Around the turn of the 20th century visiting committees to the Harvard economic department were supposed to submit reports to the Board of Overseers of Harvard College at least once every three years. When I first saw that at archive.org there were six items listed dealing with Harvard’s visiting committees I was excited, hoping to find a rich mine of material as extensive as Arthur F. Brimmer’s 1974 Report of Economics Department Visiting Committee. As you can see from below, quite the opposite is the case. The early Visiting Committees submitted the nano-reports transcribed and posted below.
Perhaps one indication of the purely formal nature of the reporting system is that the “department of political economy” was renamed the “department of economics” in 1892 but the visiting committee was still referred to the visiting committee “on political economy” as late as 1912-1913.
__________________________________
LII.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
May 22, 1895
To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:
ln the department of Political Economy the Professors feel the pressure of increased numbers of students, the lack of satisfactory space for lecture rooms, and the lack of time for independent work and research.
The difficulty is most serious in Economics 1. The lecture room available is ill-fitted for speaking or hearing, and the great number of students make it impossible, with the present corps of instructors, to divide them into sections small enough for adequate teaching and discussion. The difficulty has been met, as far as practicable, by strenuous and continuous work on the part of the Professors and instructors. This department, like others, feels the want of more books for reference, and of more library space for books and reading.
ARTHUR T. LYMAN, Chairman
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from February 6, 1890 to January 8, 1902. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1902), p. 299.
__________________________________
XCIX.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
June 5, 1901.
To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:––
The Committee on Political Economy has had this year and last year long conferences with the Professors in the Department, and members of the Committee have also corresponded with the head of the Department.
A very large proportion of the students take Political Economy, and many take the more advanced courses. The courses seem to be satisfactorily conducted and the lecture system is supplemented by conferences and teaching in sections.
A course in Accounting has been taken by a considerable number of students, and next year an excellent programme is proposed for a course in business law. It is intended that such special courses should be confined to graduates or to seniors, and it seems best that they should not interfere with the general and broader courses of instruction in this or any other department.
The great loss to the University and to the Department of Political Economy from the death of Professor Charles F. Dunbar has been referred to by the President in his report.
For the Committee,
ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from February 6, 1890 to January 8, 1902. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1902), p. 621.
__________________________________
CXXXIV.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
September 30, 1903.
To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:—
The Committee on Political Economy met the professors and instructors.
Professor Taussig, who has been absent for a long time on account of illness, will resume a part of his work in October.
There continues to be a very large attendance in the courses of Economics — 519 in Economics 1, which deals with the general outlines of the subject, and one hundred or more in four other courses on banking, economic history of the United States, problems of labor and industrial organization, and currency legislation with recent experience and theory. These large classes involve the usual difficulties in giving interesting and adequate instruction, but they are gratifying evidences of the interest in this important subject. They make necessary many instructors for proper division of large classes, and consequently large expense.
The list of courses in the Catalogue shows the wide range of the instruction.
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, published by the Department, is well worthy of your attention. In recent numbers Professor Taussig has given an interesting and instructive history of the iron industry in this country, and the sugar problem has been fully treated.
Many other articles on important practical and theoretical questions have appeared in this Journal, which, like all publications of this class, needs the increased subscriptions and financial support to which its merits fully entitle it.
For the Committee,
ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), p. 741.
Visiting Committee Members (1903):
Arthur T. Lyman, Charles S. Fairchild, Horace E. Deming, John E. Thayer, John F. Moors.
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), following p. 708.
__________________________________
CLXXVIII.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
May 9, 1906.
To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:—
The Committee on Political Economy met the Professors in the Department at a long conference. They are able, accomplished, and interesting, and there is, as usual, a very large attendance on their various courses of instruction. These courses deal not only with economic theory, but with transportation, finance, taxation, currency legislation, and banking, economic history, the distribution of wealth, labor, socialism, commercial law, and accounting.
The course on the principles of accounting is taken chiefly by Graduates and Seniors, and it is the purpose of the Department not to sacrifice to it the general and fundamental courses, but to confine it mainly to Seniors or Graduates rather than to follow the plan of some of the Western State Universities in which courses are given throughout the college terms treating in an elaborate way the practical details of business in various branches.
The large attendance in several of the courses in Economics requires subdivisions and conferences, and instructors for such divisions. There is naturally considerable difficulty in securing the desired or desirable instructors, owing to the small salaries that can be afforded and the consequent lack of permanency of employment, and it is much desired that the needed competency and permanency should, if possible, be secured by the assignment of some fellowships to the best of the instructors in the subdivisions and conferences. Much of the time of the Professors might be saved by the addition of various apparatus needed. Some help in this matter has been given by members of the Committee and others.
For the Committee,
ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), p. 925.
Visiting Committee Members (1906):
Arthur T. Lyman, Charles S. Fairchild, Horace E. Deming, John F. Moors, J. Wells Farley.
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), after p. 843.
__________________________________
CCVIII.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
April 8, 1908.
To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:—
The Committee on Political Economy met the Professors of the Department, and considers that the conditions are satisfactory.
There seems to be nothing new to report, except that arrangements have become possible through the generosity of various persons for carrying on for five years advanced business courses, such as have been under consideration for several years past.
More space is needed for conferences and books, and some plans are under consideration for relief in these matters.
For the Committee,
ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), p. 1128.
Visiting Committee Members (1908):
Arthur T. Lyman, Frederic A. Delano, John F. Moors, Charles S. Fairchild, William Endicott, Jr., J. Wells Farley, Charles G. Washburn.
Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), after p. 1118.
__________________________________
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1913-14.
April 13, 1914.
5. Economics. — The enrolment of students in Economics for the first, half of the academic year shows a falling off from 1634 to 1520 students, the most significant loss taking place in the course on Banking. The amount of instruction offered at Harvard in Economics exceeds that offered at any other University except Michigan, while in the amount of money expended Harvard is far in the lead. The Committee notes the continuing eminence and prosperity of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, published by the Department since 1886, which maintains its place as one of the foremost periodicals in the subject in the English Language, and perhaps the foremost. It has the largest circulation of any periodical published by the University, except the Law Review, and there is no more certain way of making a reputation as a writer on Economic subjects than to publish an article in this journal. The most important need of the Department is a fund for the endowment of Economic Research, which will make possible the scientific investigation of pressing economic questions. A very interesting supplemental report is made by Mr. John Wells Morss, one of the members of the Committee, representing the views and experience of a man of business, rather than of a student of education. It should be read as a whole, as it is difficult to give a satisfactory impression of its interest and value by quotations or a summary.
Source: Appended to: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College for the Academic Year, 1914-15. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1915), three pages after page 260.
Image Source: John Harvard statue, ca. 1904. U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.