Edwin Francis Gay (1867-1946) came to Harvard in 1902 as an instructor of economic history taking over William Ashley’s courses after having spent a dozen years of training and advanced historical study in Europe (Berlin, Ph.D. in 1902 under Gustav Schmoller, also he was in Leipzig, Zurich and Florence). He and Abram Piatt Andrew received five-year contracts as assistant professors of economics in 1903. In just four years he actually advanced to the rank of professor. He served as a principal advisor to Harvard President Charles Eliot in establishing the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1908. After the favored candidate to be the founding dean of the business school, William Lyon Mackenzie King (Ph.D., Harvard 1909) turned down the offer, instead continuing as deputy minister of labor in Canada then later becoming prime minister of Canada, President Eliot turned to Gay. In nine years Gay put his stamp on the Harvard Business School, apparently playing an instrumental role in the use of the case method (pedagogic transfer from the law school) with a strong emphasis on obtaining hands-on experience through practical assignments with actual businesses. He is credited with establishing the academic degree of the M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration), the credential of managers.
During WW I Gay worked as adviser to the U.S. Shipping Board and then went on to become editor of the New York Evening Post that would soon go under, giving Gay “an opportunity” to return to Harvard where he could teach economic history up through his retirement in 1936. Gay was among the co-founders of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Council of Foreign Relations. He and his wife moved to California where he worked at the Huntington library where his bulk of his papers are to be found today.
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Economics 10
Course Announcement
(1902-03, first semester)
- 1 The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Mr. Gay.
In this course special attention will be given to England, but its economic life will be treated in connection with the general economic and social development of western Europe.
Supplementary reading on the part of the student will be expected and tested by written reports.
The object of this course is to give a general view of the economic development of society during the Middle Ages. It will deal, among others, with the following topics: the manorial system in its relation to mediaeval agriculture and serfdom; the merchant gilds and the beginnings of town life and of trade; the craft gilds and the gild-system of industry, compared with earlier and later forms; the commercial supremacy of the Hanseatic and Italian merchants; and the break-up of the mediaeval organization of social classes.
It is desirable that students in this course should already possess some general acquaintance with mediaeval history, and those who are deficient in this respect will be expected to read one or two supplementary books, to be suggested by the instructor. The course is conveniently taken after, before, or in conjunction with History 9; and it will be of especial use to those who intend to study the law of Real Property. It is open to those who have passed satisfactorily either in History 1 or in Economics 1.
Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science[Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.
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Economics 10
Course Enrollment
1902-03 (First term)
Economics 10. 1hf. Dr. Gay. — The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.
Total 16: 6 Gr., 1 Se., 2 Ju., 6 So., 1 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.
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Economics 10
Final Examination
(1902-03, First Semester)
- Explain briefly:—
- firma unius noctis.
- judex, villicus, major.
- damnum emergens, lucrum cessans.
- lettre de foire.
- Describe briefly:—
- reprisals, noting the action taken in the first Statute of Westminster.
- the staple.
- the views of Nicholas Oresme on money (following Cunningham).
- Comment on the following:—
- “Omnis etiam qui venit in hunc locum liber hic sedebit, nisi fucrit servus alicujus et confessus fuerit dominum.”
- What were the other chief characteristics and privileges of the mediaeval town?
- What was the Gild Merchant? The Craft Gild? The relation between them?
Take two of the following three questions.
- Outline the mediaeval history of the Levant trade. By what routes and through what hands were the Oriental products distributed over Western Europe?
- a. Give an account of the origin, extent and organization of the Hanseatic League.
b. Give the chief facts (with dates) in the history of the ‘Steelyard.’ - Sketch the medieval monetary history of England to the introduction of a gold coinage, with the date and significance of this step. How far was this history parallel with that of France and Germany, and what was its chief point of difference?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).
Image Source: Edwin F. Gay, seated in office, 1908. From Wikipedia. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror