The original memo sent to Jacob Viner asking for the names of a few textbooks suitable for college class in the field of public finance is a carbon copy of a common memo, except for the name “Mr. Jacob Viner” and field “Public Finance” that are both clearly typed onto the carbon copy. It appears that the chairman L. C. Marshall might have been surveying his Chicago colleagues to assemble a list of college textbooks by field. There might be other such inquiries with responses, but judging from where I found this memo to Viner, one would have to plow through the Chicago economic department records where the memos are filed by recipients. I’ll keep my eyes open.
The first textbook listed by Viner was written by the 1926 Chicago Ph.D., Jens Peter Jensen, whose dissertation was on the general property tax.
Obituary: In Memoriam: Jens P. Jensen, 1883-1942 by John Ise in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Apr., 1943), pp. 391-392.
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From the Preface of Jens P. Jensen’s (Department of Economics, University of Kansas) Problems of Public Finance, p. ix.
“Professors Roy G. Blakey of the University of Minnesota and H. A. Millis of the University of Chicago were my teachers in public finance, and through them my interest in the field was aroused and quickened. Dr. J. Viner of the University of Chicago has carefully read the manuscript and suggested many redeeming changes.”
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The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration
Memorandum to Mr. Jacob Viner from L.C. Marshall
October 2, 1924
Will you please jot down on this sheet the names of two or three texts suitable for college class use in the field of Public Finance?
LCM:OU
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Viner’s reply
Jens [Peter] Jensen. Problems of Public Finance. Crowell [1924]
C. J. Bullock. Selected Readings in P. F. Ginn & Co. [2nded., 1920]
W. M. Daniels, Elements of Public Finance [including the Monetary System of the United States]. Holt & Co. [1899]
H. L. Lutz has a good text in press [D. Appleton and Company, 1924; fourth edition, 1947]
J.V.
Source: University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics. Records. Box 35, Folder 14.
Image Source: Jacob Viner (facing camera) playing bridge with Mr. Grabo, Mr. Prescott, and Ralph Sanger, instructor of Mathematics. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-08487, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.