William Zebina Ripley first came on board the Harvard economics department as a visiting professor from M.I.T. for the academic year 1901-02. There was a screaming need for someone to cover the statistics course that had been taught by John Cummings through 1899-1900 but had been bracketed (i.e. not offered) for 1900-01. From the June announcement of course offerings for 1901-02 we see that the department’s economic historian, William J. Ashley, was originally planned for teaching the statistics course. That plan needed to be scrapped once Ashley announced his resignation to go the University of Birmingham. Down the Charles River at M.I.T. William Z. Ripley, assistant professor of Sociology and Economics, turned out to be a good fit for the department’s instructional program.
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Related post in the Economics in the Rear-view Mirror archive:
Harvard. Short Bibliography on Social Statistics for “Serious-minded Students”, Ripley, 1910
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Original Course Announcement
(June 1901)
For Undergraduates and Graduates
4 hf. Statistics. — Theory, methods, and practice. Half-course. Fri., at 11. Professor [William J.] Ashley.
After a brief history of statistics, this course will proceed to an exposition of the statistical methods most commonly employed, and a statement of the theoretical considerations most deserving of attention in practical investigation. An account, with running comment, will then be given of the work of government offices; and the latter part of the year will be employed in the disentangling and comparison of the main results of the recent industrial censuses of Germany and France. Two reports on assigned topics will be required during the year, from every student in the course.
Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economies 1.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901). Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. p. 41.
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Revised Statement
Concerning Course 4 hf.
4 hf. Statistics. — Theory, methods, and practice. Half-course. Tu., at 11. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley (Mass. Inst. Technology).
This course is intended to serve rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as a description of mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of modes of collecting and tabulating census and other statistical material in the United States and abroad; the scientific use and interpretation of results by the mean, the average, seriation, the theory of probability, etc. The main divisions of vital statistics, relating to birth, marriage, morbidity, and mortality, life tables, etc.; the statistics of trade and commerce, such as price indexes, etc.; industrial statistics relating to labor and employment; statistics of agriculture and manufacture; of transportation by means of ton, car, train-mileage, and revenue; will be then considered in order. The principal methods of graphic representation will be comprehended, and laboratory practice in the preparation of charts, maps, and diagrams from original material will be required.
Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economies 1.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902.”
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Course Enrollment
For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 4 hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.
Total 5: 2 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.
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Mid-Year Exam, 1902
ECONOMICS 4
- Outline the different tests to be applied to determine in any given population,
- the existence of migration,—
- its amount and character.
- How do still-born and illegitimate births compare with normal and legal ones, in character and frequency?
- Compare urban and rural populations from the point of view of births and marriages; giving suitable explanations.
- What are the principal errors to be guarded against or corrected in a census enumeration.
- Describe three methods of estimating population at intercensal periods, critically comparing their merits.
- How might the vital statistics of two American states differ, on account of a wide difference in the proportions of male and female adults?
- What is
- the expectation of life?
- the refined birth rate?
- What does a mortality table show. Construct an hypothetical one.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.
Year-end Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 4
- Explain the construction of a life table and show its uses.
- What are the main errors to be avoided in comparison of mortality rates of different countries or groups of population?
- Why are index numbers of prices apt to be misleading? Show by an example.
- Criticize the Senate Finance Committee Report on Prices and Wages, as to its methods.
- In what way may movements of wages be most accurately measured?
- To what classes of phenomena may the modulus be best applied, and what is its advantage over the use of averages?
- What are the principal defects in statistics as to the movement of imports and exports?
- What is the best method of “smoothing curves” in a graphic diagram? Give an example.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 22.
Image Source: M.I.T. yearbook, Technique 1901, p. 26.