Harvard. Economics Ph.D. alumnus, Daniel Houston Buchanan. 1931

 

Harvard economics Ph.D. (1931), Daniel Houston Buchanan (1883-1959) taught economics in Japan for eleven years after getting his Harvard A.M. before returning to Harvard to complete his doctorate. Over the years he also taught at Ohio State University, Harvard College, George Washington University, Fisk University, University of North Carolina and Lambuth College. The University of North Carolina (1935-54) constituted his longest academic tour of duty by far

Incidentally, Professor Daniel Buchanan was not mentioned at all in “One Hundred Years of Economics at Carolina” (1901-2001). 

This post has two parts, beginning with Buchanan’s Harvard transcript and followed by the timeline of his life. 

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Fun fact (for me): my old professor of American economic history, Bill Parker (then still a young economic historian), was hired as the successor to Daniel Houston at the University of North Carolina.

Dr. William Nelson Parker appointed as associate professor of economics in the University of North Carolina to replace Dr. Daniel H. Buchanan, professor of economics emeritus. Parker taught at Williams College for the last five years.
The Daily Tar Heel (October 25, 1956), p. 3.

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THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Record of
Daniel Houston Buchanan

Years: 1911-12, 1928-29, 1929-30 (2 hf)

[Previous] Degrees received.

Litt.B. Cooper Coll. 1909
A.B. Colorado Coll. 1911
S.D. Keiogijuku Univ., Japan, 1928.

First Registration: 28 Sept. 1911

1911-12	Grades
First Year	Course	Half-Course
Economics 2	B
Economics 6a1		B
Economics 6b2		B+
Economics 9a1		B
Economics 9b2		B-
Social Ethics 6b2		B+
Economics 291		B
Summer of 1925
Economics S7a		A
Economics S9b		A
Sept. 1911
Elementary French	C-
Division: History, Government, & Economics
Scholarship, Fellowship: University
Assistantship:
Austin Teaching Fellowship:
Instructorship:
Proctorship:
Degree attained at close of year: A.M.

 

1928-29	Grades
Second Year	Course	Half-Course
Economics 20 (res)	A
Economics 38	A-
Division:
Scholarship, Fellowship:
Assistantship:
Austin Teaching Fellowship:
Instructorship: + Tut. in H.G.&E. $1650
Proctorship:
Degree attained at close of year:

 

1929-30 (2hf)	Grades
Third Year	Course	Half-Course
History 182		exc.(A)
Economics 202 (E.F.G.)		A
Division:
Scholarship, Fellowship:
Assistantship:
Austin Teaching Fellowship:
Instructorship:
Proctorship:
Degree attained at close of year:

 

1930-31
Fourth Year
Degree attained at close of year:  Ph.D. June 1931

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Record Cards of Students, 1895-1930, Belding—Burton (UAV 161.2722.5). File I, Box 2, Record Card of Daniel Houston Buchanan.

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Course Names and Instructors

1911-12

Economics 2. Economic Theory. Professor Taussig.

Economics 6a¹. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. Klein.

Economics 6b². Economic and Financial History of the United States. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. Klein.

Economics 9a¹. Problems of Labor. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Hess.

Economics 9b². Economics of Corporations. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. Dewing.

Social Ethics 6b². Social Amelioration in Europe. Dr. Foerster.

Economics 29¹. Socialism and the Social Movement in Europe. Dr. Rappard.

1925 (Summer)

Economics S7a. Theories of Value and Distribution. Asst. Prof. John H. Williams.

Economics S9b. International Trade and Tariff Policies. [A. H. Cole or Asst. Prof. John H. Williams].

1928-29

Economics 20. (Research Seminar)

Economics 38. The Principles of Money and Banking. Mr. R. G. Hawtrey

1929-30 (2 hf)

History 18². History of the Far East since 1793. Professor Hung (Yenching University)

Economics 20². (E.F.G.) [(?) sic]

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1911-12, 1924-25, 1928-29, and 1929-30.

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Daniel Houston Buchanan
Timeline of his life and career

1883. Born in Beloit, Kansas, November 29.

Father Thomas Ramsey Buchanan (1849-1933)
Mother: Alda Jane Leslie Buchanan (1855-1928)

1900. U.S. Census. Working on the family farm in Jackson Township, Madison County, Iowa.

1909. Litt.B. (Cooper Coll.)

Cooper College Commencement Announcement for June 6, 1909. Graduating class of sixteen.
Sterling Kansas Bulletin (June 4, 1909), p. 1.

