Dean's Office correspondence files (Wallace Brett Donham, Dean) Digital
Overview
Office files of the second dean of the Harvard Business School, Wallace B. Donham. Also includes material from his predecesor, Edwin Francis Gay, and his successor, Donald K. David.
Dates
- Creation: 1908-1947
Creator
Language of Materials
Materials entirely in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. This collection requires a secondary registration form. Please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information on access procedures and reproduction services.
Conditions Governing Use
Users must request reproductions of materials from this collection. No personal photography or scanning is allowed.
Extent
25.5 linear feet (61 boxes)The correspondence files of Wallace B. Donham were kept by the Office of Dean, and also include correspondence by and to the assistant deans.
Donham kept his office files in seven date series, with individual or company correspondence folders filed alphabetically within the series. These date series reflect several transitions in hi deanship. From 1919 to 1923 Donham learned what the school had been doing since its founding in 1908; he familiarized himself with its supporters; he assessed where he wanted to take it; and he began to present his plans to the university and to outside constituencies. From 1923 to 1927, Donham oversaw the construction of the campus, formalized the case system, cemented ties with various parts of the business world, founded the library, and shaped the curriculum. The 1927 to 1937 series shows the elaboration and deepening of relationships with the Harvard University administration, as well as Donham's active concern for the school and for the nation during the Depression. Four more series, 1938-1939, 1940, 1941, and 1942 document the school's continued relationships with major business and government figures of the pre-War era, and the beginnings of HBS's activities in World War Two. An eighth series, Colleges and Universities 1937-1947, contains correspondence with other schools during Donham's deanship and that of his successor, Donald K. David.
Boxes are numbered 9 through 69, because they are numbered consecutively with the correspondence files of the previous Dean, Edwin Francis Gay. Some of Gay's correspondence is also included in this collection, primarily in the first series, 1919-1923. Box 69 includes correspondence from the third dean of the school, Donald K. David.
This finding aid is supplemented by an extensive subject index created in the 1980s. On Hollis for Archival Discovery this is linked below under "Digital Material."
The Scope and Contents note is adapted in part from the 1980s index to the collection.
Biographical / Historical
Wallace Brett Donham was born on October 26, 1877 in Rockland, Mass. Son of a dentist, Donham lived at home and commuted daily to Cambridge while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in government at Harvard College. He graduated in 1898 and went on to Harvard Law School. After passing the bar in 1901, Donham began working for the legal department at Old Colony Trust Company. He gradually moved to administrative work and in 1906 was elected vice president of Old Colony Trust Company. In 1917-1919 he was appointed Receiver of the Bay State Street Railway Company which served large industries in the east of Massachusetts.
Lawrence Lowell, then president of Harvard College, asked Donham to serve as the second dean for the Business School in 1919. Lowell was Donham’s mentor back when Donham was an undergraduate and Lowell taught government. So close was their relationship that Lowell paid for Donham to attend law school. During his deanship, Donham implemented the case study method for teaching business administration, emphasized the human side of business, and insisted on an objective study of economics. The Business School grew from a small program with no dedicated location to a fully embodied professional institution. He received an honorary Doctorate of Law from Harvard University in 1939.
After retiring as dean in 1942, Donham continued to teach at Harvard having started a human relations course for undergraduates. Further he held a seminar in human relations at Colgate University for two years in 1948. During his professional life he wrote two books, “Business Adrift” and “Business Looks at the Unforeseen” as well as numerous articles and essays emphasizing the role of business administrators in society. Wallace Brett Donham died on November 29, 1954 in Cambridge, MA.
Creator
- Harvard University. Graduate School of Business Administration. Office of the Dean (Organization)
- Donham, Wallace Brett, 1877-1954 (Person)
- Gay, Edwin F. (Edwin Francis) (1867-1946) (Person)
- David, Donald Kirk, 1896-1979 (Person)
Subject
- Author
- Baker Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- bak01530
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
Soldiers Field Road
Boston MA 01263 USA
(617) 495-6411
specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu