Memorial minutes of the Columbia University Faculty of Political Science for both Henry L. Moore and Henry R. Seager have been transcribed earlier here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. This post takes us back to the start of their Columbia University careers, namely the 1902-03 academic year. Professor Richmond Mayo-Smith’s suicide in November 1901 left a significant gap in Columbia’s economics faculty which was then closed with the appointment of Henry L. Moore.
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Columbia Announcement of the appointments of Henry L. Moore (Prof.) and Henry R. Seager (Adjunct Prof.), 1902
It seems fitting to introduce to the acquaintance of the readers of the QUARTERLY those who come from other universities to occupy professors’ chairs in our own. Professors Moore and Seager enter the service of the University in the School of Political Science…
Professor Henry L. Moore, who comes to us from Smith College, is thirty-two years of age; a native of Maryland and a graduate of Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. His special training in economics was received at the Johns Hopkins University, from which he received, in 1896, the degree of Ph.D., and in Vienna, where he was a pupil of Professor Karl [sic, “Carl”] Menger. He was appointed to an instructorship in economics in the Johns Hopkins University in 1896, and to a professorship in Smith College in 1897, though he continued after this, for a time, to give, in the Johns Hopkins University, lectures which treated of the application of mathematical principles to economic problems.
His chief published work is an essay on Von Thünen’s “Theory of Natural Wages,” which, beside throwing new light on a scientific problem, offers to the English reading student the best introduction to the study of the works of Von Thünen and of the extensive literature which has grown up about them.
Henry R. Seager, the new adjunct-professor of political economy, was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1890. During the next four years he studied at Johns Hopkins, Halle, Berlin, Vienna and the University of Pennsylvania, receiving the degree of Ph.D. from the last-named institution in 1894. From that date he was on the teaching force of the University of Pennsylvania, holding successively the titles of instructor and assistant professor of economics, till he accepted the call to Columbia. Professor Seager was for three years Secretary of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and in 1900 he became editor-in-chief of the Annals, the magazine published by the Academy. His publications in periodicals have been numerous, and his more important works include “The Finances of Pennsylvania,” “The Teaching of Economics at Berlin and Vienna,” [JPE, March 1893] “The Fallacy of Saving,” and “The Teaching of Economics and Economic History.”
Source: Columbia University Quarterly, v. 4, June 1902, pp. 293-94.
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Announcement of the Columbia appointments of Henry R. Seager (Adjunct Prof.) and Alvin Saunders Johnson (Reader), 1902
Columbia University.- Doctor Henry R. Seager has resigned his position of Assistant Professor of Political Economy at the University of Pennsylvania, and has accepted the position of Adjunct Professor of Political Economy in Columbia University. His duties in Columbia University will begin with the opening of the coming academic year.
Mr. Seager has published the following papers:
“German Universities and German Student Life.” The Inlander, June, 1892.
“Economics at Berlin and Vienna.” Journal of Political Economy, March, 1893.
“Philippovich’s Grundriss der Politischen-Oekonomie.” ANNALS, July, 1893.
“Pennsylvania Tax Conference.” Ibid., March, 1894.
“Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association.” Ibid., March, 1895.
“Malloch’s Labour and the Popular Welfare, and Dyer’s The Evolution of Industry.” The Citizen, June, 1895.
“Cunningham’s Outlines of English Industrial History.” ANNALS, January, 1896.
“Bruce’s Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century.” Ibid., 1896.
“The Fallacy of Saving.” Supplement to Economic Studies, American Economic Association, April, 1896.
“Smart’s Studies in Economics.” The Citizen, August, 1896.
“Stray Impressions of Oxford.” The Pennsylvanian, February, 1897.
“Higgs’ The Physiocrats.” ANNALS, July, 1897.
“Gibbins’ Industry in England.” Ibid., September, 1897.
“Bullock’s Introduction to the Study of Economics.” Ibid., November, 1897.
“The Consumers’ League.” Bulletin of American Academy, April, 1898.
“George’s Political Economy.” Political Science Quarterly, December, 1898.
“Devine’s Economics.” ANNALS, March, 1899.
“Hull’s The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty.” Ibid., May, 1900.
“Smart’s The Distribution of Income.” Ibid., July, 1900.
“Clark’s The Distribution of Wealth: A Theory of Wages, Interest and Profits.” Ibid., September, 1900.
Editorial. Ibid., January, 1901.
“Meeting of American Economic Association.” Ibid., March1901.
“Professor Patten’s Theory of Prosperity.” Ibid., March, 1902.
Editorial. Ibid.
“Meeting of American Economic Association.” Ibid.
“Crowell’s The Distribution and Marketing of Farm Products.” Report of United States Industrial Commission, Vol. VI, 1901. Political Science Quarterly, March, 1902.
Mr. Alvin Saunders Johnson, at present Reader in Economics at Bryn Mawr College, Pa., has been appointed Tutor in Economics at Columbia University, New York City. His work in Columbia will begin at the opening of the coming academic year.
Source: Personal Notes, Annals of the American Academy, Vol. 19 (May, 1902), pp. 103-104.
Image Sources: Henry Moore (left) Smith College, Classbook of 1902, p. 11. and Henry Seager (right) Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.