Tag: Gilson

Categories
Chicago Courses Curriculum Fields Graduate Student Support

Chicago. Program of advanced instruction and research training in economics. 1956-57.

To gauge the scale and scope of economics departments it is useful to have copies of the annual announcements/brochures. In this post we add a transcription of the announcement for advanced instruction and research in economics at the University of Chicago for 1956-57.

Some previous posts:

Chicago, 1892

Wisconsin, 1893-94

Chicago, 1900-01

Chicago, 1904-05

Wisconsin, 1904-05

M.I.T., 1961

Harvard, 1967

___________________________

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
announces
Advanced Instruction
and Research Training
in
ECONOMICS:

Price Theory
Money and Banking
Economic History
Statistics
Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
Agricultural Economics
Government Finance
International Economic Relations and Economic Development
Economics of Consumption
Labor Economics and Industrial Relations

SESSIONS OF 1956-1957

___________________________

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
Officers of Instruction

Theodore William Schultz, Ph.D., Chairman of the Department of Economics and Charles L. Hutchinson Distinguished Service Professor of Economics.

Frank Hyneman Knight, Ph.D., Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the Social Sciences.

John Ulric Nef, Ph.D., Professor of Economic History.

Earl J. Hamilton, Ph.D., Professor of Economics.

Milton Friedman, Ph.D., Professor of Economics.

Lloyd A. Metzler, Ph.D., Professor of Economics.

Margaret G. Reid, Ph.D., Professor of Economics.

W. Allen Wallis, A.B., Professor of Economics and Statistics.

D. Gale Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Economics.

Bert F. Hoselitz, A.M., Dr. Jur., Professor of the Social Sciences.

Hans Theil, Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Economics.

Harold Gregg Lewis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics.

Arnold C. Harberger, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics.

Albert E. Rees, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics.

Carl Christ, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics.

Simon Rottenberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics.

George S. Tolley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics.

Robert Lloyd Gustafson, A.M., Assistant Professor of Economics.

Phillip David Cagan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics.

Martin Jean Bailey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics.

Chester Whitney Wright, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Economics.

Hazel Kyrk, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Economics and Home Economics.

Lloyd W. Mints, A.M., Professor Emeritus of Economics.

Mary Barnett Gilson, A.M., Assistant Professor Emeritus of Economics in the College.

Fellows, 1955-56

Richard King, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Economy.

Yossef Attiyeh, A.M., Falk Foundation Fellow,

Milton Frank Bauer, A.M., Canadian Social Science Research Council Fellow.

John Allan Edwards, A.M., Sears, Roebuck Fellow in Agricultural Economics.

Lawrence Fisher, A.B., Earhart Foundation Fellow.

B. Delworth Gardner, S.M., Sears, Roebuck Fellow in Agricultural Economics.

Hirsh Zvi Griliches, S.M., Social Science Research Council Fellow.

Marc Leon Nerlove, A.M., Earhart Foundation Fellow.

Hugh Oliver Nourse, A.B., Woodrow Wilson Fellow.

Walter Yasuo Oi, A.M., Owen D. Young Fellow.

Boris Peter Pesek, A.M., Ford Foundation Fellow.

Duvvuri Venkata Ramana, A.M., Ford Foundation Fellow.

Jean Reynier, Diplôme D’études Supérieures De Doctorat, University of Paris Exchange Fellow.

Robert Oliver Rogers, A.M., Sears, Roebuck Fellow in Agricultural Economics.

John William Louis Winder, A.M., Edward Hillman Fellow.

___________________________

Introductory

                  The Department of Economics views the central problem of economic science as that of understanding the social organization of human and other scarce productive resources: principally the allocation of these resources among alternative uses by a system of exchange. The purpose of the Department is both to train economic scientists and to advance economic science.

                  The Department offers programs of instruction and research training not only for students seeking an advanced degree in economics at the University of Chicago but also for students working on an advanced degree at another institution who wish to complement the training available to them there and for students not seeking an advanced degree but who wish to pursue advanced study in economics at either the predoctoral or the postdoctoral level. Instruction is provided in all of the major fields of economics affording opportunity for well-rounded training in economics. Additional facilities in other parts of the University, including those in the other social sciences, mathematics, statistics, business administration, law, and philosophy, permit students wide choice among supplementary areas of study.

                  Courses of instruction at three levels of advancement are offered by the Department:

                  1. Intermediate courses (numbered in the 200’s) for those completing their work for the Bachelor’s degree and for others preparing for advanced training in economics.

                  2. Courses in economic theory, statistical inference, economic history, and economic analysis related to problem fields (numbered in the 300’s) that provide the strong theoretical foundation and related applied knowledge required of all candidates for advanced degrees in economics as preparation for economic research. Students are urged before entering these courses to acquire a command of the rudiments of the differential calculus.

