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COLLECTION Identifier: HUG 4447.xx

Papers of Paul H. Hanus

Overview

Paul Henry Hanus (1855-1944) was the first appointed faculty member in education at Harvard, appointed by President Charles W. Eliot in 1891. The Papers of Paul H. Hanus, 1891-1941, chiefly consist of Hanus's correspondence while a faculty member at Harvard, personal chronological files, and writings and speeches given while Hanus was at Harvard. The collection also contains Hanus's research correspondence on his survey of the New York school system from 1911 to 1913.

Dates

  • Creation: 1891-1941

Creator

Researcher access

The Papers of Paul H. Hanus are open for research with the following exception: Personnel and student records are closed for 80 years. Requires review by archivist.

Extent

3.3 cubic feet (13 document boxes, 5 pamphlet binders, 1 volume)

The Papers of Paul H. Hanus, 1891-1941, chiefly consist of Hanus's correspondence while a faculty member at Harvard, personal chronological files, and writings and speeches given while Hanus was at Harvard. The collection also contains Hanus's research correspondence on his survey of the New York school system from 1911 to 1913. Personal items in the collection include autobiographical notes compiled by Hanus in 1934 and revised in 1937, a copy of his 1937 autobiography Adventuring in Education, and testimonials from friends and colleagues in honor of his seventy-fifth birthday in 1930.

Biographical note on Paul H. Hanus

Paul Henry Hanus (1855-1944), first appointed faculty member in education at Harvard, was born on March 14, 1855 to Gustaf and Ida (Aust) Hanus in Upper Silesia, Prussia.

Gustaf Hanus died when Paul was only six weeks old. His mother started a written correspondence with Robert George, a former suitor, which ultimately to a marriage proposal. At the time, George was employed as a mining engineer and had immigrated to the United States. Hanus (age four) along with his widowed mother and two older siblings, Hannah (age eight) and Gustave (age eleven), soon followed, immigrating to Mineral Point, Wisconsin in 1859. There, Ida married George and he became the stepfather to Paul, Hannah and Gustave.

In 1866, the family moved to Denver, Colorado. As a young adolescent, Hanus spent three years as an apprentice in the drug stores of Steinhauer & Walbrach, Ltd. The apprenticeship ended when Hanus was fifteen years old and the family returned to Mineral Point, Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, he attended the Platteville State Normal School to continue his secondary education. After his third year at Platteville, he interrupted this education to further his training in the pharmacy trade. Through George’s contacts, Hanus relocated to New York City to become a clerk in the Paul H. Krezschmar & Co., a newly formed drug import company in 1873. While in New York, Hanus attended night classes at Cooper Union and earned certificates in chemistry, physics, algebra and geometry. In early 1874, he returned to Mineral Point and occasionally served as a substitute teacher in the public schools of Platteville, Wisconsin. This was his first teaching experience.

In fall 1874, Hanus began attendance at the University of Michigan and earned Bachelor of Science degree in 1878. After graduating, he taught mathematics at the Denver High School (1878-1879) and the University of Colorado (1879/1880 and 1881/1882-1885/1886). After the Spring 1880 semester, Hanus resigned from the University and established a drugstore in Denver with Edmund Schultz. Hanus married Charlotte Hoskins (1862-1952), a former student, on August 10, 1881. The union produced a daughter, Winifred (1883-1961). After a year, he sold his share of the partnership and returned to the University of Colorado to teach mathematics and occasionally geology. He authored the book An Elementary Treatise on the Theory of Determinants (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1886), the first monograph on determinants to be published in the United States. However, Hanus soon discovered that he was "much more interested in studying schools than in studying mathematics.” He became the principal of Denver High School - District 2 (1886-1890), conductor of summer institutes for teachers in Colorado (1888-1890), and a professor of pedagogy at Colorado State Normal School at Greeley (1890-1891).

In 1891, Harvard President Charles W. Eliot appointed Hanus to the first faculty position in education, thereby beginning the formal study of education as a discipline at Harvard. President Eliot had met Hanus through his son, the Rev. Samuel A. Eliot. Rev. Eliot was a pastor at the same Unitarian Church attended by the Hanus family. At first, Hanus and his colleagues were faculty members of the Division of Philosophy. Education became a formalized department within this division in 1899 and he was appointed a full professor with tenure in 1901. Hanus realized that the department needed more robust growth keep pace with other education schools and lobbied for the creation of a separate faculty. Though not its own school, Education became a formal division within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1906 and Hanus became the chair. Hanus remained chair of the Division of Education until 1912 when the leadership reigns were turned over to his former student, Henry Wyman Holmes. Hanus remained as a professor and, in 1920, saw the rebirth of the division into a separate Harvard faculty, the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In his first annual report as dean, Holmes remarked that for thirty years Hanus had “worked indefatigably for the development of instruction of education at Harvard” and that the Harvard Graduate School of Education stood as a “monument to his vision and zeal." Hanus is considered to be the founder of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He retired and became professor emeritus in 1921. In his retirement, Hanus continued to consult upon educational matters both within and outside of Harvard.

