Tag: Huse

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Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollment and semester examinations for principles of economics. Taussig, Bullock and Andrew. 1907-1908

Frank W. Taussig, Charles J. Bullock, A. Piatt Andrew

In addition to the 1907-08 exam questions for Principles of Economics taught at Harvard by Frank W. Taussig, Charles J. Bullock, and A. Piatt Andrew, this post provides links to the previously transcribed 36 years worth of exams.

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Exams for principles (a.k.a. outlines)
of economics at Harvard
1870/71-1906/07

1871-75.
1876-77.
1877-78.
1878-79.
1879-80.
1880-81.
1881-82.
1882-83.
1883-84.
1884-85.
1885-86.
1886-87.
1887-88.
1888-89.
1889-90.
1890-91.
1891-92.
1892-93.
1893-94.
1894-95.
1895-96.
1896-97.
1897-98.
1898-99.
1899-00.
1900-01.
1901-02.
1902-03.
1903-04.
1904-05.
1905-06.
1906-07.

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Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professors [Charles Jesse] Bullock and [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Dr. [Charles Phillips] Huse, and Messrs. [?] Hall, [Probably: Walter Max Shohl, A.B. 1906] Shohl and [Abbott Payson] Usher [A.B. 1904]. — Principles of Economics.

Total 482: 1 Graduate, 8 Seniors, 76 Juniors, 290 Sophomores, 66 Freshmen, 41 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 66.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1907-08

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. Does saving lead to investment? Does investment lead to the increase of capital? Does the increase of capital lead to the decline of interest? If so, explain in each case why and how; if not, why not?
  2. Suppose that by the use of more prolific seeds the yield of agriculture were very greatly increased; what immediate consequences would you expect as to
    1. The price of agricultural produce;
    2. Economic rent on agricultural land;
    3. The earnings of farmers?

Wherein might the ultimate consequence be different?

  1. Is there any inconsistency between the propositions that
    1. Value is governed by demand and supply;
    2. Value is governed by marginal utility;
    3. The price of a monopolized commodity may be different for different purchasers?
  2. How far does the price of a copyrighted book depend on its cost? How far does its cost depend on its price?
  3. Explain what is meant by “non-competing groups,” and how the situation indicated by that phrase is connected with questions concerning trade-unions and the closed shop.
  4. What effect has the unattractiveness of an employment on the wages of those engaged in it? How do you explain the current scale of wages for unskilled labor? For “sweated” laborers? For domestic servants?
  5. Is it beneficial to laborers as a class that there should be (1) great mobility and free competition between business men and investors; (2) great mobility and free competition between the laborers themselves?

One of the following questions may be omitted.

  1. Suppose coöperative production were universally adopted, how would business profits be affected? Suppose profit-sharing were universally adopted, how would they be affected? Suppose all laborers organized in trade-unions, how would they be affected?
  2. What is the significance for labor questions of
    1. “Making work”;
    2. Luxurious expenditure by the rich;
    3. Jurisdiction disputes?
  3. Explain precisely what social movement you associate with the following:—
    1. Rochdale Pioneers;
    2. Leclaire;
    3. Knights of Labor;
    4. American Federation of Labor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1907-08.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. Wherein is there resemblance, wherein difference, between the causes that determine the value of

a ton of coal;
an ounce of gold;
a dollar of inconvertible paper?

  1. Wherein, if at all, are the following subject to the law of monopoly value:—

urban sites;
the output of a protective industry;
railway transportation?

  1. It is said that “charging what the traffic will bear” may rest on two different causes. Do you find either or both of the causes in (a) railway rates; (b) the prices of illuminating oil; (c) the prices of cotton-seed oil?
  2. Explain the following terms:—

index number;
bimetallism;
limping standard;
Independent Treasury system;
Gresham’s Law.

  1. In the year 1906 the exports of merchandise from the United States exceeded the imports by about 500 million dollars. In the same year the imports of gold were about 50 million dollars.

(a) Can such a disparity continue for a long period of years? If so, why? If not, why not?

(b) So long as it continues, do you regard the situation as favorable for the people of the United States?

  1. Explain the measures taken in periods of great financial stress in (a) England, (b) Germany, (c) the United States; and mention in each case to what extent these measures were contemplated by existing legislation.
  2. What determines the selling-price of (a) an urban site advantageous for business; (b) the shares of a street railway corporation; (c) the shares of a “trust” whose capitalization much exceeds its tangible property? In which of these cases, if in any, can it be said that there is “over-capitalization”?
  3. Suppose the public-service industries (“monopolies of organization”) to be placed under government management. Do you think wages would be lower or higher in these industries? Would the general level of wages in the community be higher or lower?
    On the same supposition, do you think prices of the commodities or services supplied by those industries would be higher or lower? Would the general level of prices be higher or lower?
  4. Does the encouragement of domestic industries through tariff duties cause a saving by doing away with the expense of transporting goods from foreign countries? Are such duties likely to bring a charge on the foreign producer or on the domestic consumer?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1908), pp. 26-27.

Image Source: Faculty portraits of Frank W. Taussig, Charles J. Bullock, A. Piatt Andrew. The Harvard Class Album, 1906. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollments, staffing, exams for principles of economics. Taussig, Bullock, Andrew. 1906-1907

It is now time to begin posting transcriptions of course material for the Harvard academic year 1906-07. Sometimes, even for the curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, this becomes a tedious task. Still, the opportunity to assemble a long time series of economics exams into searchable text for one of the leading economics departments has the virtue of being steady work. 

In the beginning… there is the undergraduate principles of economics course and that is the subject of this post. Subsequent posts more or less follow the course numbering used at the time by Harvard.

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Taussig explains the course structure

In a letter Aug 8, 1906 to E.R.A. Seligman at Columbia describing how Economics 1 was taught we learn that Frank Taussig gave the first semester lectures and his younger colleagues, Charles J. Bullock and A. Piatt Andrew split the second semester’s lectures between themselves. The textbooks used in the course were “Mill, Walker, and Seager.” Taussig also gave himself credit for introducing the course structure of having a common set of lectures and small-section work for discussion and exercises.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professors [Charles Jesse] Bullock and [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Messrs [Selden Osgood] Martin, [Frank Richardson] Mason, G. R. [George Randall] Lewis, [Charles Phillips] Huse, and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe. — Principles of Economics.

Total 392: 1 Graduate, 15 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 252 Sophomores, 50 Freshmen, 31 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. Explain briefly what is meant by, — free goods; public goods; utility; marginal utility; productive labor.
  2. Explain the relation between, — the rate of interest; the selling price of land; the capitalization of monopolies; vested rights.
  3. What is meant by urban site rent? Does such rent differ from the rent of agricultural land? If so, in what essentials? If not, why not?
  4. Are business profits a return different in kind from wages, according to Mill? Seager? the instructor in the course?
  5. Is a high birth-rate to be regarded with anxiety? a low birth-rate? a high death-rate? a low death-rate? State (in round numbers per 1000 of population) what you would regard as high and low rates.
  6. Would you expect the price of a commodity to fall if its cost of production were lowered? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
    Would you expect the cost of producing a commodity to be lowered if its price fell? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
  7. Wherein had immigration into the United States during the decade just passed differed from immigration in earlier times; and what effect has recent immigration had (a) on the general rate of wages, (b) on wages in particular occupations?
  8. Explain the connection between, — collective bargaining; the closed shop; the open union.
  9. Suppose socialism, in the form proposed by Fourier, were adopted: how would wages, rent, interest, business profits, be affected? What if socialism, as outlined by modern writers, were adopted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

I.
Answer three questions.

  1. Does the value of a commodity depend on its utility? Does the price of a commodity depend on its value?
  2. Explain briefly what is meant by (a) the sweating system, (b) producers’ coöperation, (c) collective bargaining.
  3. Suppose a great increase in the supply of (a) gold, (b) silver, (c) wheat: would the values of these three articles be affected in the same way and in the same degree?
  4. What is the nature of the income received by (a) an owner of lodging house who lets rooms to students; (b) an owner of shares a “trust”; (c) an author receiving royalty on a copy-righted book; (d) a mine owner receiving a royalty (so much per ton) on minerals extracted from his mine.

II.
Answer three questions.

  1. Describe the various forms of credit which serve as means of exchange. Does their existence afford any disproof of the “quantity theory”? Explain why or why not.
  2. If there were no legal restrictions, would anything tend to prevent an over-expansion (a) of deposits, (b) of notes?
    If the present legal restrictions on note issue were abolished, what substitutes would you suggest?
  3. The imports of the United States from Brazil permanently exceed our exports to that country. What movements of specie between these countries are involved? The total exports of merchandise from the United States permanently exceed its imports. What movements of specie to or from this country are involved?
  4. Given mint par with England 4.86 2/3, France 5.18, Germany 0.952. What conditions with regard to American trade are indicated by the following quotations of exchange in New York, 4.84, 5.20, 0.945? How ought these rates to stand if the American dollar were to fall to half its present gold value?

III.
Answer three questions.

  1. According: to the principles laid down by Adam Smith and Mill, what changes should be made in the system of taxation employed by our national government?
  2. Compare the history of the income tax in the United States with the history of the tax in two European countries.
  3. What are the principal arguments for and against the proposal to levy progressive income taxes in order to prevent “undue” concentration of wealth? What are the arguments for and against using progressive inheritance taxes for the same purpose?
  4. Should a national debt be extinguished? Should municipal debts be extinguished? (In each case state fully the reasons for your answer.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1907), pp. 24-25.

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig in the Harvard Class Album, 1906. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Harvard Teaching Undergraduate

Harvard. Memos on teaching assistants and grading in economics courses, 1911

 

Six memos primarily concerned with the supervision of teaching assistants in economics courses, but also other interesting incidental detail is revealed. Of the six professors listed on economics department letterhead, Taussig was able to get a memorandum from everyone except for O. M. W. Sprague.

I have provided additional information from the published course announcements, annual Presidential Reports, along with some additional information on the subsequent careers of some of the teaching assistants named.

__________________

Taussig’s Cover Letter

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 22, 1911.

Dear Mr. Blake:

You remember that you made some inquiries on the President’s behalf concerning the extent to which the work of assistants was supervised in the various courses. I enclose a batch of memoranda concerning the courses in our Department, and think they tell the whole story. If further information is desired, we shall be glad to supply it.