                  3. Courses (including seminars, workshops, and other research working groups, and individual instruction) that provide arrangements for research and research supervision (numbered in the 400’s). These courses apply and seek to teach students to apply the foundations of economic analysis to research on particular economic problems.

THE ECONOMICS RESEARCH CENTER

                  The Department devotes a large proportion of its resources to research in economics and to the training of student research apprentices. The purpose of the Economics Research Center is to co-ordinate the research and research training activities of the Department. The Center supplies essential clerical, computing, and reference library services, assists in the organization of research seminars and working groups, and publishes the major research output of the Department in its series: “Studies in Economics.”

                  Some of the research training in the Center is organized on a continuing basis by one or more faculty members working with associates and students in research groups. (The staffs and research projects of these groups for the academic year 1955-56 are listed below.) Research training and facilities for research are available, however, to all qualified students, both those associated with a research group and those engaged in individual research.

Projects and Staffs of Research Groups, 1955-56

Workshop in Money and Banking

Faculty: Professors Cagan and Friedman.

Research Assistants and Fellows: Yossef Attiyeh, Hugh Roy Elliott, Duvvuri V. Ramana, and Robert E. Snyder.

Project: The role of monetary and banking factors in economic fluctuations.

Office of Agricultural Economies Research

Faculty: Professors Gustafson, Johnson, Schultz, and Tolley.

Research Associates: John A. Dawson, Cecil B. Haver, William E. Hendrix, Lester G. Telser, and Joseph Willett.

Research Assistants and Fellows: Marto Ballesteros, Michael Joseph Brennan, Donald S. Green, Hirsh Zvi Griliches, Vaughan Stevens Hastings, Roy J. Kelly, Edward Franklin Renshaw, James A. Rock, and Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.

Projects: (1) Agricultural inventories. (2) Conservation and development of natural resources. (3) Technical assistance in Latin American countries. (4) Developments affecting Negro farm families. (5) Soviet agriculture. (6) Technological growth in agriculture (hybrid corn). (7) Growth in output per unit of input in the United States and in agriculture.

Research Group in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations

Faculty: Professors Lewis, Rees, Rottenberg, and Seidman.

Projects: (1) The American worker as a union member. (2) Labor in the Mexican economy. (3) Real wages in the United States, 1890-1914. (4) Population, the labor force, and labor supply.

Research Group in Public Finance

Faculty: Professors Bailey and Harberger.

Research Assistants and Fellows: Meyer L. Burstein, Lawrence Fisher, Yehuda Grünfeld, Marc Leon Nerlove, William A. Niskanen, Jr., and Walter Y. Oi.

Projects:
(1) Resource allocation effects of federal taxes and of agricultural price supports.
(2) Sources and methods of controlling cyclical instability in the American economy.
(3) The capital market effects of federal taxation, expenditure, and regulatory policies.

Research Group in Economics of Consumption

Faculty: Professor Reid.

Research Assistant: Juliette Rey.

Project: Trends in, and factors determining, consumption levels.

Research Group in Economic Development

Faculty: Professors Hamilton, Harberger, Hoselitz, Rottenberg, and Schultz.

Projects: (1) Problems in the economic development of Chile. (2) Historical research in money, banking, prices, and interest rates, their interrelationship, and their role in the economic development of leading countries. (Note also projects (3), (6), and (7) of the Office of Agricultural Economics Research and project (2) of the Research Group in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations.) The Research Group in Economic Development works closely with the Research Center in Economic Development and Cultural Change of which Mr. Hoselitz is the director. The Center engages in research and publishes the journal Economic Development and Cultural Change.

                  Three members of the faculty of the Department are associated with research groups organized in other parts of the University: Mr. Hoselitz with the Research Center in Economic Development and Cultural Change; Mr. Nef, with the Committee on Social Thought; and Mr. Wallis, with the Committee on Statistics. In addition, other members of the economics faculty are engaged in individual research projects not associated with a research group: Mr. Metzler on the theory of international adjustment under conditions of full employment and high demand: and Mr. Christ on econometric research on economic growth and technological change.

FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS,
AND RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS

                  Students who wish to pursue a program of advanced instruction and research in economics at the University may compete not only for the regular University Fellowships and Scholarships described in these Announcements (see pp. 22-27) but also for the fellowships listed below:
[Note: The announcement transcribed here is a reprint of the Department of Economics section of the Announcements of Graduate Programs in the Divisions. Cross-references are to that publication]

Postdoctoral Fellowships:

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Political Economy awarded upon recommendation of the Department of Economics.

Postdoctoral Fellowships in Money and Banking awarded by the Workshop in Money and Banking in co-operation with the Department of Economics.

Predoctoral Fellowships:

Awarded upon recommendation of the Department of Economics:

Frank H. Knight Fellowships, Marshall Field Fellowship, Edward Hillman Fellowship Awarded upon recommendation of the Office of Agricultural Economics Research for students specializing in agricultural economics:
Sears, Roebuck Foundation Fellowships in Agricultural Economics

Stipends for the predoctoral fellowships, including the regular University fellowships, range generally from $1,000 to $3,000 per annum. Stipends for the postdoctoral fellowships range up to $4,000 per annum. Application blanks may be obtained from the Department of Economics or from the University Committee on Fellowships and Scholarships.

Research Assistantships

                  Research assistantships and associateships are available to qualified students who have research interests in particular problem areas. Application blanks for these positions may be obtained from the Economics Research Center.

ADVANCED DEGREES

                  The Department of Economics offers programs leading to both the A.M. and the Ph.D. degrees in Economics. The following paragraphs summarize briefly the major Departmental requirements for advanced degrees for students holding a four-year Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. (The following paragraphs are not intended as an exhaustive statement of the requirements for advanced degrees; for the details of the requirements students should consult with the Departmental counselors.)

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

                  The Departmental requirements for the Master’s degree in Economics for students holding the traditional four-year Bachelor’s degree include: (1) satisfactory performance on two of the written field examinations in economics required for the Ph.D. degree; (2) a satisfactory command of the principles of economic theory; and (3) acceptance of a paper or report on a problem approved by the Department,

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

                  The Departmental requirements for admission to candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics include: (1) satisfactory performance on written field examinations in price theory and monetary theory and banking and in one other field that, with the approval of the Department, may be a field outside of economics; (2) a well-rounded command of the subject-matter of the major fields of economics; (3) effective reading knowledge of French or German or some other foreign language approved by the Department; and (4) acceptance of the candidate’s thesis prospectus.

                  The Departmental requirements for the degree include in addition to the preceding requirements for admission to candidacy: (1) effective reading knowledge of a second foreign language or completion of an approved substitute program of study; (2) departmental approval of the completed thesis; and (3) satisfactory performance on a final oral examination on the field of the thesis.

SUMMER PROGRAM
FOR COLLEGE TEACHERS OF ECONOMICS

                  The Department of Economics will give particular attention in its Summer Quarter 1956 program to the interests of college teachers of economics, both those working for the Ph.D degree at another institution and others who wish to renew or to complement their training and experience in economics. A limited number of tuition and half-tuition scholarships will be available for teachers who do not hold the Ph.D. degree. (Application blanks for these scholarships may be obtained from the Department of Economics.) For those who hold the Ph.D. degree in Economics or related fields the Department invites application for guest privileges.

Courses of Instruction

INTERMEDIATE COURSES

208. A, B, C. The Elements of Economic Analysis. Aut (208A): Rees; Win (208B) Rees; Spr (208C): Cagan.

209. Intermediate Price Theory. Prereg: Math 150A or equiv. Aut: Lewis.

210. Index Numbers, National Accounting, and Economic Measurement. Prereq: Soc Sei 200A and Econ 209, or equiv. Aut: Christ.

213. Introduction to Mathematics for Economists. Prereq: Econ 209 and Math 150A, or equiv. Sum: Staff; Win: Theil.

220. Economic History of the United States. Spr: Hamilton.

240. Introduction to Industrial Relations. Win: Staff.

255. Introduction to Agricultural Economics. Prereq: Econ 208A and 208B, or equiv, Spr: Johnson.

260. Introduction to Government Finance. Prereq: Econ 208A and 208B, or equiv. Win: Bailey.

271. Economic Aspects of International Politics. Aut: Hoselitz.

299. Undergraduate Thesis Research. Prereq: consent of Departmental Secretary. Sum, Aut, Win, Spr: Staff.

ADVANCED COURSES

I. Price Theory

300. A, B. Price Theory. Prereg: For 300A, Econ 209 or equiv, and Math 150A or equiv, or consent of instructor; for 300B, 300A. Aut (300A): Friedman; Win (300A): Wallis; Spr (300B): Friedman.

301. Price and Distribution Theory (= Social Thought 382). Prereq: Econ 209. Sum: Knight.

302. History of Economic Thought (= Social Thought 381). Prereq: Econ 301 or equiv. Spr: Knight.

303. Recent Developments in Economics. Prereg: graduate work in economic theory. Sum: Harberger.

305. Economics and Social Institutions (= Philosophy 305). Prereg: Econ 301 and some European economic history. Sum: Knight.

308. Welfare Economics. Prereq: Econ 300A or equiv. Sum: Johnson.

309. Mathematical Economics. Prereq: Econ 213 and Econ 300A, or equiv. Win: Theil.

310. Special Topics in Mathematical Economics. Prereq: Econ 309, Math 150C, and the rudiments of matrix algebra; or consent of instructor. Spr: Theil.