As a leading authority on educational systems, Hanus was frequently called upon to investigate and make reports accessing the quality of individual schools and school systems. Two of his most significant surveys focused on the New York City School System and the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. In both instances, Hanus was given leaves of absences from Harvard, 1911/1912 for the New York survey and spring 1917 for the Hampton Institute survey. Commissioned by the Committee of School Inquiry of the (New York) Board of Estimate, Hanus led a team of a “dozen associates and forty clerks” and completed a thorough study of the educational conduct and financing of the New York City School System. The survey resulted in a three volume report published by the city and its findings generated much press coverage. In 1917, the General Education Board commissioned Hanus to undertake a survey of the Hampton Institute. The Institute was founded in 1868 to provide a vocationally focused education for southern African Americans and, after 1877, also Native Americans. At first, he was hesitant to undertake this work due to his lack of knowledge of the social and educational conditions of African Americans and the southern states in general. Hanus wanted to be able to provide greater context to this survery by gathering first hand impressions of southern schools (of “both races”). During the spring semester 1917, he and wife Charlotte lived on the Hampton campus to experience the life of the school. Hanus and his team of “seven associates and several clerks” produced an eight hundred page report but it remained unpublished.

Hanus made an impact on the education beyond his role as a Harvard faculty member, administrator and progenitor of the Graduate School of Education. He reached out to a broader community of teachers and other educational practitioners by offering courses in the Harvard Summer School of Arts and Sciences and of Education. Hanus was the founder and a longtime secretary of the Harvard Teachers Association. Established in 1891, the organization was made up of officers and alumni of Harvard University, Radcliffe College and the Harvard Summer School interested in educational matters. Hanus also assisted with local educational matters serving as the Chairman of the State (Massachusetts) Commission on Industrial Education (1906-1909), Chairman of the Boston Vocation Bureau (1909-1917). Additionally, he served on Board of Trustees of Wellesley College (1916-1936) as well as the International College of Izmir, Turkey (1930-1935).

He received honorary LL.D. degrees from the University of Colorado in 1906 and the University of Michigan in 1925.

Hanus died on December 14, 1941 at his home Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in nine series:

  1. Correspondence (HUG 4447)
  2. General Folder (HUG 4447 General Folder)
  3. Autobiographical Notes, 1934, Revised 1937 (HUG 4447.3)
  4. Chronological File, 1891-1941 (HUG 4447.5.5)
  5. Miscellaneous Papers (HUG 4447.10)
  6. Correspondence with New York School System, 1911-1913 (HUG 4447.14)
  7. Adventuring in Education, 1937 (HUG 4447.35)
  8. Seventy-fifth birthday of P.H. Hanus. Testimonials presented by his friends, associates, & former students, March 14, 1930 (HUG 4447.85)
  9. Writings and speeches, 1918 and undated (HUG 4447.86)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Papers of Paul H. Hanus were received in several accessions.

Specific information, when available, is noted at the series level.

  1. Gift of Paul H. Hanus [date unknown].
  2. Gift of P.H. Hanus, 1931.
  3. Gift of Paul H. Hanus, 1934.
  4. Gift of Mrs. P.H. Hanus [Charlotte Hoskins Hanus], 1945.
  5. Received from Records Center account; appraised at 8 Mount Auburn Street; accessioned December 17, 2002; accession 14712.

Related Materials

In the Harvard University Archives:

  1. Paul Henry Hanus Diary, 1900 March 9-April 3, Chest of 1900, 1899-1900 (HUA 900.11): https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua09003/catalog
  2. Paul H. Hanus Biographical file in Harvard University Biographical files (i.e. "Quinquennial" files) (HUG 300 Box 431): https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua11009/catalog
  3. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Deans' Records, 1892-1972 (UAV 350.30): https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua24017/catalog
  4. Records of the President of Harvard University, Charles W. Eliot (UAI 5.150): https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua05006/catalog
  5. Records of the President of Harvard University, Abbott Lawrence Lowell (UAI 5.160): https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua03003/catalog
  6. Papers of Josiah Royce (HUG 1755): https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua16003/catalog

Inventory update

This document last updated 2022 June 01.

Processing Information

This finding aid was created by Jennifer Pelose in May 2021. Ed Copenhagen provided preliminary description for this collection in 2020.

Information in this finding aid was assembled from legacy paper inventories and container management data. The collection was not re-examined by the archivist.

Title
Hanus, Paul H. (Paul Henry), 1855-1941. Papers of Paul H. Hanus, 1891-1941 : an inventory
Author
Harvard University Archives
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hua48021

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:
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