Very truly yours,
[signed]
F. W. Taussig

Mr. J. A. L. Blake

__________________

Frank W. Taussig and Edmund Ezra Day’s Courses

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 1. Principles of Economics. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Taussig, assisted by Drs. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Harvard Ph.D., 1907], [Edmund Ezra] Day [Harvard Ph.D., 1909],  and [Robert Franz] Foerster [Harvard Ph.D., 1909], and Messrs. Sharfman [not included in ex-post staffing report in President’s Report] and  [Alfred Burpee] Balcom [Harvard A.M. (1909), S.B. Acadia (1907), Nova Scotia].

[Economics] 18b 2hf. Banking and Foreign Exchange. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Dr. [Edmund Ezra] Day [Harvard Ph.D., 1909].

[Economics] 12 1hf. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. [Edmund Ezra] Day [Harvard Ph.D., 1909].

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Memorandum regarding Economics 1

The professor in charge lectures twice a week. For the third hour the men are divided into sections, conducted on the familiar plan. Every Thursday afternoon, throughout the year, I meet the section instructors and discuss the work of the week with them. Questions to be asked at the section meetings are proposed by the instructors, are approved, vetoed, or modified, by myself. Usually we come to an understanding as to the topics to be discussed in the sections after the papers have been written. Not infrequently we arrange for diagrams or figures to be used, identically in all the sections; these touching points which it is desired to make clear. Immediately after the mid-year and final examinations I always meet the instructors and we read a batch of blue books together; we compare our grades, questions by questions, and try to make sure that the same standard is applied in all cases. My experience is that there is substantial uniformity in the grading.

Some of my instructors, who have charge of large numbers in their own courses, have readers to assist them in the examination of the weekly papers. Dr. Day reports as follows concerning the weekly papers in his sections: “I always instruct the “reader” as to exactly what is expected in answer to the question assigned. Students are encouraged to refer to me any cases of grading where injustice seems to have been done and, where such cases disclose any error or inaccuracy in the grading, the matter is carefully reviewed with the reader.” I may add that Dr. Day reports that he personally grades all the papers both in Economics 12 and 8b.

__________________

Courses of Thomas Nixon Carver

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 3. Principles of Sociology.—Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver and an assistant [Lucius Moody Bristol listed in President’s Report 1910-11 as the course teaching assistant].

[Economics] 14a 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Thu., at 1.30.Professor Carver.

[Economics] 14b 2hf. Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Thu., at 1.30. Professor Carver.
Open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Economics 14a.

Information about the teaching assistant actually named by Carver

Harvard A.M. (1911), but no Harvard Ph.D.

Philip Benjamin Kennedy received his A.M. from Harvard in 1911; A.B. Beloit (Wis.) 1905; Litt.B. Occidental (Cal.) 1906.

Source: Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University 1636-1915.p. 574.

Additional biographical information.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Taussig:

In Economics 3 the class is divided into two sections for Friday conferences. Mr. Kennedy, the assistant, takes one section and I take the other, but we alternate. Each section has a fifteen-minute paper on the day when Mr. Kennedy has it. There is no paper in the section meeting when I conduct it.

As to blue book reading, etc., I do not read any of the Friday papers. I read hour and final examination papers only in those cases where Mr. Kennedy gives and A or an E, where he is doubtful, and where the student is dissatisfied with his mark. Then, too, I always read the paper for any student who asks me to. Mr. Kennedy and I go over all the grades together and make up the final return.

In Economics 14a and 14b, there are no section meetings. The blue books are marked and the term averages made out in the same way as in Economics 3.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
T. N. Carver
[initials:  O.H.]

Professor Taussig.

__________________

William Morse Cole’s Accounting Course

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 18. Principles of Accounting. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. Asst. Professor Cole and an assistant [Messrs. Johnson and Platt].
Course 18 is not open to students before their last year of undergraduate work. For men completing their work at the end of the first half-year, it may be counted, with the consent of the instructor, as a half-course.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 23, 1911

Dear Professor Taussig

With regard to the supervision of assistants’ work in Economics 18, I have to report as follows:

There are no section meetings in charge of assistants, though if competent assistants were available I might have such work done. The work of my chief assistant is reading short papers written in the classroom and reading outside written work and blue-books. I have attempted to keep a uniform standard where several men have been reading for me at once by having a bunch of papers read by all the readers and then by me in their presence for comparison and comment. Even then there has been some variation and I have sometimes myself reread all questions where variation seemed most likely to occur. For that reason, I have this year had all reading of short papers and blue-books done by one man, who has shown himself of unusually sound judgment. I have been over all short papers with him, and read after him a bunch of mid-year books—-after I had been through several books with him. In all cases where a few points would affect a man’s grade I have personally examined the blue-book in confirmation of my assistant’s judgment. This is his third year of work for me, and I have very great confidence in him, for after innumerable checks on his work I have never found it erring more than human frailty is bound to err.

His other work has been of two parts: assisting me occasionally in the voluntary conferences which I offer weekly for assistance to men who cannot keep the pace that I set for the class work as a whole (on the principle that the quick men should not be required to attend three meetings a week if the third is necessary only for those who do not take naturally to this sort of thing); and holding required conferences with thesis writers, and reading theses. I have not had much check on the conference work and the reading of theses, for two reasons: the theses are on reports of corporations, and since no man can be familiar with the annual reports of many score of such corporations, he can not determine omissions of facts (since there is no uniformity), but only the application of certain fundamental principles, which I know that my assistants are familiar with; the theses are written merely to give the men practice in reading between the lines of actual reports, and the result of that practice shows not only in the theses themselves but in all a man’s work, especially in the final examination, so that the reading of the thesis is done rather to determine whether a man has used the opportunity afforded him for practice, than to determine how much good he has got out of it—-for the amount of good is reflected in many ways, and to pass judgment on the correctness of the conclusions drawn in each particular thesis would require that the judge should have devoted long study to the reports with which the thesis is concerned.