II. Monetary Theory and Banking

303. Recent Developments in Economics. Prereg: graduate work in economic theory. Sum: Harberger.

330. Money. Prereg: Econ 208C or equiv. Aut: Staff.

331. Banking Theory and Monetary Policy. Prereg: Econ 330; Econ 335 desirable. Win: Cagan.

334. The Development of Monetary and Financial Institutions. Prereq: Econ 222 or 208C. Spr: Hamilton.

335. The Theory of Income, Employment, and the Price Level. Prereg: Econ 208A, B, C or equiv. Spr: Christ.

362. Monetary and Fiscal Policy. Prereg: Econ 208C; Econ 330 and 335 desirable. Spr: Harberger.

370. Monetary Aspects of International Trade. Prereg: Econ 330, 335, or equiv. Aut: Metzler.

439. Workshop in Money and Banking. An experiment in combining training in research and learning of subject-matter organized around a continuing investigation into monetary factors in business cycles. Students participate in this central investigation both directly and by undertaking individual projects in the general area. Each project is directed toward the preparation of a report of publishable quality. Guidance is provided on general reading in the field, and informal seminars are held from time to time to discuss general issues or specific projects. Students. are required to give full time to the workshop; they receive three credits per quarter of registration. Prereg: consent of instructor. Aut, Win, Spr: Friedman, Cagan.

III. Statistics

311. Principles of Statistical Analysis (= Business 321 and Statistics 301). Aut: Staff.

312. Techniques of Statistical Analysis (= Business 322 and Statistics 302). Prereg: Econ 311 or equiv. Win: Staff.

313. Applications of Statistical Analysis (= Sociology 308, Business 323, and Statistics 303). Prereq: Econ 312 or Stat 362 or equiv. Spr: Wallis.

314. Econometrics. Prereq: Econ 311 and either Econ 300A or Econ 335; Econ 210 desirable. Sum: Gustafson; Win: Christ.

315. Special Topics in Econometrics. Prereq: Econ 312, Econ 314, differential calculus, and rudiments of matrix algebra; or consent of instructor. Spr: Christ.

For other courses in statistics see page 203.

IV. Mathematical Economics and Econometrics

303. Recent Developments in Economics. Prereq: graduate work in economic theory. Sum: Harberger.

309. Mathematical Economics. Prereq: Econ 213 and Econ 300A, or equiv, Win: Theil.

310. Special Topics in Mathematical Economics. Prereq: Econ 309, Math 150C and the rudiments of matrix algebra; or consent of instructor. Spr: Theil.

314. Econometrics. Prereq: Econ 311 and either Econ 300A or Econ 335; Econ 210 desirable. Sum: Gustafson; Win: Christ.

315. Special Topics in Econometrics. Prereq: Econ 312, Econ 314, differential calculus, and rudiments of matrix algebra; or consent of instructor. Spr: Christ.

V. Economic History

320. American Economic Policies. Prereg: Econ 220 or equiv. Sum: Hamilton.

329A. The Geographical and Historical Background of the Genesis of Industrial Civilization (= Social Thought 324A and History 332G). Aut: Nef.

329B. The Role of the Discoveries and the Reformation in the Genesis of Industrial Civilization (= Social Thought 325A and History 332H). Spr: Nef.

334. The Development of Monetary and Financial Institutions. Prereg: Econ 222 or 208C. Spr: Hamilton.

VI. Labor Economics and Industrial Relations

340. The Labor Movement. Aut.

341. Labor Problems. Prereq: Econ 208A, 208B, and Econ 240; or equiv. Win: Rees.

344. Labor Economics. Prereq: Econ 300B. Spr: Lewis.

VII. Agricultural Economics

355A. Economic Organization for Growth (with particular reference to agriculture). Prereq: Econ 300A or equiv. Aut: Schultz.

355B. Economic Organization for Stability (with particular reference to agriculture). Prereq: Econ 300A or equiv. Spr: Schultz.

356. Income, Welfare, and Policy (with particular reference to agriculture). Prereg: Econ300A or equiv; Econ 300B and 355A recommended. Win: Johnson.

455. Seminar in Agricultural Economics. Prereq: consent of instructor. Aut, Win, Spr: Schultz, Johnson, Tolley, Gustafson.

VIII. Government Finance

360. Theory of Public Finance. Prereg: Econ 260 and Econ 300A, or consent of instructor, Aut: Bailey.

361. Public Finance in the American Economy. Prereq: Econ 300A; Econ 300B desirable. Win: Harberger.

362. Monetary and Fiscal Policy. Prereg: Econ 208C; Econ 330 and 335 desirable. Spr: Harberger.

IX. International Economic Relations

370. Monetary Aspects of International Trade. Prereq: Econ 330 and 335, or equiv. Aut: Metzler.

371. Economic Aspects of International Relations. Prereq: Econ 330 or equivalent. Win: Metzler.

372. Problems in Economic Development. Prereq: Econ 335 or equivalent, Econ 320 and 371 desirable. Spr: Hoselitz.

X. Economics of Consumption

381. Consumers and the Market (= Home Economics 341), Prereq: course in economic theory. Win: Reid.

383A. Consumption Levels (= Home Economics 343A). Prereq: course in statistics. Aut: Reid.

388. The Family in the American Economy (= Home Economics 348). Prereq: course in economic theory. Sum, Spr: Reid.

XI. Seminars and Workshops

439. Workshop in Money and Banking. Aut, Win, Spr: Friedman, Cagan.

455. Seminar in Agricultural Economics. Aut, Win, Spr: Schultz, Johnson, Tolley, Gustafson.

490. Research in Economics. Prereg: consent of Departmental Secretary, Sum: Staff.

498. Thesis Seminar. Registration may be made for one or more courses. Prereg: consent of Departmental Secretary. Sum, Aut, Win, Spr: Staff.

499. Individual Research. Registration may be made for one or more courses. Prereg: consent of Departmental Secretary. Sum, Aut, Win, Spr: Staff.

Source: University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler papers. Addenda. Box 31, Folder “7/87 Chic. School. GJS Folder. Lit., incl. “Pantaleoni?”, 1930 anti-tariff signers”.

Categories
Chicago Economists Uncategorized

Chicago. Paul H. Douglas for Alderman campaign, 1939

 

I find it interesting to note only two male colleagues in economics, Jacob Viner and Simeon Leland, and three female colleagues overlapping with the economics department, Grace Abbott (Social Work), Mary Gilson (College of UC), and Sophonisba Breckinridge (Social Work), were among the sponsors of his campaign. Incidentally, Paul Douglas won a narrow victory over the Democratic Party candidate James Cusack in a runoff election.

I regret not having the staple undone at the University of Chicago archives to get an image of Douglas’ campaign platform.

 

February 1, 1939

To Members of the Faculty and Administrative Officers of the University of Chicago

Dear Colleagues:

In response to the insistent demands of the citizens of the Fifth Ward and of civic-minded persons in other parts of Chicago, our colleague, Paul H. Douglas, has agreed to become an independent candidate for alderman at the coming primaries. Those of us who know him intimately feel that he is unusually well qualified for the office he seeks and that he is unusually well qualified for the office he seeks and that he will not only adequately represent the people of this ward but will be an important force in the improvement of government and of the conditions of life in the city at large. He has already announced a platform, which we believe will appeal to the vital interests of this community and of all Chicago, and which will especially commend itself to the members of the University community.

Since this undertaking involves considerable personal sacrifice on the part of Professor Douglas himself and is undertaken in the public interest, we feel an obligation to support him. We therefore invite the endorsement and support in the form of personal aid and financial contributions.

If you believe, as we do, that our colleague should be supported in this campaign to the limit of our ability, we urge you to sign the enclosed pledge card and return it with whatever contribution you wish to make to Harold F. Gosnell, Faculty Exchange, University of Chicago. Checks should be made out to Joseph J. Levin, Treasurer for the Douglas campaign.

 

Donald P. Bean Mary B. Gilson
George G. Bogert Harold F. Gosnell
Percy H. Boynton Earl S. Johnson
Sophonisba P. Breckinridge Jerome G. Kerwin
Anton J. Carlson Wayne McMillen
Alfred E. Emerson Charles E. Merriam
Henry G. Gale T. V. Smith
Charles W. Gilkey Louis Wirth

 

Source:    University of Chicago Library, Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration. Records. Box 72, Folder “Economics Department, 1937-1939”.

Categories
Chicago Columbia Economists Gender Wellesley

Chicago. Mary Barnett Gilson upon retirement, 1941

 

 

A late-starter for an academic career, Wellesley College alumna (1899) Mary Barnett Gilson attained her highest academic degree (A.M.) from Columbia at the tender age of about 49 years following a career in industrial relations.  She then spent ten years teaching economics at the University of Chicago before retiring as an assistant professor emeritus in 1942. In her exchange of letters with the president of the university, Robert M. Hutchins, that have been transcribed for this post, one reads of her frustration at not having had an opportunity to teach in her field of expertise, industrial relations, either in the business school or the Downtown College. She is also quite clear in her disappointment as not having been promoted to the rank of associate professor. She believed she had hit a gender glass-ceiling. It would be of interest to compare other non-Ph.D. faculty of the period at the University of Chicago and elsewhere who had been promoted to ranks of associate professor and higher. Still there can be little doubt that we have here an account of a woman who had encountered genuine discrimination.

Also of interest is to read “I’m very busy trying to enlighten the Mid-West and dispel some of the fog created by America First” written five days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

She eventually moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where she spent the rest of her long life.