1910. U.S. Census. Teaching in a public school in Valley Brook township, Lyndon City, Kansas.

1911. A.B. Colorado College.

1912. A.M. Harvard University.

1913. Marriage announcement for Daniel Houston Buchanan and Miss Eula Anderson Spencer, at the home of Dr. F. M. Spencer, on Thursday, August 21. Dr. Spencer will perform the marriage ceremony. Dr. Spencer was the president of Cooper College.
The Sterling Kansas Bulletin (August 14, 1913), p. 5.

1914. Taussig’s recommendation turns out to be Buchanan’s ticket to Tokyo.

WILL TEACH IN JAPAN

D. H. Buchanan has accepted the offer as an instructor in a university at Tokyo, Japan.

A vacancy in the chair of economics resulted in an appeal to Harvard for someone to be sent from their school to fill the vacancy. On the recommendation of Prof. Taussig, Mr. Buchanan has secured the place and will commence work the first of April. For the past two years Mr. Buchanan has been teaching geometry in the Wichita high school and will close his work there soon. He is a graduate of Cooper college, going later to Harvard, where he secured his Master’s degree.

His wife was formerly Miss Eula Spencer of this city.

The cablegram announcing he had been chosen to fill the vacancy was received at Wichita Friday morning. The position is at the same university in which Robert Ray of Sterling, is a teacher.

Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan expect to start abroad the first week in March.

The Bulletin joins in congratulations, and wishes the young people much success and happiness in the new surroundings.

The Sterling Kansas Bulletin (Feb. 19, 1914), p. 1.

1914-1925. Buchanan first went to Japan in 1914 to join the economics staff of Keio University. He lived there eleven years.

1915. “A Modification of the Ricardian Theory of Rent. A Criticism” published in Mita Gakkai, Tokyo (May, 1915).  In his March 1921 paper Buchanan begins with the footnote “The paper offered here is sufficient proof that [the author] now considers the position taken at that time as inadequate.”

Keio Journal of Economics, Vol. 9, No. 5 (May 1915),
pp. 506(30)-513(37). Link to download.

1918. Sept. 12. WWI Draft Registration of Daniel Houston Buchanan gives address as: 5 Enokigaka, Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan. Occupation: Professor of economics, Keiogijuku University in Mita, Shiba, Tokyo.

1919. Daniel Houston Buchanan arrived on the S.S. Persia Maru from Yokohama, Japan (June 27, 1919) to San Francisco (July 16, 1919). Returned from the U.S. to Japan from San Francisco on the Siberia Maru, Sept. 5, 1919.

1921. “Economic Rent and the Marginal Expenses of Production” published in Mita Gakkai, Tokyo (March, 1921).

Keio Journal of Economics, Vol. 15, No. 3 (March 1921),
pp. 402(92)-432(122). Link to download.

1921. “Professor Alfred Marshall on the Relation between Economic Rent and the Marginal Expenses of Production”published in Mita Gakkai, Tokyo (May, 1921).

Keio Journal of Economics, Vol. 15, No. 5 (May 1921), pp. 661(69)-690(98). Link to download.

1922. “The Influence of So-called Marginal Rent upon the Marginal Expenses of Production”, Mita Gakkai, Tokyo (March, 1922).

Keio Journal of Economics, Vol. 16, No. 3 (March 1922), pp. 291(1)-308(18). Link to download.

1923. Buchanan, Daniel H. “The Rural Economy of Japan.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 37, no. 4 (August 1923), pp. 545–78.
JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1884052

1925. Arrives in Seattle, Washington (March 24, 1925) on S.S. Arizona Maru from Yokohama, Japan (March 10, 1925)

1925-26. Assistant professor of economics at the Ohio State University.

1926. “Became connected with the Harvard Bureau of International Research” according to a note in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin.

1927. Research trip to study industrialization in India.

A.M. ’12—Daniel H. Buchanan, A.B. (Colorado Coll.) ’11, who is now in Japan in the interests of the Harvard Bureau of International Research, has received the degree of Keizai Gaku Hakushi, or Doctor of Science in Economics, from Keio University, Tokyo. He is the first foreigner to receive this distinction, and there are less than a dozen Japanese who have received a similar degree. The degree is awarded for outstanding written contributions in the field of economics, and has been awarded to Buchanan for his critical history of the doctrine of rent and the marginal expenses of production, covering the period from Adam Smith, 1776, to the present time, together with a study of Japanese rural economy, published a few years ago in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Buchanan first went to Japan in 1914 to join the economics staff of Keio University. He remained there eleven years, returning to the United States in 1925 to become a member of the Faculty of Ohio State University. He became connected with the Harvard Bureau of International Research in 1926, spent the past year in India in economic research with special emphasis on industrialization, and returned to Japan last January.

