Harvard University Department of Economics general office files
Overview
These records are a central departmental file for the Department of Economics covering the administrations of Chairs Arthur Smithies and Seymour Edwin Harris as well as administrative matters preceding their chairmanships.
Dates
- Creation: 1912-1961
Creator
- Harvard University. Department of Economics (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
Harvard University records are closed for at least 50 years; records concerning personnel or students are closed for 80 years.
Extent
6.7 cubic feet (26 boxes)These records are a central departmental file for the Department of Economics. The records cover the service of Chairs Arthur Smithies and Seymour Edwin Harris as well as administrative matters for a number of years preceding their chairmanships. Whereas their predecessor, Harold Hitchings Burbank, kept a separate set of records during his administration, Smithies and Harris appear to have overseen a period when the general office files were the only files kept or, having kept separate files, they were later integrated into one sequence by the departmental staff.
Many of the records relate to the journal Harvard Economic Studies. Folders named for individuals with an Arabic or Latin numeral next to their name are editors or contributors to this journal and the number is reference to the volume in which their work appears.
Biographical / Historical
The Harvard University Department of Economics was established in 1897 in the Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences under the Division of History, Government, and Economics. Harold Hitchings Burbank (1887-1951) had considerable influence on the Department of Econcomics through the first half of the twentieth century and was succeeded as Chair by Arthur Smithies, who served from 1950 to 1955, and then by Seymour Edwin Harris who served from 1955 to 1959. Smithies again served as Chair from 1959 to 1961. In 1961, Thomas John Dunlop became chair.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Received from the Department of Economics, date of receipt unrecorded.
Processing Information
This inventory was keyed by Erin Clauss and encoded and edited by Kate Bowers in May 2018. All folder titles and date information originates with the Department comes from the folders themselves. The archivists provided additions to some folder titles to provide clarity; such additions appear within in square brackets.
Creator
- Harvard University. Department of Economics (Organization)
- Title
- Harvard University. Department of Economics. Harvard University Department of Economics general office files, 1912-1961: an inventory
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua25018
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
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archives_reference@harvard.edu