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SUB-GROUP Identifier: UAV 349.10

Harvard University Department of Economics records from chairmanship of Harold Hitchings Burbank

Overview

Harold Hitchings Burbank (1887-1951) had considerable influcence on the Department of Econcomics through the first half of the twentieth century. These records document the administration of the Harvard Univeristy Department of Economics during that time.

Dates

  • Creation: 1902 - 1950

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Portions are closed to research. Harvard University records are closed to research for at least 50 years from the date of the file. Student and personnel records are closed for 80 years.

Extent

10 cubic feet (31 boxes)

These records document the administration of the Harvard Univeristy Department of Economics during the time it was lead by Harold Hitchings Burbank. A small percentage records relating to routine operational matters, such as staffing and scholarships, pre-date Burbank's chairmanship, but none of the records originate after Burank's tenure. A portion of the records reflect the impact of the war effort on the department during World War II.

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. The first professor who taught economics full-time at Harvard was Charles Franklin Dunbar (1830-1900).

Harold Hitchings Burbank (1887-1951) had considerable influcence on the Department of Econcomics through the first half of the twentieth century, although direct impact from his scholarship on the field of economics was slight. Burbank was on the faculty of the Department of Economics from 1915 until his death in 1951 and served as Chair of the Department from 1927 to 1938 and from 1942 to 1949. Burbank also was in charge of the tutorial system for the Division of History, Government, and Economics.

Source: Mason, Edward Sagendorph. The Harvard Department of Economics from the Beginning to World War II. The Quarterly Journal of Economics (Oxford, England : Oxford University Press) Vol. 97, No. 3 (Aug., 1982), pp. 383-433. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1885870

Arrangement of the records

While portions of the records are in alphabetical or chronological sequences, the archivists were unable to discern any over-arching organizational method for these records. The inventory lists the records in the order in which they were aquired in 1952.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Received from the Department of Economics circa 1952.

Related Materials

Related holdings in the Harvard University Archives include an additional 44 series of Records of the Department of Economics (UAV 349), the personal archives of faculty in the Economics Department, examinations and other curriculum material in economics, and a report on the state of the Department from 1952 (UAI 20.952.5).

Personal archives include the Papers of Harold H. Burbank himself (HUG 4246) and the archives of contemporaneous faculty members such as Papers of William Z. Ripley, 1895-1940 (HUG 4745), Papers of Joseph Alois Schumpeter, 1914-1960 (HUGFP 4), and Papers of Frank William Taussig, 1880-1946 (HUG 4823).

Processing Information

This inventory encoded by Kate Bowers in March 2018 chiefly from a paper inventory on file in the Harvard University Archives reading room. All titles for series, subseries, and folders were assigned by the Department and come either from the paper inventory or on the folders themselves. Archivists confirmed the accuracy of the list for all series except for the financial records.

Title
Harvard University. Department of Economics. Harvard University Department of Economics records from chairmanship of Harold Hitchings Burbank, 1902-1950 : an inventory
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hua17018

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.

Contact:
Pusey Library
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Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2461