The reading of theses, and the conference work in connection with them, is done by four or five assistants.

With the additional funds allowed by the contribution of the visiting committee, I shall have more short papers done in the third-hour meetings and shall make attendance required for men whose work shows that they need it.

Sincerely yours
[signed]
William Morse Cole

__________________

Economic history courses of Edwin F. Gay

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Fall term, 1910-11 taught by Professor Edwin Francis Gay, assisted by Julius Klein.

Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Spring term, 1910-11 taught by Professor Edwin Francis Gay, assisted by Julius Klein.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Office of the Dean

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 4, 1911

Dear Taussig:

I have assistance, as you know, in only one course, 6a and 6b. In this course as I have run it this year a half-hour test on reading is given every fortnight and a thesis is written. The reading of the papers for the half-hour test is left almost entirely in the hands of the Assistant. When I am breaking in a new man I usually look over some of the papers at the beginning to see that he gets the proper idea in regard to grading. He holds a series of conferences with the students in regard to their theses, referring them in cases of difficulty to me. The Assistant reads the theses but I myself make it a point to read them all in addition, since it is very difficult to grade these properly. The Assistant reads the final blue books in the course but I myself sample the final blue books and in all doubtful cases read the final blue book in addition to the thesis.

I think this answer the points raised by your question.

Very truly yours,
[signed]
Edwin F. Gay.

Professor F. W. Taussig

__________________

Public Finance Course of Charles Bullock

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 7 2hf. Public Finance, considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation. Half-course (second half-year) Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Professor Bullock and an assistant.

[Note: in the ex post staffing report in the President’s Report the instructor is listed as Dr. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Harvard Ph.D., 1907], assisted by Wilfred Eldred (Harvard Ph.D. 1919) and Roscoe Russell Hess (Harvard A.B. (1911) magna cum laude)]

Possible Harvard Undergraduate as a teaching assistant

Roscoe Russell Hess [I am guessing this was the teaching assistant in the public finance course]

Source: Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University 1636-1915.p. 449.

Bowdoin Prizes for dissertations in English for undergraduates: first prize of $250, Roscoe Russell Hess ’11, of Seattle, Wash., on “The Paper Industry and Its Relation to the Conservation and the Tariff”

Source: Harvard Crimson, May 17, 1911.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 7, 1911

My dear Taussig:

My arrangements with the assistants in Economics 7 are substantially as follows:

I meet with them on Wednesday at 3.30 and go over with them fully the work for the conferences on Friday and Saturday. We first select questions for the paper that we set the men at the sections, aiming of course to make the questions given the different sections a nearly as possible of equal difficulty. I also go over the subjects treated in the assigned reading for the week and indicate the points which I think the assistants would better emphasize in the oral discussion in the sections.

During the early part of the half-year I also meet the assistants each week to confer with them about the marking of the weekly papers. The method that we follow is to read together several papers in each of the divisions, discussing the proper marks to be assigned to the papers until we find that we have come to substantial agreement.

I think in general you can say that the method followed in 7 is substantially like the method followed in Economics 1.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
C. J. Bullock
[initials: O. H.]

Professor Taussig

__________________

Labor and Transportation Courses taught by W. Z. Ripley

From the Course Announcements, 1910-11

[Economics] 5 1hf. Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Thu., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Whitnack.

[Economics] 9a 1hf. Problems of Labor. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Thu., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Whitnack.

Teaching assistant Whitnack probably never awarded Ph.D. from Harvard

According to the Quinquennial catalogue, Ralph C. Whitnack did receive an A.M. from Harvard in 1911. Ralph Cahoon Whitnack, formerly Ralph Cahoon Whitenack; A.B. Brown 1906; Prof. Pol. Eco., Keio Univ. (Japan) 1914-.

Source: Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University 1636-1915.p. 574.

Whitnack’s dissertation listed being “in progress” in 1915

Doctoral dissertation “Social stratification” in progress listed in the AER list of doctoral dissertations in progress American Economic Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 (June 1915), p. 477.

Whitnack’s death in 1919

Professor Ralph Cahoon Whitnack, formerly professor of economics at Keio University, Tokio, died April 14, 1919. At the time of his death Professor Whitnack was serving as joint revenue commissioner for the native state of Baroda, India. He had direct jurisdiction over the departments of excise and customs, agriculture and cooperative credit. During 1918 and until his death he was price controller and director of civil supplies.

Source:  Notes in American Economic Review, Vol. 9, No. 4 (December 1919), p. 946.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

Cambridge, Massachusetts
24 February 1911.

Dear Professor Taussig,–

I have pleasure, in accordance with your note of even date, and in the absence of Professor Ripley, in submitting the following memorandum concerning the relations between instructor, assistant and students in Economics 5 and 9a.

The weekly section meetings are held under the direction of the assistant, after conference in each case between the assistant and instructor as to the issues to be discussed and general methods pursued.

Conferences concerning theses are held concurrently by the instructor and assistant at advertised hours. Each student is required to confer at least once with either instructor or assistant before handing in thesis.