_______________

Mary Barnett Gilson, A.M. (1877-1969)
University of Chicago years

1931- 33 Instructor of Economics.
1933-34  Assistant in Economics
1934-41  Assistant Professor of Economics
1940-42 Assistant Professor of Economics in the College.
1942-     Assistant Professor Emeritus of Economics in the College.

[Apparently only taught during the second semester at Wellesley College 1942. Lecturer in Economics. Resignation and expired appointment June 1942, Wellseley College, as of June, 1942.]

_______________

Mary B. Gilson published a memoir in 1940
Papers at Wellesley College Archives

From a review of Mary Barnett Gilson, What’s Past Is Prologue. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1940.

“Her ideas and feelings about industrial problems spring from varied experience as a branch librarian in a steel district, department-store salesgirl, vocational counselor, employment manager, research worker in labor problems, and university professor.”

Source:  William M. Leiserson. Review of What’s Past is Prologue by Mary Barnett Gilson in American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 47, No. 1 (July 1941), pp. 123-124.

*  * *  *  *

Mary B. Gilson Papers in Wellesley College Archives. Records of the Class of 1899, 1898-1954: a guide. 6C.1899.   Boxes 5-20, Oversize 2-4.

Apparently some of these items are on microfilm in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina. Mary Barnett Gilson Papers, 1909-1959. Does not appear to have any University of Chicago or Wellesley College related material.

_______________

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Fellowship: 1939

GILSON, MARY BARNETT

Appointed for the preparation of a book to be entitled “Industry, Management and Labor: A record of thirty years”; tenure, twelve months from October 1, 1939.

Born: September 10, 1877, at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 

Education:  Wellesley College, B.A., 1899; Columbia University, M.A., 1926. London School of Economics, 1935–36.

Engaged in industrial work in the fields of labor relations, employment and management, and consultant and research worker in industrial relations, 1912—.

Assistant Professor of Economics, 1931—, University of Chicago.

Publications: Unemployment Benefits in the United States (with others), 1930; Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain, 1931; Unemployment Insurance, 1932. Articles in International Labour Review, Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences.

 

Source:  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Website: Fellows/Mary Barnett Gilson.

_______________

Handwritten letter by Mary B. Gilson to President Hutchins

The University of Chicago
Department of Economics

April 17, 1941

Dear President Hutchins,

Perhaps you have been notified that my resignation will take effect at the end of this quarter. I have deeply appreciated the atmosphere of freedom at the University of Chicago and your part in preserving it.

Cordially yours,

Mary B. Gilson

*  * *  *  *

Attached slip of paper with handwritten notes:

[Secretary?:] She doesn’t say so but I know she wants very badly to see you.

[Hutchins?:] How do you know?

[Secretary?:] She told me so. She wants to tell you what is wrong with this institution. I think you should give her an opportunity for a parting shot.

[Hutchins?:] Will do some time. no hurry about it.–RMH

_______________

Handwritten letter by Mary B. Gilson to President Hutchins

Mary Barnett Gilson—1154 East 56thStreet—Chicago, Illinois

Nov. 24, ‘41

Dear Mr. Hutchins,

I am confident Ben Selekman would not object to my sending you his letter to me. Please destroy it when you have read it.

It is too bad that on a recent barn-storming trip of one night stands in Western Pennsylvania I left, somewhere en route, the two pamphlets Mr. Selekman sent me. You would enjoy the Atlantic Monthly reprint, I know you would! Will you have your secretary ask him for a copy or shall I?

If I had not promised that Pittsburgh men’s forum I would speak on “Strikes and Production” I can assure you I would not have chosen November 17th, 1941 A.M.[?] to speak on that subject. A lot of steel and coal and coke magnates from their Triangle offices were in my audience and when some of them as well as some labor leaders told me after my 45 minute broadcast and a subsequent 30 minute question period that I had been “fair” I breathed normally once more.

It seems queer to know I shall soon be “emeritus”. I wish I had had some opportunity to use my industrial experience more effectively here during the past ten years but either the Mid-West is no place for a woman in that field or [Carl F.] Huth and [William Homer] Spencer and Raleigh Stone et al don’t think it is! I’d like to have demonstrated I could retire from here as an emeritus associated instead of an emeritus assistant. I try to think titles don’t mean anything but people in academic circles seem to think they do!

Cordially yours,

Mary Gilson

*  * *  *  *

[handwritten note: “Please destroy”]

B. M. Selekman
24 Province Street
Boston, Mass.

November 3, 1941.

Miss Mary Gilson
Faculty Exchange #169
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Dear Mary:

It is very kind of you to write me about the little screed in the Survey Graphic. I feel the whole thing very keenly and I am glad that you agree. I developed the same thought at somewhat greater length in the Atlantic Monthly. Apparently you missed it so I am sending you a copy as well as a reprint of another article in the Harvard Business Review which I think you will find interesting from the point of view of your own experience in labor relations.