Source: Harvard Alumni Bulletin (June 14, 1928), p. 1080.

1928. D.Sc. (Economics) Keiogijuku (Japan).

1928-30. Research associate of Prof. Edwin F. Gay at Harvard

1929. Buchanan, Daniel H. “Historical Approach to Rent and Price Theory,” Economica, no. 26 (June 1929), pp. 123–55.
JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2548199

1930. U.S. Census gives occupation as College Professor. Address  in Cambridge, Massachusetts (192 Larch Road).

1930-31. Instructor for Principles of Economics at Harvard.

1931. Ph.D. (Harvard University).

Daniel Houston Buchanan, Litt.B. (Cooper Coll.) 1909, A.B. (Colorado Coll.) 1911, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1912, S.D. (Keiogijuku Univ., Japan) 1928. Subject, Economics. Special Field, Economic History since 1750. Thesis, “Chapters on the Development of Modern Industry in India.” Associate Professor of Economics, George Washington University.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1930-31, p. 114.

1931-34. Associate Professor (1931 President of Harvard report) George Washington University.

1932. Evening Star (February 10, 1932), p. 23. Meeting of Delta Phi Epsilon, foreign service fraternity at George Washington. Included guest: Dr. Daniel H. Buchanan, professor of economic thought at George Washington.

1934. Buchanan, Daniel H. The Development of Capitalist Enterprise in India. New York: Macmillan.

1934-35. Chairman of the department of economics, Fisk University.

1935. Joins the faculty at North Carolina.

“Dr. D. H. Buchanan, who is to be professor of economic history, was graduated at Colorado College in 1911 and took his M.A., at Harvard in 1912 and his Ph.D. there in 1931. He taught at Keiogijukee University in Tokyo from 1914 to 1925, was assistant professor at Ohio State in 1925-26, was research associate of Prof. Edwin F. Gay at Harvard in 1928-30 and instructor there in 1931. He taught at George Washington University from 1931-34 and was professor of economics and chairman of the departments (sic) at Fisk University last year.
The News and Observer (August 4, 1935), p. 3.

1937. AP report of his son, Daniel H. Buchanan, Jr., suffering a severe head injury from a thrown hammer in practice at a Colorado College v. Greeley State track meet. Buchanan, Jr. ran the half-mile. Daniel H. Buchanan Jr. survived to live to the age of 82.

1944. The Charlotte Observer (September 22, 1944), p. 7. UNC professor of economics Dr. Daniel H. Buchanan given extension of his leave of absence (presumably war-related)

1946. The News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina (January 27, 1946), p. 22. Announcement: February 25, Dr. Daniel H. Buchanan, professor of Economics at UNC, will discuss “Far Eastern Problems.” Dr. Buchanan has just returned from the Far East where he served as an advisor of the U.S. State Department.

1951. Buchanan, Daniel H. “Japan Versus ‘Asia.’” The American Economic Review, vol. 41, no. 2, 1951, pp. 359–66.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1910811

1954. One of five faculty retirements announced, Daniel H. Buchanan, Professor, School of Business Administration.
The News and Observer (June 2, 1954), p. 6.

1954. Last academic stop. Lambuth College.

Dr. Daniel H. Buchanan, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, until recently a member of the faculty of the University of N.C., is joining the faculty of Lambuth College in September, Dr. Luther L. Gobbel, president, announced today. Dr. Buchanan will teach courses in economics and serve as head of the department.
A native of Kansas, Dr. Buchanan received the A.B. degree from Colorado College and the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He also holds the degree of Doctor of Science in economics from Keiogijuku University in Japan. At Harvard he was holder of the rare Sheldon Scholarship.
Dr. Buchanan is the author of three books: “Rural Economy of Japan”, “Historical Approach to Rent and Price Theory”, and “Development of Capitalist Enterprise in India.” [sic, the first two are more likely references to his published articles]
The Jackson Sun (August 5, 1954) Jackson, Tennessee, p. 1.

1956. Dr. Robert L. Conrod succeeds Dr. D.H. Buchanan, who is retiring from teaching at his own request. Effective beginning of the second semester January 30. He and his wife retire to their home in Chapel Hill.
The Jackson Sun (January 22, 1956), p. 5.

1959.  Died February 16, 1959 in Denver, Colorado.

Daniel Houston Buchanan, 76, retired professor of economics of the University of North Carolina died at a sanatorium in Denver, Colo., yesterday after an illness of three years. He was a member of the faculty at Chapel Hill from 1935 until his retirement in 1954.
AP story from Winston-Salem Journal (Feb. 17, 1959),
p. 6.

Image Source: Daniel Houston Buchanan. Harvard 1932 Classbook. Page 24