The instructor has three hours per week, and the assistant one or more as required, for general conference with students who seek it.

The correction of weekly papers is done by the assistant.

The correction and grading of hour examinations, theses and blue books is done by the assistant under the supervision and in conference with the instructor. In particular all grades of E, A and D are scrutinized by the instructor, who goes over the blue-books and theses and assigns finalgrades in consultation with the assistant.

Very sincerely yours,
R. C. Whitnack
Austin J. Fellow: Ec. 5 and 9a.

__________________

Source for the memoranda: 

Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers, 1909-1914. Box 15, Folder 413 “1909-14”.

Source for course listings information:

Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1910-11.

Source for ex post staffing of courses:

Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, pp. 48ff.

Source for Harvard economics Ph.D.’s:

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s page “Harvard. Doctoral Dissertations in Economics, 1875-1926”.

Image Source: Harvard University #2, Cambridge, Mass, c1910. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

 

 

Categories
Curriculum Gender Harvard Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics course offerings, 1910-1915

 

Here are five more installments in the series “Economics course offerings at Radcliffe College”…

Pre-Radcliffe economics course offerings and the Radcliffe courses for 1893-94,  1894-1900 , 1900-1905 , 1905-1910 have been posted earlier.

________________

1910-1911
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. HUSE and DAY. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor, Railroads, Trusts, Foreign Trade, Money, and Banking.

45 Undergraduates, 6 Special students. Total 51.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

3 Graduates, 31 Undergraduates, 1 Unclassified student.  Total 35.
(1 Graduate, 2d half only).

6a1. Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 8 Undergraduates. Total 9.

6b2. Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 12 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 2 Unclassified students. Total 18.

81. Dr. HUSE. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

7 Undergraduates. Total 7.

82. Dr. DAY. — Banking and Foreign Exchange. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

5 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 6.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

2 Graduates, 11 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 15.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 11 Undergraduates, 3 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 16.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Millinery Trade in Boston. 1 Graduate. (b) The Small Loan Business in Boston. 1 Graduate.

Total 2.

**20b. Professor CARVER. — The Laws of Production and Valuation.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1910-11, pp. 49-50.

_______________

1911-1912
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAY and Mr. J. S. DAVIS. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Consumption, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

43 Undergraduates, 8 Special students, 1 Unclassified student.
(1 Undergraduate, 1 Special student, 1 Unclassified student 1sthalf only.)  Total 52.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. — Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

4 Graduates, 18 Undergraduates, 6 Special Students. (1 Special student, 1st half only.)  Total 28.

6a1. Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 4 Undergraduates, 3 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 9.

6b2. Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 9 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 14.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2d half-year.

3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

*18. Asst. Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

6 Undergraduates. (4 Undergraduates, 1st half only; 1 Undergraduate, 2d half only.)  Total 6.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Organization of the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. 1 Graduate. (b) Economic Policy of England from 1625 to 1660. 1 Graduate. (c) Women in the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts. 2 Graduates.

Total 4.

20b. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1911-12, pp. 53-54.

_______________

1912-1913
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAY. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Consumption, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

24 Undergraduates, 8 Special students, 4 Unclassified students.
(1 Special student, 1st half only.) Total 36.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2a1 (formerly 6a1). Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

3 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 8.

2b2 (formerly 6b2). Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

3 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates. Total 8.

7 (formerly 14). Professor CARVER. — Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice. 3 hours a week.

9 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 11.

8 (formerly 3). Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 3 hours a week.

27 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 2 Unclassified students. (1 Undergraduate, 1st half only.)  Total 31.

9 (formerly 18). Asst. Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

5 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

I
ECONOMIC THEORY AND METHOD

**121 (formerly 13). Professor CARVER. — Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1sthalf-year.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

**13 (formerly 4). Professor RIPLEY. — Statistics, Theory, method and practice. 2 hours a week.

3 Graduates. Total 3.

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

**23 (formerly 11). Dr. GRAY. — Economic History of Europe to 1760. 3 hours a week.

1 Special student. Total 1.

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — Selected Topics in Modern European Economic History.

2 Graduates. Total 4.

20b. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1912-14, pp. 42-43.

_______________

1913-1914
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY and Mr. BURBANK. — Principles of Economics. 3 hours a week.

33 Undergraduates, 5 Special students, 2 Unclassified students.  Total 40.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2a1 (formerly 6a1). Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 10 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 14.

2b2 (formerly 6b2). Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 9 Undergraduates, 1 Special student, 1 Unclassified student. Total 13.

7 (formerly 14). Asst. Professor ANDERSON. — Economic Theory: Value and Related Problems. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 5 Undergraduates.  Total 6.

9 (formerly 18). Associate Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

5 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

I
ECONOMIC THEORY AND METHOD

**11. Professor TAUSSIG. — Economic Theory. Half-course. 3 hours a week.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

**14. Professor BULLOCK. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

**24. Professor GAY. — Topics in the Economic History of the Nineteenth Century. Two consecutive evenings a week.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

 

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

2 Graduates (1 Graduate, 1st half only). Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1912-14, pp. 99-100.

_______________

1914-1915
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:

1. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY. — Principles of Economics.

5 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Unclassified students, 4 Special students.  Total 42.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

2a1 hf.  Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

3 Graduates, 3 Seniors. Total 6.

2b2 hf.   Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States

3 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior.  Total 6.

7. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Graduate, 3 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.  Total 9.