Your piece in the current Survey Graphic touches also on the same theme that I tried to develop in the Business Review article.

Let me now tell you that I should have written you a long time ago how much I enjoyed your book. It just breathed your kindliness, human understanding and impatience with cant and stupidity.

We are both, naturally, disappointed in Hutchins. How can a person with his sensitiveness to the classic tradition fail to see the issue of humanism in the current world crisis as projected by the Nazis! I wish you could get him to read my Atlantic Monthly article, although one despairs of changing a point of view in a person as intelligent as he is. Sometimes I find the intelligent person the most closed mind. They live within a framework of thought which is so consistent to them that they do not see the complexities and subtleties in actual life about them.

I am happy to hear that you are out barnstorming in the interest of getting our mid-western neighbors to see the issues clearly in Hitler’s threat to us.

I am sorry to hear that you are to retire in another year. I should think that your first-hand-experience could have been put forth to students for a great many more years with profit to them.

It is good news, however, that you are thinking of settling in Boston or Wellesley. One is not quite so much in the hurly-burly of things as in New York. On the other hand one does get a better opportunity living in New England to think and reflect.

With affectionate greetings from both of us,

Ever yours,
[signed]
Ben

_______________

Carbon Copy of President Hutchin’s response to Gilson

November 27, 1941

Dear Miss Gilson:

Thank you for your kind note. As for Selekman, tell him that I am disappointed in him and that if he will read my speeches I will read his article.

I share your views on the anti-feminine leanings of this University and on the issue of academic rank. There is a sub-committee of the Senate Committee on University Policy now at work on a proposal to abolish academic rank in the University. If the suggestion ever gets out of the sub-committee it will be buried with a unanimous whoop in the Senate.

Come and see me some time.

Sincerely yours,

ROBERT M. HUTCHINS

Miss Mary B. Gilson
Assistant Professor of Economics
The University of Chicago

_______________

Handwritten letter by Mary B. Gilson to President Hutchins

[Handwritten note: “no ans.”]

Mary Barnett Gilson—1154 East 56thStreet—Chicago, Illinois

Dec. 2 [1941]

Dear Mr. Hutchins,

You see I always get promoted in print, and when I lecture I spend the first five minutes telling my audience that I am not “Professor” and that I haven’t even a doctorate. That’s the chief reason I’d be in favor of doing away with titles! Program chairmen just can’t bear the ignominy of bringing an assistant professor to their groups. So I always get a promotion, which lasts until I get on my feet.

I surely shall accept your invitation to drop in to see you some day. Thanks ever  so much. I’m very busy trying to enlighten the Mid-West and dispel some of the fog created by America First. I’m sure you are busy, too.

I am playing with the idea of going to Becea[?] for Christmas vacation. I have always wanted to see it and this seems a possible time.

Please give my kindest regards to your beloved father. It was a joy to have a chance to become acquainted with him the summer of 1940.

Cordially yours,

Mary Gilson

_______________

Handwritten letter by Mary B. Gilson to President Hutchins

WELLESLEY COLLEGE
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Department of Economics

Friday, February 27 [1942]

Dear Mr. Hutchins,

I was sorry indeed to come away from Chicago without saying good-bye to you. As my beloved old [Wellesley College] teacher Vida Scudder said the other day, “Even if we don’t see eye to eye on present solutions of present problems, we agree down deep on fundamental issues.” Well, whether you and I agree on fundamental and also on less fundamental issues or not, I have a lot of respect for you and I regret deeply not having had a chance to say good-bye.

President McAfee’s s.o.s. to come here and take over a group of seniors in a course in industrial relations came so precipitately that I had little time for anything but packing and storing my household goods and attending to all those chores that must be done when one moves from one town to another. It all had to be done in a week.

I am having a grand time with twenty-five of the finest girls I’ve met for a long time. We meet around a big round table, which is an answer to the prayer I sent up every little while during the past ten years when those gloomy, repelling rooms in Cobb put a long face on this school arm. I always wanted a whack at an industrial relations course “on the side” at the U. of C., in the School of Business or Downtown College) but Deans [William Homer] Spencer and [Carl F.] Huth evidently thought a woman didn’t and shouldn’t know about the mysterious field of business and industry.

Please throw away the enclosures after you have read them. They are between you and me and the gate-post.

As you said, the last time I saw you, “God bless you!”

Faithfully yours,

Mary B. Gilson

*  * *  *  * *  *

Attachment 1
Typed Letter from Mary Anderson to Mary Gilson

[Anderson, Mary. Woman at work: The autobiography of Mary Anderson as told to Mary N. Winslow. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1951. Obituary: Mary Anderson, Ex-U.S. aide, dies; Directed Women’s Bureau in Labor Department, New York Times, January 30, 1964.]

