In tracking down faculty who taught economics at U.S. universities in the past we sometimes have to rummage in the dimmer corners of pretty obscure history of economics. From the following items we see that John Christopher Schwab was among the first German-trained cohort of economists. He worked his way up to a professorship in political economy at Yale and then went on to become the Yale University librarian. It could turn out that his greatest legacy to economics is to be found in his student notebooks.
RESEARCH TIP: “The papers of John C. Schwab include his student notebooks both in the United States and in Germany, with half of one notebook (1887-1888) devoted to the lectures of the historian Heinrich von Treitschke.”
___________________________
SCHWAB, John Christopher, 1865-
Born in Fordham Heights, N. Y., 1865; graduated at Yale, 1886; studied political science in the Graduate Department the succeeding year; at the University of Berlin, 1887-88; at Göttingen, 1888-89; and history in New York, 1890; Lecturer at Yale, 1890-91; Instructor, 1891-93; Assistant Professor of Political Economy to 1893; advanced to full Professorship the latter year.
JOHN CHRISTOPHER SCHWAB, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy at Yale, was born in Fordham Heights, Westchester county. New York, April 1, 1865, son of Gustav and Catherine Elizabeth (Von Post) Schwab. He was named for his paternal great-grandfather, a Privy Counsellor of Stuttgart, Germany, of which city his grandfather Gustav Schwab, the poet, and his father were also natives. His maternal grandfather was Laurence Henry von Post, a native of Bremen, and a merchant of New York. He is a great-grandson on the maternal side of Caspar Meier, also a native of Bremen and a New York merchant, who married a daughter of John Christopher Kunze, D.D., of New York, and the latter’s wife was a daughter of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania. Having pursued his preliminary studies under private tutors, and in Messrs. Gibbens and Beach’s School, New York, he entered Yale, Class of 1886, and after taking his Bachelor’s degree he took a year’s course in political science under Professors Sumner and Hadley in the Graduate Department. The succeeding two years were devoted to the same line of study at the Universities of Berlin and Gottingen, from which latter he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1889, having been awarded that of Master of Arts by Yale the previous year, and his professional preparations were concluded with a year’s historical research in the libraries of New York City. Returning to Yale as Lecturer on Political Science in 1S90, he acted as Instructor in Political Economy from 1891 to 1893, when he took the Assistant Professorship, and in 1898 was advanced to the Chair of that subject. Professor Schwab has been one of the Editors of the Yale Review, since 1892, and is the author of historical articles on the Confederate States; Revolutionary History of Fort Number Eight; and an article on Finance, contributed to Johnson’s Encyclopaedia. He is a member of the Century Association and the Reform Club, of New York, and of the Graduates’ Club of New Haven. On October 5, 1893, he married Edith Aurelia Fisher of the last named city.
Source: General Joshua L. Chamberlain (editor-in-chief), Universities and Their Sons, Vol. II. Boston: R. Herndon (1899), p. 545.
___________________________
Who’s Who in New England
SCHWAB, John Christopher, librarian; b. New York, Apr. 1, 1865; s. Gustav and Eliza Catharine (von Post) Schwab; brother of Gustav Henry Schwab; A.B., Yale, 1886, A.M., 1888; U. of Berlin, 1887-8; A.M., Ph.D., Göttingen, 1889; m. Edith A. Fisher, of Cincinnati, O., Oct. 5, 1893; 2 children, Katherine F., Norman von P. Instr. Polit. economy, 1890-3, asst. prof., 1893-8, prof., 1898-1905, librarian, 1905—, Yale U. Editor Yale Review, 1892—. Mem. Am. Econ. Assn., British Econ. Assn., Mass. Hist. Soc. (corr.), A.L.A., etc. Mem. Co. F, 2d Regt., Conn. N.G., 1891-4. Episcopalian. Clubs: Century (New York), Graduates’ (New Haven). Author: History of New York Property Tax, 1880; The Confederate States of America, 1901. Contbr. to hist. revs. and mags. Recreations: traveling. Address: 310 Prospect St., New Haven, Conn.
