Harvard. Economic History of the U.S., Gay and Klein, 1911.

During the academic year 1910-11 at Harvard, a pair of economic history courses were offered by Professor Edwin Francis Gay, assisted by a history department instructor, Julius Klein, who would go on to complete his Ph.D. in 1915. The first term course, Economics 6a, was dedicated to European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. The second term course, Economics 6b covered U.S. Economic and Financial History from colonial times up to 1900. Below we have the enrollment figures for Economics 6b and its reading list. One can see by the reliance on a textbook and relatively few standard sources that U.S. economic history was not Gay’s primary research interest. Biographical information on both Edwin F. Gay and Julius Klein can be found in the previous posting.

________________________

Welcome to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can even subscribe to this blog below. There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

____________________________

[Enrollment: Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States.]

6b ²hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. Klein.—Economic and Financial History of the United States.

13 Graduates, 19 Seniors, 52 Juniors, 22 Sophomores, 7 Freshmen, 6 Other:
Total 119.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1910-11, p. 49.

____________________________

ECONOMICS 6b (1911)
[Economic and Financial History of the United States]

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

1. Colonial Period

Callender*, Economic History of the United States, pp. 6-63, 85-121.

Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q. J. E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86, 124-139.

1776-1860

2. Commerce, Manufactures, and Tariff

Taussig*, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154.

Hamilton*, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Callender, Economic History, pp. 432-563.

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Commons, Documentary History of American Industrial Society, Vol. IV, pp. 15-89; Vol. VI, pp. 311-353.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

3. Internal Improvements

Callender*, Economic History, pp. 271-275, 345-404.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Gephart, Transportation and Industrial Development in the Middle West, pp. 43-129.

Chevalier, Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Phillips, History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, pp. 46-131.

Bishop, State Works of Pennsylvania, pp. 150-261.

Gallatin, Plan of International Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

4. Agriculture and Land Policy.—Westward Movement

Callender*, Economic History, pp. 597-692.

Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257; printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions in the North during the Civil War, pp. 1-23.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Hibbard, History of Agriculture in Dane County, Wisconsin, pp. 86-90, 105-133.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci. and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

5. The South and Slavery

Callender*, Economic History, pp. 738-819.

Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hart, The Southern South, pp. 218-277.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-119.

Commons, Documentary History of American Industrial Society, Vol. I, pp. 309-375.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

Ballagh, Land System of the South. Publications of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1897, pp. 101-129.

6. Finance, Banking, and Currency

Dewey*, Financial History of the United States, pp. 34-59, 76-117, 224-246, 252-262.

Catterall*, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37, 64-76.

Kinley, History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Kinley, The Independent Treasury of the United States (U. S. Monet. Comm. Rept.), pp. 7-208.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

1860-1900

7. Finance, Banking, and Currency

Mitchell*, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43.

Noyes*, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-48, 234-256 (73-233).

Sprague*, History of Crises under the National Banking System, pp. 43-108.

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

8. Transportation

Hadley*, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

Johnson*, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

Vrooman, American Railway Problems, pp. 10-45, 218-264.

9. Commerce and Shipping

Meeker*, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J.Pol.Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 553-575.

10. Agriculture and Opening of the West

Industrial Commission*, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

Noyes*, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 257-283.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Quaintance, Influence of Farm Machinery, pp. 1-103.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, pp. 193-213.

Wright, Wool Growing and the Tariff, pp. 308-273.

11. Industrial Expansion

Noyes*, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 114-152, 182-233.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

Sparks, National Development, pp. 37-52.

12. The Tariff

Taussig*, Tariff History, pp. 155-229, 321-360.

Taussig*, Tariff Act of 1909, Q.J.E., Vol. XXIV, pp. 1-38, also in Tariff History (ed. 1910), pp. 360-408.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol VIII, pp. 1-39.

Tausssig, Sugar, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CI, pp. 334-344 (Mar. 1908).

Taussig, Tariff and Tariff Commission, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CVI, pp. 721-729 (Dec. 1910).

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Wright, Wool Growing and the Tariff, pp. 274-328.

Robinson, History of the Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-437.

13. Industrial Concentration

Willoughby*, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

Noyes*, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 284-354.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

14. The Labor Problem

Industrial Commission*, Vol. XIX, pp. 724-746, 793-833.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 502-547.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept., 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept., 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Commons, Documentary History of American Industrial Society, Vol. IX, pp. 55-117.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

15. Population, Immigration, and the Race Question

United States Census Bulletin*, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

Industrial Commission*, Vol. XV, pp. xix-lxiv.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 33-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1910-1911.”