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
WOMEN’S BUREAU
Washington

January 30, 1942

Dear Mary,

I am very much interested in your letter and it seems to me that instead of going to Wellesley you ought to be staying at Chicago University and teaching in this new class. [Gilson added “*” in the margin with a handwritten note at the bottom of this letter]

I am going to Chicago next week to speak at the American Management Association conference at the Stevens Hotel and I have been asked by Mr. Mitchell to stop off at Chicago University and give a talk on Thursday morning the 5th. I shall do so because I want to know what they are doing, what they are teaching and what they are preparing the people for. He says they have 150 men and 50 women in the class. The training classes are now being opened up to women all over because they realize that they will have to use them and that means of course that they will have to have training for women supervisors as well as production workers. [Gilson added comment to this sentence in margin: “But Chicago is training women for white collar jobs.”]

I hope you will find your place in Wellesley more to your liking. I suppose you won’t be coming to Washington now, since the Wage and Hour Division is moving to New York. We in the Department of Labor regret that moving very much. Of course we may find it will strike us.

With much love to you,

[signed]
Mary

Miss Mary Gilson
1154 East 56thStreet
Chicago, Illinois

[Handwritten note: *I told her I had never, in the ten years at U. of C., been called into the Business School or Downtown College for any sort of a contribution I might have made toward training women for anything. I think Raleigh Stone may think I’m a “red” M.B.G.]

*  * *  *  * *  *

Attachment 2
Mary Anderson typed letter to Mary Gilson

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
WOMEN’S BUREAU
Washington

February 18, 1942

Dear Mary,

I was very glad to have your analysis of that class at Chicago University. There were 150 men and 50 women. The men were training mainly for supervisors in industry and the women were training for supervisors in offices. The attitude towards the women was the same as usual. [underlining by Gilson with marginal note “Usual white collar stuff for ladies!”] They asked me questions – if women ought to have the same wages as men, and would women get out of the factories after the men come back from the war. I told them that there was much more to it than just coming back from the war and getting the jobs back, that it was a question of converting the industries back to consumer goods and there was also the question of some of the industries that would not be working at all after the war as we would not need their material; then there is of course the cutting down on war material quite considerably, and then I said to the men, “Have you any idea how many of the men will come back from the war and how many of the men that come back will be able to take any jobs?” I said that was a very hard way of putting it but at the same time we were in a different war than we have been in and it is very difficult to tell what would happen, that after all if we are to win this war it will take men and women together, all of us, and that I think we would do well not to quibble over who is going to have the jobs after the war is over. [underlining by Gilson].

I didn’t see Mr. Mitchell, so I have no opinion of him. I thought the two women that were steering the class were very good, and earnest. One of the professors was giving a psychology lesson just before I spoke so I heard some of it, and it was a regular college psychology lesson. I don’t know what good it would do a class that will take positions in industry as supervisors. One of the women, however, (and I don’t remember their names) had a very bad attitude towards labor. She could not understand why labor wanted more money when the men that enlisted got only $21 a month. I told her that after all they got a great deal more than that, they got their clothes and their keep, which amounts to a great deal more; I didn’t think, however, they got enough fro what they were risking by any means, but that was no reason that the workers should not have a decent wage. They, too, were risking their all, and the employers in bidding on the contracts took the labor costs as well as the costs of material into consideration.

I had a grand time at the American Management Association and the training of women is now beginning. They were very much interested and they have written in for all kinds of information.

I think our work from now on will be that of seeing that women are not exploited and that labor standards are maintained.

With love to you,

[signed, “Mary”]
Mary Anderson, Director

Miss Mary Gilson
Claflin Hall
Wellesley College,
Wellesley, Mass.

_______________

Handwritten note by E.F. [Vice-President, Emery T. Filbey] attached to previous Gilson letter

Personally I would not pick either of the Marys for instruction in industrial relations unless I wanted to start a private war.

E.F.

[underneath: in a different handwriting “Nice long letter. How etc[?] we [??]  & so on.”

_______________

Carbon copy of typed letter from Hutchins to Gilson.

March 4, 1942

Dear Miss Gilson:

I could not hope for a more generous statement of good faith overlooking difference of opinion than that expressed in your letter of February 27. I cannot do better than return the sentiments with my regret that we had no opportunity to exchange them in person.

I hope that Wellesley will treat you as you would like, or in other words, that Wellesley will treat you as well as you deserve.

The enclosures you sent me lead me to believe that you and I do not disagree on fundamental issues. You and your friends are concerned about exploitation of our women and disintegration of our labor standards. I am concerned, as you are too, about exploitation of our citizens and disintegration of our democracy.

Sincerely yours,

ROBERT M. HUTCHINS

Miss Mary B. Gilson
Department of Economics
Wellesley College
Wellesley, Massachusetts

 

Source:    University of Chicago Library, Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration. Records. Box 72, Folder “Economics Department, 1939-1943.”

Image Source:  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Website: Fellows/Mary Barnett Gilson.