8. Asst. Professor ANDERSON. — Principles of Sociology.

6 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 1 Special student. Total 10.

Accounting

Associate Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting.

5 Seniors, 1 Junior.  Total 6.

 

Economic Theory and Method

Primarily for Graduates:

**121hf. Professor CARVER. — Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

**13. Asst. Professor DAY. — Statistics: Theory, method, and practice.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

Applied Economics

**33 hf. Professor TAUSSIG. — International Trade, with special reference to Tariff Problems in the United States.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

**34. Professor RIPLEY. — Problems of Labor.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

Course of Research

20a2 hf. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

2 Graduates.  Total 2.

 

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1914-15, pp. 41-42.

Image Source: From front matter of the bound version of  The Radcliffe Bulletin, 1912-13 in the Harvard University Library.

 

 

Categories
Curriculum Gender Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics Course Offerings, 1906-1910

 

Pre-Radliffe economics course offerings and the Radcliffe courses for  1893-94,  1894-1900 , 1900-1905 have been posted earlier.

____________________________________

1905-1906
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professor ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

17 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 20.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

62. Asst. Professor GAY.— The Economic History of the United States. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates. Total 3.

11. Asst. Professor GAY.— The Modern Economic History of Europe.  2 hours a week (and usually a third hour).

3 Graduates. Total 3.

14a1. Professor CARVER.— The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 8.

14b2. Professor CARVER.— Methods of Social Reform. — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2nd half-year.

3 Graduates, 2 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 9.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a.  Asst. Professor GAY. — The Expansion of English Trade in the Mediterranean, and the Levant Company.  1 hour a week.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

20.  Professors CARVER and RIPLEY. — Seminary in Economics. Thesis subjects: “The Basis of Taxation” and “The Industrial Education of the Fourteen Year Old Girl.”

1 Graduate (1st half-year only), 1 Special student. Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1905-06, pp. 44-45.

____________________________________

1906-1907
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professors ANDREW and Mr. DAGGETT. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

25 Undergraduates. Total 25.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Mr. J. A. FIELD.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

3 Undergraduates. Total 3.

6a1. Asst. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

2 Graduates, 6 Undergraduates. Total 8.

6b2. Asst. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year [sic].

2 Graduates, 3 Undergraduates. Total 5.

20a. Asst. Professor GAY. — (a) Foreign Merchants in England in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.  1 Graduate. (b) The Finances of English Boroughs in the Middle Ages.  1 Graduate.

Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1906-07, p. 46.

____________________________________

1907-1908
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAGGETT. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Railroads, Trusts, Foreign Trade, Banking, and Public Finance.

19 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 21.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates. Total 3.

6a1. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

2 Graduates, 6 Undergraduates. Total 8.

6b2. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

3 Graduates, 11 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 15.

8b2.  Asst. Professor ANDREW. — Banking and Foreign Exchange.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

2 Undergraduates. Total 2.

14b1.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates. Total 4.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

101. Professor GAY.— Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

3 Graduates. Total 3.

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Florentine Period of Italian Trade in Mediaeval England.  1 Graduate.
(b) The Finances of English Boroughs in the Middle Ages. 1 Graduate.
(c) Ad firmam manors in Domesday. 1 Graduate (2d half year).

1 hour a week each. Total 3.

20.  Professor RIPLEY. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice. Half-course.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1907-08, pp. 50-51.

____________________________________

1908-1909
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAGGETT. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor, Railroads, Trusts, Foreign Trade, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

15 Undergraduates. Total 15.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

10 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 11.

6a1. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

4 Graduates, 2 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 7.

6b2. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

3 Graduates, 3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 7.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course.2 hours a week, 1sthalf-year.

2 Graduates, 3 Undergraduates. Total 5.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2nd half-year.

2 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Finances of English Boroughs in the Middle Ages. 1 Graduate (2nd half-year).
(b) Ad firmam manors in Domesday. 1 Graduate

1 hour a week each. Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1908-09, pp. 48-49.

 

____________________________________

1909-1910
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. HUSE. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

29 Undergraduates, 9 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 39.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER.— Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

15 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 16.

6a1. Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st half-year.

2 Undergraduates. Total 2

6b2. Professor GAY.— Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2nd half-year.

9 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 11.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 5 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 9.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2nd half-year.

8 Undergraduates, 5 Special students. Total 13.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — The Administration of the Factory Legislation of Massachusetts.

1 Graduate, Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1909-10, pp. 47-48.

Image Source:   Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. Radcliffe College, gymnasium & Fay House, Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge Cambridge. Massachusetts United States, 1904. [?] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016809164/.

 

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Six Economics Ph.D. examinees, 1906-07

 

 

This posting lists six graduate students in economics who took their subject examinations for the Ph.D. at Harvard from April 4 through May 23, 1907, apparently the entire 1906-07 Ph.D. examination cohort. The examination committee members, academic history, general and specific subjects are provided along with the doctoral thesis subject, when declared. Lists for 1903-04, 1904-05, 1915-16, and 1926-27 were posted previously. In the same archival box one finds lists for the academic years 1902-03 through 1904-05, 1906-07 through 1913-14, 1915-16, 1917-18 through 1918-19, and finally 1926-27. I only include graduate students of economics (i.e. not included are the Ph.D. candidates in history and government).

Titles and dates of Harvard economic dissertations for the period 1875-1926 can be found here.

