The following short history of economics instruction at Trinity College and Duke University in Durham, NC was written by the once chairperson of the Duke department (1957-74), Professor Frank T. de Vyver. [correction: This narrative was begun by Robert Smith (who died in 1969), expanded by Frank de Vyer in 1979, and updated by Forrest Smith in 1992.] From my trawling the internet archive The Wayback Machine, I was also able to preserve the iconic 1990s color bar separator found on the original webpage.
An earlier Duke-related artifact from the pre-internet age transcribed for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:
Career information for a quarter-century of Duke Economic PhDs, 1957.
After I completed this post I found the following expanded version of the material posted here (with a picture).
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History
William Henry Glasson, holding a Ph.D. from Columbia University, came to Durham in 1902 as Professor of Political Economy and Social Science and Head of the Department of Economics and Social Science. For many years Glasson was the Department. The number of economics courses listed in the catalogue soon jumped to ten, although it seems unlikely that all were offered every year. Juniors could take “Principles of Political Economy” and “Economic and Social History of England and the United States.” Seniors were offered “Social Science” and “Economics and Social Problems,” while “Money and Banking” and “Public Finance” were senior-graduate courses. Four courses were reserved for graduate students: “History of Political Economy,” “Development of Economic Theories,” “The State in Its Relations to Industry,” and “Socialism and Other Plans for Social Reconstruction.” In the 1903-04 curriculum the latter two courses were dropped in favor of “Modern Industrial Organization” and “Railway Transportation.”
In 1908 Glasson became head of the Department of Economics and Political Science, and “Principles of Political Science” and “Municipal Government” were added to the undergraduate curriculum. Apparently, no new staff appointment was made until Bascom W. Barnard came to Trinity in 1919 as assistant professor of economics. Four years later, when the number of courses in economics and government had increased to seventeen, the teaching staff included Professors William J. H. Cotton and Alpheus T. Mason, and Jesse T. Carpenter, a part-time instructor. In 1924 thirteen courses in the Department were listed under “Economics and Business Administration” and seven under “Political Science.”
In December, 1924, Trinity College became an undergraduate college of Duke University, and in the fall of 1926 the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences was inaugurated with Professor Glasson as Dean. A year earlier (1925) Calvin B. Hoover came to Duke as assistant professor of economics and Robert R. Wilson was appointed assistant professor of political science. In 1926 Charles E. Landon joined the Department as assistant professor of economics and John H. Shields became an instructor in accounting; in 1927 Earl J. Hamilton accepted the position of assistant professor of economics and Robert S. Ranking, assistant professor of political science. Professor Joseph J. Spengler joined the faculty in 1932. He was a central figure in developing the graduate program. Currently the Department’s graduate student association, the “Spengler Club,” honors his name.
Glasson served as Dean of the Graduate School until 1938 and as Chairman until 1939. Professor Hoover, who succeeded him in both positions, held the deanship until 1947 and the chair until 1957.
Professor Frank T. de Vyver, who came to Duke in 1935, served as chairman from 1957 to 1974. His successor, Professor Robert S. Smith, was chairman of the Department of Economics and Business Administration in 1964-67. In 1967, the University divided the Department of Economics and Business Administration into two departments, and Smith continued as chairman of the Economics Department until 1968.
Professor John O. Blackburn, following service to Duke University as its chancellor, assumed the chair of the Economics Department in 1968, serving until 1970. He was followed by Professor David G. Davies, 1970-73, Professor Allen Kelley, 1973-1980, and Professor T. Dudley Wallace, 1980-83. Following Professor Wallace as department chairperson were Professor E. Roy Weintraub, 1983-87, Professor John M. Vernon, 1987-89, and Professor Henry G. Grabowski, 1989-92. Professor Neil B. de Marchi was appointed chairperson of the Department of Economics in 1992. Professor Marjorie B. McElroy was Acting Chair from May 1995 through August 1996, while Professor de Marchi is on sabbatical; she has been appointed Chair through August 1999.
Graduate Studies in Economics
The history of graduate studies in Economics goes back to the turn of the century. The Trinity College Catalogue for 1899-1900 lists S. W. Sparger as a graduate student in Political Economy and English; and in 1900-01 Joseph P. Breedlove, for many years University Librarian, was also a graduate student in Political Economy and English. The following year Breedlove was a graduate student in Political Economy only and in 1902 was awarded the M.A. degree. Henry R. Dwire, who received his M.A. in 1903, was a graduate student in Social Science, Economics, English, and History; and A. B. Bradsher, an M.A. in 1905, was a graduate student in Political Economy, Chemistry, English, and Law. In 1911-1915 there were graduate students who combined Political Economy and Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry, or (in one case) Greek, Latin, and Education.
Although Marion S. Lewis, who received his M.A. in 1921, was a graduate student in Economics, even after the opening of the Graduate School few students were enrolled in just one discipline. Jesse T. Carpenter was a graduate student in Economics, Philosophy, and English (1923-24), and Julian P. Boyd was a graduate student in Economics and Political Science (1925- 26). In 1926-27 Richard A. Harvill and Benjamin U. Ratchford were graduate students in Economics and History. Both received the M.A. degree in 1927. Harvill continued graduate work at Northwestern University, from which he received his Ph.D. in 1932. Ratchford, who retired in 1967 as Vice-President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, received his Ph.D. from Duke in 1932.
The emphasis on the level of post-graduate achievement in the department has vacillated. In the 1970s, virtually every student who matriculated did so with the intent of earning a Ph.D. Resultant class sizes then were predictably small: the entering class of 1978 consisted of only seven students. There are currently 87 students in the Ph.D. program, and 20 students working toward an M.A. Currently the graduate program offers specialized training in over a dozen fields and programs.
Since 1932, the Department has awarded over 407 doctoral and 255 Master of Arts degrees in Economics.
Frank T. de Vyver
Source: Duke University. Department of Economics History webpage (last revised, August 29, 1996). Archived at the Wayback Machine internet archive.
Image Source: Duke University, 1938. Photographed by Frances Benjamin Johnston. From the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.