Source: Who’s Who in New England, (2nd ed.). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company (1916), p. 950.
___________________________
Yale Obituary Record
JOHN CHRISTOPHER SCHWAB, 1865-1916; B.A. 1886
Born April 1,1865, in New York City
Died January 12, 1916, in New Haven, Conn.John Christopher Schwab, son of Gustav Schwab, of the firm of Oelrichs & Company, was born April 1, 1865, in New York City, being named for his great-grandfather, a privy counsellor of Stuttgart, Germany. His paternal grandparents were Gustav Schwab, a German poet of note, and Sophie (Gmelin) Schwab. His mother was Catherine Elizabeth, daughter of Laurence Henry and Henrietta Margaretta (Meier) Von Post. Through her, he was descended from Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg, the chief founder of the Lutheran Church in America.
He was fitted for Yale under private tutors and at Gibbons’ and Beach’s School in New York City. He received several prizes in English and Latin composition, High Oration appointments, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa in college. As a Sophomore, he sang on his Class Glee Club, and the next year he was a member of the Second Glee Club. He was an editor of the Courant in his Senior year.
He remained at Yale for a year of post-graduate study in political economy after taking the degree of BA, in 1886, and during this period was also an instructor in German at the Hopkins Grammar School. In July, 1887, he went to Europe, and after spending the summer in travel, entered the University of Berlin. His studies for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy were completed at the University of Göttingen in 1889, and he then returned to the United States and spent some time in historical research in the libraries of New York City. He had received an M.A. in course at Yale in 1888. In the fall of 1890, he took up his work as lecturer in political economy at the University, being made an instructor in that department in the following year. He was promoted to an assistant professorship in 1893, and to a full professorship five years afterwards.
In 1905, after seven years of service in that capacity, Professor Schwab was chosen University librarian, and the remainder of his life was devoted to the upbuilding of the Library. A member of the University Council since his appointment as librarian, he had served for some years on the Council’s Committee on Publications, in connection with the work of the University Press. In 1901, he supervised the arrangements for the Yale Bicentennial as chairman of the committee in charge of the celebration. He was a frequent contributor to historical journals and magazines, and at one time was editor of the Yale Review. “The Finances of the Confederate States of America,” published by Professor Schwab in 1901, is considered a valuable addition in the field of economic history. He was elected Secretary of the Yale Class of 1886 in 1905, and held that office until his death. To the work of civic betterment in New Haven, professor Schwab gave much of his attention, and at the time of his death he was serving as secretary and treasurer of the social settlement known as Lowell House. He was also president of the Model Housing Association of New Haven. He was on the board of trustees of the New Haven Public Library and a member of St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church, of whose Sunday school he was at one time superintendent, and for several years served in Company F, Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. He was a trustee of Mount Holyoke College, and in 1913 was on the committee which arranged the pageant held in celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of its founding. He was a member of the American and British Economic associations, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Library Association, and of the Century Club of New York. In 1911, he received from Mühlenberg College the honorary degree of LL.D.
Professor Schwab’s death occurred unexpectedly at his home in New Haven, January 12, 1916, after a brief illness from pneumonia. He was buried in Grove Street Cemetery in that city.
On October 5, 1893, he was married in New Haven to Edith Aurelia, daughter of Samuel Sparks Fisher, upon whom Yale conferred an honorary degree in 1851, and Aurelia Safford (Crossette) Fisher. She survives him with their two children: Katharine Fisher, a student at Vassar, and Norman Von Post. He leaves also two brothers and three sisters, one of the latter being the widow of Henry Charles White (B.A 1881, LL.B. 1883, M.L. 1884). Another brother, Laurence Henry, graduated from the College in 1878. Gustav Schwab (B.A. 1902) and Laurence Von Post Schwab (B.A. 1913) are nephews.
Source: Yale University Archives. Guide to the John Christopher Schwab Family Papers.
Image Source: John Christopher Schwab. General Joshua L. Chamberlain (editor-in-chief), Universities and Their Sons, Vol. II. Boston: R. Herndon (1899), p. 545.