 

________________________________________

 

DIVISION OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.

1906-07

 

Arthur Norman Holcombe.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, April 4, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Lowell, Bullock, Gay, Ripley, and Andrew.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1902-06; Harvard Graduate School, 1906-07; A.B. (Harvard) 1906.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. [2. Economic History to 1750.] 3. Economic History since 1750. [4. Sociology and Social Reform.] 5. Public Finance. [6. Modern Government and Comparative Constitutional Law.] Excused from further examination in subjects 2, 4, and 6 on account of having taken Highest Final Honors.
Special Subject:
Thesis Subject: “The Telephone Situation.” (With Professor Taussig.)

 

Walter Wallace McLaren.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, April 10, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Hart, Bullock, Munro, and Andrew.
Academic History: Queen’s University (Canada), 1894-99; Queen’s University Theological College, 1899-1902; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-07; A.M. (Queen’s Univ.) 1899; B.D. (ibid.) 1902.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Sociology and Social Reform. 3. Transportation and Foreign Commerce. 4. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 5. The History of Canada. 6. Municipal and Local Government.
Special Subject: Canadian Economic History.
Thesis Subject: “History of the Canadian Tariff.” (With Professor Taussig.)

Frank Richardson Mason.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 8, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Channing, Bullock, Gay, Ripley, and Andrew.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1901-05; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-07; A.B. (Harvard) 1905; A.M. (ibid.) 1906.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History to 1750. 3. Economic History since 1750. 4. Money, Banking and Commercial Crises. 5. Social Reform and Industrial Organization. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: United States Economic History (or Crises?).
Thesis Subject: “The Silk Industry in Europe and America.” (With Professor Taussig.)

 

Charles Phillips Huse.

Special Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 15, 1907.
General Examination passed May 11, 1906.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Stimson, Taussig, Bullock, and Andrew.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1900-03; Harvard Graduate School, 1904-07; A.B. (Harvard) 1904; A.M. (ibid.) 1906.
Special Subject: Public Finance and Financial History.
Thesis Subject: “Financial History of Boston, 1822-1859, with a Preliminary Chapter.” (With Professor Bullock.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock, Taussig, Ripley.

 

William Jackman.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 22, 1907.
Committee: Professors Gay (chairman), Macvane, Taussig, Bullock, Ripley, and Andrew.
Academic History: University of Toronto, 1892-96; University of Pennsylvania, 1899-1900; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-07; A.B. (Univ. of Toronto) 1896; A.M. (ibid.) 1900.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History to 1750. 3. Statistics. 4. Sociology and Social Reform. 5. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 6. English History since 1500.
Special Subject: Modern Economic History of England.
Thesis Subject: “The Development of Transportation in Modern England before the Steam Railway Era.” (With Professor Gay.)

 

Edmund Ezra Day.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 23, 1907.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Channing, Taussig, Bullock, Andrew, and Wyman.
Academic History: Dartmouth College, 1901-06; Harvard Graduate School, 1906-07; S.B. (Dartmouth) 1905; A.M. (ibid.) 1906.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Statistics. 3. Money, Banking and Crises. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Industrial Organization and Corporation Finance. 6. American Institutions and Constitutional Law.
Special Subject: Taxation.
Thesis Subject: “Taxation of Corporations in Connecticut and Maine.”(?) (With Professor Bullock.)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1906-1907”.

Image Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 .

Categories
Curriculum Harvard

Harvard. Stricter division between undergraduate and graduate courses. Ca. 1910-11

A copy of this report written by economics professors Charles J. Bullock and Thomas N. Carver is found in the papers of Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell. The report itself is undated but a comparison with the course catalogues for the period 1909-1914 shows almost a perfect fit for the course staffing in the academic year 1910-11.

Harvard-wide courses were divided into three groups:

Courses primarily for Undergraduates (lower group);
Courses for Undergraduates and Graduates (middle group);
Courses primarily for Graduates (upper group).

In the 1912-13 Announcements of the Courses of Instruction, the recommendations of the committee were implemented to limit undergraduate access to the upper group of courses: only after a “special vote of the Department” or for undergraduate senior “candidates for the degree with distinction” would undergraduate students be admitted to courses designated “primarily for Graduates”. The new course numbering beginning with 1912-13 does not match the ordering of courses given in the report.

Handwritten names added to the Report have been placed within square brackets “[…]”.

_________________________________

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE UPON COURSES OF INSTRUCTION

The Committee appointed at the last meeting of the Department to consider the courses of instruction in the Department of Economics, submits the following preliminary report as a basis for discussion at the next meeting of the Department:

The Committee recommends in the first place that there shall be hereafter a complete separation of the graduate and undergraduate courses. it seems to us that this can be done by adopting the principle that in undergraduate courses the work of the students is to be carefully supervised, and that in the graduate courses the students are to be thrown wholly upon their own resources and be tested only by the final examinations. This plan will enable the Department to concentrate its elementary instruction upon a smaller number of courses specially adapted to the needs of undergraduates, and will free the members from work of supervision in the courses offered for graduates.

It will not be inconsistent with this plan of separating graduate from undergraduate work to admit to the graduate courses undergraduates who are candidates for honors; and your Committee recommends that if the separation be effected this privilege be offered to undergraduates. The Department can safely assume that a candidate for honors in Economics can be trusted to pursue an advanced course without supervision, and can be treated precisely like a graduate student. Such an arrangement will prevent the proposed plan from reducing the opportunities offered to men of exceptional capacity and interest in economic study.

