| H. G. Lewis (Instructor) |
Chicago | Chicago* | Chicago* | |
| J. Marschak (Professor) |
Oxford | Heidelberg | Technolog. Institut, Kiev Berlin |
|
| L. W. Mints (Assoc. Prof.) |
Colorado | Colorado | Chicago* | |
| J. U. Nef (Professor) |
Harvard (B.S.) | Paris* London* Montpellier* |
Brookings | |
| T. W. Schultz (Professor) |
South Dakota State | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | |
| H. C. Simons (Assoc. Prof.) |
Michigan | Michigan* | Iowa* Chicago* Columbia* Berlin* |
|
| J. Viner (Professor) |
McGill | Harvard | Harvard | |
*Work taken at this level; no degree conferred.
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Two time series were included in Leland’s memo to provide evidence for an upward trend in the demand for economics courses: enrollments and course registrations.
It is difficult to forecast the postwar enrollment in Economics. Since 1928 there has been a steady upward trend in the number of students majoring in the Department, as is shown in the following table. Even the depression only slightly retarded the growth of our student body. Part of the increase was due to the emphasis given our subject matter by the events of the Thirties. Another factor responsible for the gain in students was the strength of the faculty—its reputation in the United States and abroad.
Total Number of Different Graduate Students Majoring in the Department of Economics Who Have Been in Residence a Part or All of the Years Indicated Below
|
Years |
Number of Students |
| 1943-44 |
57 |
|
1942-43 |
77 |
|
1941-42 |
133 |
| 1940-41 |
162 |
|
1939-40 |
156 |
| 1938-39 |
144 |
|
1937-38 |
133 |
| 1936-37 |
113 |
|
1935-36 |
111 |
| 1934-35 |
98 |
|
1933-34 |
114 |
| 1932-33 |
111 |
|
1931-32 |
125 |
| 1930-31 |
113 |
|
1929-30 |
118 |
| 1928-29 |
101 |
The trend of registrations in the Department for “200- and 300-level courses” (roughly corresponding to former undergraduate and graduate registrations) is shown in the following table. Data are shown only since 1931-32 inasmuch as statistics prior to that date included introductory courses for College freshmen and sophomores. This inflates all statistics prior to 1931 and destroys their validity for comparative purposes. The peak of enrollment in Economics came in 1938-39. It is believed that comparable enrollments will reappear soon after the cessation of hostilities.
Registration in Courses Offered by the Department of Economics
| Years |
Quarters |
||||
| Summer | Autumn | Winter |
Spring |
||
|
First Term |
Second Term |
||||
|
1944-45 |
74 | ||||
| 1943-44 | 62 | 202 | 138 |
185 |
|
|
1942-43 |
252 | 237 | 249 | 207 | 153 |
| 1941-42 | 214 | 206 | 329 | 396 |
406 |
|
1940-41 |
264 | 225 | 455 | 529 | 516 |
| 1939-40 | 262 | 224 | 431 | 589 |
583 |
|
1938-39 |
277 | 244 | 560 | 516 | 689 |
| 1937-38 | 249 | 214 | 477 | 447 |
592 |
|
1936-37 |
243 | 206 | 407 | 438 | 457 |
| 1935-36 | 245 | 218 | 367 | 503 |
534 |
|
1934-35 |
239 | 206 | 325 | 460 | 398 |
| 1933-34 | 183 | 174 | 361 | 371 |
396 |
|
1932-33 |
278 | 244 | 337 | 427 | 244 |
| 1931-32 | 233 | 224 | 443 | 411 |
339 |
Source: University of Chicago Library, Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration Records. Box 73, Folder “Economics Dept., “Post-War Plans” Simeon E. Leland, 1945″.