Nor will it be inconsistent with the plan to admit to the undergraduate courses graduate students whose previous training in economics has been deficient, provided such students be placed upon a somewhat different footing from undergraduates. Graduate students in the courses designed for undergraduates should not be subject to supervision, and should not be required to attend the weekly conferences or to take the weekly or fortnightly examinations. On the other hand they should be required to do somewhat more work than is expected from undergraduates; and this requirement might well take the form of a provision that such graduate students be required to do additional reading upon which one or two special questions will be set in the final examination. it would be possible also in the larger courses, where the instructor meets the class but twice a week, for him to have a fortnightly conference for the graduate students. This conference may be devoted to the discussion of the assigned reading. (Professor Carver suggests that this requirement might be made for candidates for the A. M. degree and not for candidates for the Ph. D. degree.)

If the separation of courses is effected, the Committee believes it desirable that hereafter the undergraduate courses should be considered a Department matter rather than a matter wholly under the control of the individual instructors. It seems to us that the Department should, in a general way, determine the scope and methods of the instruction offered, as well as the kind of examinations to be given in these courses. We also believe that there should be regular inspection of the work done in these courses. Inspection of the examination books is already provided for, but not carried out. In addition to this, we believe it is worth while for the Department to consider the desirability of securing inspection of the undergraduate courses by some competent person outside the Department.

There are two other matters which the Committee may later bring to the attention of the Department, but which need not be considered in connection with the proposed plan.

The first is the proposal to have instructors adopt hereafter a uniform system of lecture notes by which, if the Department ever cares to do so, it will be possible to make available to present and future members of the Department the notes used by instructors in giving the several courses. In this way the embers of the Department will gradually pool their experience; and whenever changes occur in the instructors conducting courses new men will have the benefit of the experience of their predecessors. Such a system would require not only uniform methods of keeping lecture notes, but uniform filing cards and filing cases.

The other matter is the question of whether the members of the Department can do more than is done at present in the direction of bringing students into direct contact with original sources of information. Something has already been done by books like Professor Dunbar’s Laws relating to Currency and Finance, and by Professor Ripley’s series of Selections and Documents. The Committee may desire later to raise the question whether, at least in our undergraduate courses, more systematic effort may not be made in this direction,

The Committee has examined our present list of courses with a view to determining which were best suited to the needs of undergraduates, and recommends that the following courses be hereafter offered in the undergraduate group:

  1. Economics I, as at present [Prof. Taussig.]
  2. The Economic History of England and the United States (the present Courses 6a and 6b) [Prof. Gay.]
  3. Money, Banking and Crises (the present Course 8) [Drs. Day & Huse]
  4. Public Finance (the present Courses 7a and 7b) [Prof. Bullock.]
  5. The Labor Problem and Socialism (the present Courses 9a and 14b) [Profs. Ripley & Carver.]
  6. Corporations and Railway Transportation (the present Courses 9b and 5) [Prof. Ripley.]
  7. Sociology (the present Course 3) [Prof Carver.]
  8. Accounting (the present Course 18) [Prof. Cole.]
  9. A course in Economic Theory (One suggestion is that this be a course in Classical English Economics. Professor Carver suggests a course in the Distribution of Wealth. The Committee confines itself to recommending one advanced course in Economic Theory for undergraduates. (the present Course 2) [Prof. Taussig.]

(Professor Carver would prefer to add to this list Economics 28, but the Committee merely raises this question, and makes no recommendation upon the point.)

With these courses placed in the undergraduate group, there would remain in our present offering a substantial amount of graduate instruction. The Committee suggests, but without making a definite recommendation, the following:

  1. Theories of Value and Distribution: with consideration of methods of economic investigation. Carver. (A consolidation of Courses 13 and 14a)
  2. Ripley.
  3. History of Economic Theory. Bullock. (In place of the one course, there could be offered two courses given in alternate years: the first covering the history of economics up to 1776; the other covering the period from 1776 to 1848, or even some later date.)
  4. French and German Economics. Gay. (The present Economics 22)
  5. Mediaeval Economic History. Gray. (The present Economics 10)
  6. Modern Economic History. Gay. (The present Economics 11)
  7. Economic History of Antiquity. Ferguson. (The present Economics 26) The committee recommends, however, that unless this course can be given next year, it shall be dropped from the Catalog.
  8. Economics of Agriculture. Carver. (The present economics 23, unless this be included in the list of courses offered undergraduates)
  9. Financial Aspects of Combinations. Dewing. (The present Economics 30)
  10. Bullock. (The present economics 16)
  11. Research Courses (20a, b, c, d, e ,f, g, h)

In addition to these courses, it may be possible to provide two or three new courses by members of our present staff, if additional assistants can be secured in the group of courses offered to undergraduates. Professor Taussig has expressed a desire sometime to undertake a course in International Trade. Then if the undergraduate courses in the Labor Problem and Socialism could be given by a new instructor, Professor Ripley would be free to offer another advanced course. But this matter, however, like some others, is obviously one that cannot be settled at the present time; and the Committee mentions it merely to point out the possibilities of its proposed plan.

Signed,

Charles J. Bullock
T. N. Carver

Source: Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers, 1909-1914, Box 15, Folder 410.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1915.